Try THIS link. I couldn't cut/paste from messages but hopefully from the source.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/us-painkillers-abuse_b_1263565.html?

I believe this is part 1- I haven't read it yet but wanted to get it here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/prescription-painkillers_b_1240722.html

SAdly, this is just another case of the govt making up numbers to keep spending tax dollars.
And we are the victims. Wish I could sue!@!!!!!

Have we advanced at all since the middle ages??
Yes, we no longer torture people for not being the "proper" religion.
We now torture people for being ill.
There is a massive difference in the two........ in the first case people had a choice, in the second we have little choice at all.

Those were very interesting articles Thallajen... Thank you for posting them...

In some ways, I am so glad I live in Australia, Yes we are heavily controlled, however, real CP / patients have access to the medications that enable us to have a relatively "normal "Life"...

Every Patient is linked into a central / national database and a red flag goes up as soon as people start to abuse / manipulate the system, ie multiple doctors... excessive scripts on controlled drugs etc.

Doctors are also monitored, if they are over prescribing based on a professional level ie (being a PM doctor or a GP / PCP etc) above the "average" or "norm" they have to "please explain".... and provide proof of their patients condition etc, and, are then peer reviewed for inconsistencies..

I know the system here is "Big Brother" but it seems to keep the potential abuse under control while maintaing quality care for the patients requiring the medication(s).. There will be some that disagree with me on that..!!

I usually see another local GP to review my regular Doctor's prescription practice (I choose to do this).... A... it is a medication and peer review, .. B... Helps my specialists ie Rheumy, PM team etc, and,... C... helps me feel comfortable that I am getting the right treatment / care.

Hope the US government can take some control of the system and hopefully implement sensible strategies to enable patients to live relatively "normal" lives... and have access vital treatments.
It's a sad situation to be in and now seems to me, to be just another case of manipulated figures, political and media hype(sp) going totally out of control.... to disguise poor performance and to protect those that CHOOSE to abuse medications...

Sorry you guys are the ones being persecuted from impractical policies and procedures....... Hopes for sensibility..... Cheers S
(apologizes if I have offended anyone, just seeing it from a different countries medical system's point of view)

Good Point Seeker,

My Doc has had to defend his prescriptions (successfully) repeatedly. It a good thing I am so busted up?

MM

You didn't offend ME! I travel a lot and I've talked to people in different countries about the way pain is handled. In Scotland I met a tour guide who has Fibro, and in England I met a hotel worker with RSD in her one entire side. It was SO weird to me to see her working literally using ONE side of her body but she was amazing. I was walking with a cane and she was sitting on a stool behind the desk (the only employee who did so) and we kind of laughed at each other and she asked what was wrong. When I told her I had RSD she kind of squealed and said, "OMG, me too!" It's a SMALL world.

She told me that she has like a "buddy system" of doctors- 2, like you have. One prescribes her pain meds and her regular doc gets copies of those and they discuss the case (the 2 docs) and she said she was dealing really well. That was years ago but I've never forgotten it. She also said something about the health care system there and that her parents had their own insurance? I can't recall it ALL but not everyone is on National Health Care there. At least I think that is how she said it. She did say she'd be treated the same either way.

ANOTHER woman I met on Carnaby Street in London back in the late 80's told me that in England, drug addicts could register AS an addict with the government and get their drugs given to them! The govt. wanted to be sure that they weren't harmed by street drugs as the heroin often contained bad things. (As if heroin itself isn't bad?) Again, this was back in the 80's before I HAD a pain problem, but I never forgot it. It just seemed so...civilized.

Not that I condone addiction, but if you're going to take heroin and AIDS was just a few years old, it's good to have the govt looking after those people, making sure they had clean needles, etc. At the same time in OUR country, our President pulled $ from AIDS research that could've stopped it from being an epidemic. In fact our "leader" never uttered the word AIDS until he was out of office- he thought it was just a "homosexual" disease and wanted nothing to do with it. As if a disease knows sexuality!

