21–30 of 78 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But, err, yeah, let's write off anyone who sees this as a pro-pharma shill... ACSH does not seem like “anyone” but rather a documented pro-any-paying-industry-shill...
Did you actually read the article? Did you actually look at any of the statistics it discusses?
Take this article with a grain of salt - ACSH looks to potentially be something of an industry PR group. From some sources that may themselves be biased: "Council on Science and Health is a Corporate Front Group" https://usrtk.org/hall-of-shame/why-you-cant-trust-the-ameri... https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Council_on_Sc...
This article misses several points. When we ask people with a substance misuse disorder who use opioids what they started on we find, very often, that they started on meds prescribed by a doctor. Those meds may not have been prescribed to them - they may have been prescribed to a neighbour or family member - but they were prescribed. This is why the massive over-prescription of opioids is a problem. It floods America…
What do you suggest be given to people with chronic pain which can't be managed with lower powered pain killers, say people with cancer induced pain?
The whole "opioid" shit fight can be summarised as: Pharmaceutical companies needed a way to profit from developing alternatives to morphine so they developed a bunch of dangerous bullshit then convinced everyone it was safer than morphine even though it's not. Morphine is awesome and has as its only long term side effect constipation. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Prescribe morphine, including to heroin addicts w…
A lot of pain, most pain probably, does not have a cause.
It is this type of long term pain that is hardest to treat. We know psychological therapy helps people live their lives with pain (it's used with cancer patients), but patients reject it because "my pain is real, not in my head". We know weight loss and exercise helps some people (especially those with musculo-skeletal problems), but we know how hard weight loss is and a year of weight loss and physical therapy is rejected by some patients (a few say "ignore the fat, treat the illness", and a few can't cope with the idea that treatment is being "paused" for a year).
And it's this group who are being most poorly served by opioid meds: they develop a tolerance for opioids until they're taking very high levels. So now they have an opioid addiction, all the side effects of the meds, and they're still in pain.
This is a really important article, and a good complement to https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-science-says-to-do... .
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But, err, yeah, let's write off anyone who sees this as a pro-pharma shill... ACSH does not seem like “anyone” but rather a documented pro-any-paying-industry-shill...
Did you actually read the article? Did you actually look at any of the statistics it discusses?
Given that I know the resource manipulates information, and that I am not privey to the information presented, but that there's plenty of resources that don't manipulate information that are contrary to this article, yes, I'm going to believe those until there's good reason not to.
The whole "opioid" shit fight can be summarised as: Pharmaceutical companies needed a way to profit from developing alternatives to morphine so they developed a bunch of dangerous bullshit then convinced everyone it was safer than morphine even though it's not. Morphine is awesome and has as its only long term side effect constipation. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Prescribe morphine, including to heroin addicts w…
The claim here is that opioids are not as bad as you've been led to believe. I'll let the article speak for itself, but note that ACSH has been frequently criticized for taking a pro-industry stance on issues: * In 1979, the information director of the FDA said, "Whelan just makes blanket endorsements of food additives. Her organization is a sham, an industry front." * Ralph Nader claimed: "ACSH is a consumer front o…
You didn’t address any of the assertions in the article at all.
The whole "opioid" shit fight can be summarised as: Pharmaceutical companies needed a way to profit from developing alternatives to morphine so they developed a bunch of dangerous bullshit then convinced everyone it was safer than morphine even though it's not. Morphine is awesome and has as its only long term side effect constipation. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Prescribe morphine, including to heroin addicts w…
Honest question.... Long-term morphine use will not dull the mind?
This article misses several points. When we ask people with a substance misuse disorder who use opioids what they started on we find, very often, that they started on meds prescribed by a doctor. Those meds may not have been prescribed to them - they may have been prescribed to a neighbour or family member - but they were prescribed. This is why the massive over-prescription of opioids is a problem. It floods America…
> Opioids may be a good choice for some people with long term pain (I personaly don't think they are) What do you suggest be given to people with chronic pain which can't be managed with lower powered pain killers, say people with cancer induced pain?
You added "which can't be managed with lower powered pain killers" -- that step often isn't tried in the US. Doctors and patients are leaping direct to large quantities of opioids.
I'd prefer it if doctors followed the RCoA guidance: https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/faculty-of-pain-medicine/opioids-awar...
"2. A small proportion of people may obtain good pain relief with opioids in the long-term if the dose can be kept low and especially if their use is intermittent (however it is difficult to identify these people at the point of opioid initiation)."