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Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

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Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#151

Post by vixen99 »

evincarofautumn wrote: post #44
krschultz wrote: post #15

I've never taken an illegal drug in my life. I've smoked a cigarette about 5 times. I drank in college but lately I've cut that out of my life as well. I had a security clearance with drug testing requirements for a while and now I just don't like the feeling of a hangover from alcohol or the risk of ingesting random plants/chemicals made by shady people. In short: I'm the most vanilla, square, anti-drug person you c…

I’m an alcoholic. I’ve cut back on my use significantly, and I’m currently in a period of abstinence. Because alcohol is legal and socially accepted, it’s entirely my responsibility to manage my behaviour and keep my use to non-problematic levels. Not everyone has the social support to make that happen. I think legalisation would be beneficial, as you say, because the criminal justice system does not serve addicts. H…

Difficult to believe that 'better social support' doesn't mean a government spending more money. Is the tax payer expected to fund people to 'safely enjoy drugs in moderation'?

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#152

Post by ihartley »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #66
creshal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> overprescription of opioids because they're cheap It's a bit scary how eager doctors are to prescribe them. "Hey doc, I'm in pain" – "Here's a bottle of painkillers, NEXT" Bitch, I don't want painkillers, I want you to figure out why my body is hurting when it's not supposed to. It's surprisingly frustrating to talk doctors into looking for the cause instead of treating the symptom. Thankfully, the metamizole they…

> I don't want painkillers, I want you to figure out why my body is hurting when it's not supposed to. It's surprisingly frustrating to talk doctors into looking for the cause instead of treating the symptom. To be fair, this is related to the symptom you're asking them about. Pain often occurs with no apparent cause. As an extreme example, it is normal for amputees to experience the sensation of a "phantom hand" whe…

Phantom limb is actually an interesting case that may reveal more about idiopathic pain as we study brain/body mapping better. If anyone is interested check out the work of VS Ramachandran, here's a somewhat old article about his work with phantom limb patients: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133026897/v-s-ramachandrans-ta...

His latest work has been investigating body integrity identity disorder which is sort of the opposite of phantom limb: where you feel like a part of you doesn't belong.

I believe this gist of the work is that there is a mapping between our body and our brain (this is what enables one to 'know' where your body is in relation to itself when your eyes are closed) that sometimes is overloaded or malformed and can result in these issues.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#153

Post by jgrowl »

krschultz wrote: post #15

I've never taken an illegal drug in my life. I've smoked a cigarette about 5 times. I drank in college but lately I've cut that out of my life as well. I had a security clearance with drug testing requirements for a while and now I just don't like the feeling of a hangover from alcohol or the risk of ingesting random plants/chemicals made by shady people. In short: I'm the most vanilla, square, anti-drug person you c…

I truly believe that history will judge us for the current state of prohibition nearly the same way it has judged us for slavery.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#154

Post by stordoff »

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #120

Just so you know, opioid pain killers are actually not useful for chronic pain at all. Over the long term it actually makes patients sense of pain GO UP. It's excellent for non-chronic pain however.

Not the best choice, certainly, but I would question not useful. I suffer from chronic pain (mostly headaches), and opioids (tramadol/codeine) are the only drugs[1] that have given any relief. I've been using them for about two years; they are still useful, and when I stop using them the pain is about the same it was before.

Fortunately I don't appear to find them addictive - I stopped taking the tramadol after about a year's usage (my consultant raised similar concerns to you - restarted them about three months later as it had been shown they weren't worsening the headaches) cold turkey (I was told it would be worse than stopping heroin), and suffering absolutely no ill effects or withdrawal.

[1] Multiple others have been tried (ibuprofen/diclofenac/amitriptyline/sodium valproate/naproxen/gabapentin and a few others I can't remember), and made no difference to the headaches. The amitriptyline is helping with pain in my hands though.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#155

Post by merpnderp »

joesmo wrote: post #53

Send patients home with Narcan and train the people they live with to administer it as well. Have every EMT, firefighter, and police officer in the nation carry and know how to administer Narcan. Have it be part of every single first aid kit sold in this country. Remove the social stigma of drug abuse. Remove penalties for people who help others who are overdosing. You'd think someone would have some common sense in…

If you stripped away all the anger and emotion in your comment, it would still read just as inflammatory. Maybe more so. Because it's absolutely true. Even though addicts are sick and need help, that's not how they are viewed. They're viewed as lazy worthless members of society who can go die in a gutter.

Yet the most brilliant colleague I ever worked with had be resuscitated twice from heroin overdoses. A hyper productive individual, capable of incredibly feats of software engineering who yet maintained a great work life balance. And while he was sick, society viewed him as a worthless parasite.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#157

Post by encoderer »

daodedickinson wrote: post #67
encoderer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I disagree. There is most certainly a difference between therapeutic use for pain reduction, and the euphoric response normally associated with an opiate high. Most people using opiates on-label are not getting high from them. Even if they do the first couple times they take them, that passes.

I definitely got stratospheric on my prescribed dose of one single Ambien pill (couldn't recognize myself in a mirror, saw kaleidoscopic visions, 2d videos became 3d portals into other dimensions). Absolutely some people could get high on one opiate pill. I understand your skepticism, but I'd like to assure you there is tremendous metabolic diversity.

I didn't say anything about one pill not being enough to get you high. Also, that's not even the question I addressed. The GP said "That's what's necessary for pain relief." -- which is an overstatement.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#158

Post by Igglyboo »

cik2e wrote: post #57
delecti wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more orders of magnitude more dangerous and addictive (in that marijuana is almost impossible to OD on, and isn't addictive at all). Marijuana is certainly not the magical silver bullet some make it out to be, but it's incredibly effective for many people whose only other recourse would be opiates.

Kratom is a great and currently legal alternative. It works on opioid receptors and cannot be fatally overdosed. Unfortunately, many sates are already moving on banning it. Big pharma lobby for the win.

Kratom still comes with risks of withdrawal. Pure leaf kratom would be difficult to OD on, but extracts and tinctures could easily be overdosed on.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#159

Post by jrockway »

vixen99 wrote: post #151
evincarofautumn wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m an alcoholic. I’ve cut back on my use significantly, and I’m currently in a period of abstinence. Because alcohol is legal and socially accepted, it’s entirely my responsibility to manage my behaviour and keep my use to non-problematic levels. Not everyone has the social support to make that happen. I think legalisation would be beneficial, as you say, because the criminal justice system does not serve addicts. H…

Difficult to believe that 'better social support' doesn't mean a government spending more money. Is the tax payer expected to fund people to 'safely enjoy drugs in moderation'?

Why not tax the drugs themselves to provide this support?
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