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OxyContin's 12-hour problem

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Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#211

Post by CydeWeys »

hackuser wrote: post #158
CydeWeys wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fractured my tibia recently and the urgent care gave me a short prescription for Percocet (which contains oxycodone like Oxycontin and also acetaminophen). I didn't end up picking it up as I don't have a car and mobility is understandably limited when you've fractured your tibia, but the past the first day the pain wasn't bad enough to need it anyway, and ibuprofen sufficed. And I am a wimpy person who does not do…

> Experiencing pain has a limited risk potential in most people, especially when the pain is linked to a temporary condition While I may have agreed with this years ago, I'm pretty sure the research shows otherwise. Also, I'm not sure why pain is considered less important than other medical outcomes. For example, would you rather live in constant pain or lose a pinkie finger? I'd lose the finger and get on with my li…

You seem to have glossed right over my use of the word "temporary". Does it suck that my tibia is fractured? Yeah. It's going to heal though. I sure as hell would not rather lose my foot for the rest of my life than wait for this to heal, just the same as I would rather deal with some pain now than risk a life-altering addiction to opioids.

So to answer your hypothetical, yes, I absolutely would rather deal with some temporary pain and get on with my life in another week than lose a body part for the rest of my life. Who would make the other choice?!

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#212

Post by CydeWeys »

biesnecker wrote: post #66
DanBC wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Experiencing pain has a limited risk potential in most people, especially when the pain is linked to a temporary condition. People living with long term pain are at increased risk for death by suicide. That doesn't mean we should just hand out opiates (which should not be used for chronic pain), but that we should take pain relief a bit more seriously. Living in pain sucks .

"Especially when the pain is linked to a temporary condition." I think that's the important point in the original comment.

Most of the responses to my post have argued against various incorrect interpretations of it, not what I actually said. It's frustrating. Thank you for your reading comprehension.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#213

Post by CydeWeys »

_acme wrote: post #160
CydeWeys wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fractured my tibia recently and the urgent care gave me a short prescription for Percocet (which contains oxycodone like Oxycontin and also acetaminophen). I didn't end up picking it up as I don't have a car and mobility is understandably limited when you've fractured your tibia, but the past the first day the pain wasn't bad enough to need it anyway, and ibuprofen sufficed. And I am a wimpy person who does not do…

Do you have any support for your claim that "[t]he potential for addiction has nearly unlimited risk."? Given that the majority of the population has been prescribed an opioid at some point (wisdom teeth removal, broken bone, etc.) and yet hasn't developed an "addiction", it seems as though the opposite of your claim would be true.

Let me clarify my point. Let's say you just have an every day simple bone fracture (that didn't pierce your skin, so there's no risk of infection). You're almost certainly going to be fine.

Contrast with getting hooked on opioids and entering a downward cycle of addiction -- the potential outcome there is the very loss of your life, with a higher chance than losing your life from a simple bone fracture. A lot of people die from opiate overdose every year in the United States; it's actually a few thousand more than from being murdered with a gun. http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html

The problem with opiate addiction is that a lot of people are introduced to it through benign means, like starting off with a prescription from their doctor, or their friend giving them some for a legitimate pain-related reason. The gateway drug argument for weed is bunkum, but the gateway drug argument for some opioid use sometimes leading to more opioid use is very real, and is borne out with the statistics. The CDC has lots of information you can read. It's the biggest and deadliest drug epidemic in the US right now.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#214

Post by c3534l »

In other words, OxyContin is basically like any other opiate painkiller and it's problems come primarily from people misusing the drug, which is why it's prescription in the first place.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#215

Post by 55555 »

intrasight wrote: post #85

I had three orthopedic surgeries in 2014. Each time I got a vial of OxyContin. Figured I'd use 'em since I'm not much into pain. But the pain was not so bad. Once I tried an OxyContin to see if I could tell the difference. I could not. A colleague tells me that they have a street price of like $40/pill. So then I'm wondering how many people know that I have a thousand dollars worth of street drugs in my house. I drop…

