OxyContin's 12-hour problem

OxyContin's 12-hour problem
static.latimes.com

I was misdiagnosed as having IBS a couple of years ago, and became addicted to oxycontin, because the pain was no severe I couldn't go to work without it.

At one point I had to have a colonoscopy, and I had to stop taking oxycontin 48 hours before the procedure, the withdrawl was hell.

I remember being scatter brained, unable to focus on anything for more than a few seconds, I was sweating and shivering, and it felt like my bones were on fire. The withdrawl caused a deep pain, especially in my joints, ankles and knees were the worst. It was a strange pain I had never felt before, like fire and electric. Even my teeth hurt.

It took 24 hours or so to get past the worst of it, and I have been VERY lucky to get another diagnosis and some medication that helps. I will never take oxycontin again, but sometimes, you just cant help it.

I have to wonder if Purdue is involved in some kickbacks to Dr's who (over)prescribe.

Those people are not "doing drugs", they are following (bad) medical advice.

People with long term pain need better access to pain management clinics; better access to physio therapy and exercise therapy; better access to different meds; and if they're still in pain better prescribing of opiates carefully following protocols.

https://www.fpm.ac.uk/faculty-of-pain-medicine/opioids-aware

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/FPM-Opioids-Aware-Press-Releas...

> There has been a sharp and sustained increase in the prescription of opioid painkillers in recent years. The latest figures from 2014 show that 22.75 million prescriptions were written in England with a total cost of nearly £305 million to the NHS. Similar rises in prescribing in the US and elsewhere have been accompanied by increases in harms related to these drugs including addiction, unintentional overdose and death. Opioid painkiller problems in the UK have not reached the epidemic proportions seen in the US but we know that over 5% of adults in England and Wales have used opioid medicines that were not prescribed for them in the past year.

> Of more concern is that nearly all the rise in prescribing has been for treatment for long-term pain however, opioid medicines are often ineffective for this condition. About 4% of the population in England and Wales is in receipt of a prescription for opioids and once opioids are started they can be difficult to stop.

In the UK opiates are commonly used for suicide. Self poisoning is the second most common method, and opiates are the most common medication used (and opiate + paracetamol combinations are in the top 5 too). Most of these are legally obtained.