If you are prescribed 60x80mg monthly, you could sell them for $2,400 per month quite easily. Not a bad ROI on a $20 co-pay.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#216

Post by pfarnsworth »

minikites wrote: post #203
pfarnsworth wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean things like HPV vaccination. I'm not going to get my son vaccinated. This is an example of Merck and the other drug manufacturers manufacturing a vaccine to treat a low-risk disease. Pushing it on boys, as well, is simply expanding the market to get more money. When my daughter is old enough, she can get the vaccine, once we have figured out if there are long-term effects from this vaccine of if it's just scar…

Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and group you with every other dangerous anti-vaxxer: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/04/opinion/carroll-douglas-hpv-va... > Such cancer still causes the death of 4,000 women each year in the United States. It's estimated that about 15,000 HPV-associated cancers could be prevented each year by the vaccine. HPV is, unfortunately, often transmitted through sexual activity. It's the cause of genit…

And I'm going to group you in with the militant sheep that follow orders without questioning them. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#217

Post by ScottBurson »

ssmoot wrote: post #71
tew28 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein, I got an entire bottle of vicodin prescribed to me after having Lasik surgery. There was virtually no pain, merely discomfort similar to having a dirty contact lens in your eye, which went away after a day. I never used any of the vicodin.

I don't get this mentality at all. I would guess a majority of adults in the US have had Vicodin or similar and I don't know anyone personally who ever got addicted. In some it causes nausea. You don't like it, fine. But I don't understand how people can be so pro marijuana on one hand, and so anti-opiates on the other. It's pain. It's not noble to suffer needlessly. It's complete BS that it's harder for a dentist to…

You might want to have a look at the first couple of graphs here: https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/o...

I'm not saying we should ban opioids. I have found them useful on occasion too. But to suggest there's no problem with people abusing them is not a helpful stance either.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#218

Post by MichaelGG »

OliverJones wrote: post #202
KaiserPro wrote: post #182

There is a difference between marketing and actual use. Its a synthetic opioid, which means it has all the variability of opioids. Any decent doctor should know this, and the guides, if they were any good will indicate it. For example codamol is now not prescribed in a hospital setting for under 5s, after one child died because they had large amounts of the enzyme required to processes it all at once. This caused res…

Sure, it's an opioid. That's not the point. The point is that it's made from an inexpensive generic opioid feedstock: oxycodone. The supposed value-add isn't the painkiller, it's the timed-release agent. Unless these reporters are simply lying, there's evidence of great variability in the effectiveness of that timed-release agent. But the company's market position depends on the 12-hour dose. If the drug's needed eve…

Isn't NA mandated by courts? Even for pot sometimes? A growing group could easily just mean a change in law enforcement or sentencing.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#219

Post by Dylan16807 »

jrs235 wrote: post #155
Dylan16807 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I think your opinion is illegal" as a way of shutting someone down deserves quite a harsh response.

Meh. I think I feel what you do too. I do think everyone needs thicker skin and that we'd all be better if we did. However, just because we can lash out, and others can take a lashing, I think it's more effective to kindly point out someone's absurdity. They may have yelled first, if you yell back, no one can hear amongst all the noise. Bullying, regardless of what side one is on, is always a bad way to try and shut…

Being harsh is not equivalent to bullying.

Re: OxyContin's 12-hour problem

#220

Post by smileysteve »

_acme wrote: post #162
jonknee wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I don't understand how people can be so pro marijuana on one hand, and so anti-opiates on the other. It's probably the hundreds of thousands of dead people from opiate overdoses vs the 0 dead people from marijuana overdose. > I would guess a majority of adults in the US have had Vicodin or similar and I don't know anyone personally who ever got addicted. You almost certainly know someone who has been addicted,…

Is there a higher rate of opioid addiction amongst opioid users than marijuana addiction amongst marijuana users?

One of these is not like the other, opioids cause a clinical chemical dependency very quickly (as mentioned by the article, if you 12 hour dose doesn't last the full 12 hours) while the [chemical dependency of marijuana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_use_disorder) is much more subtle.
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