So I truly appreciated the way they handled it in England back then. Now, this was a LONG time ago when I was in college and I have NO idea what they do now, but it seems to me that opiate addicts are the biggest problem in the states and back in the 80's in London, they sure knew how to keep pain patients and addicts separate. Again, not condoning it, but it seemed to work for them.

Your Australian system sounds good, too. I wish our country could stop the partisan crap and just deal with each other. And to make it even harder, we have 50 states and each can and do have their own laws. It's MY opinion that until we address this on a Federal Level, nothing will get done except for putting doctors in jail or suspending their licenses, sending real pain patients away, and using addicts as the reason for making these laws. And the addicts always know how to find their drugs, so they get off w/o worrying about finding a new doc or withdrawal.

I don't want to give the impression that I approve of addicts, because I'm furious at what they've done to make our CP docs leave the business. Every time I have to "roll the dice" at my Pain doc to see if I need to take a urine test, I get angry at those addicts. And I'm stunned every time I read or see on tv or movies how they use the meds! I don't get why ANYONE would inject a pill when they could just swallow it! But I'm terrified of needles so I wouldn't get it.

But honestly, what scares me the most is that I'm a Mom who works- I travel a week a month, and spend 1-2 weeks a year in Europe, and I have RSD. I'm able to get around and do what I need to do, but if the meds were taken away, what would I do? I worry about my poor doctor b/c I read how they are after pain docs in this country and my doc is so conservative! He won't break or stretch a rule, he follows guidelines to a T and he treats a lot of people. So did Dr. Hurwitz, who was featured in part one of that article.

Dr. Hurwitz was an amazing man who was infuriated by the government getting involved in his cases and he stood up for himself. I knew a man who was seeing him (I think he passed away now but am unsure) and this man told me that Dr. Hurwitz said it was a matter of principle and he'd fight till the end b/c he did nothing wrong. Yet you can read about what was done to him.

My old doctor, also a Dr. H but a different guy, knew of Dr. Hurwitz's case and was sickened by it. I believe he spoke in front of Congress on the matter of pain control, and he spoke often at medical schools, etc. I miss him a lot, and I know he'd be fighting this like he did most of his life. He gave up a lucrative psychiatric practice to study and go into Pain Management. He was so involved that he didn't take care of himself and ended up finding out he had kidney disease & died 4 days later! He went out fighting!

It's certainly a mess, if you ask me, and I truly pray that compassion and empathy return and we can be treated as we need. I'm not saying we need a blank prescription pad, but does it have to be so hard for the doctors? Not that they all are wonderful, but sometimes I can see their points. Why risk a career when they could be making more $ doing something else? The ones who stick to it (NOT the pill mill docs) are very brave. The ones who do it half-a$$ed should be run out of town. We have a whole hospital full of those types of doctors.

I think a Federal system showing what each person fills (much like my state does) would work wonders. I mean, it bothers me on a freedom level, but it's one freedom I can give up if it means that my doctor and I aren't bothered. I only get my meds from him and I wouldn't need any from anyone else.

I guess I'm just ready to say, ya know what? I don't abuse meds so go ahead, count my pills. I'll give a urine test. Call me in for a spot check. It's annoying BUT I can keep my pain controlled. And that means I can be a Mom, Wife, and whatever else I am in life.

We all have different ideas, but maybe our countries can learn from each other. I have NO problem with addicts being arrested when they break the law. I should have more empathy but after almost 15 years I have about lost it. But I have to remember that we have so many people to blame in America on this issue. The addicts, the pill mills, the docs who work for the pill mills, and of course, the govt who goes about it all the wrong way. And on a human level, or a HUMANE one, who the hell is someone to deny relief to CP patients?

I sure hope people start writing their reps, both state and Federal, and paying attention. The rights we lose each day are growing. And what is between a doctor and a patient should be sacred. Boy, we've got a LONG way to go!

Thanks for this!

Not at all- we're all in the same boat and anything we can do to help each other is great. :) But it was actually a DS member who sent it to me via messages. Thanks again, Bill. I can't wait for part 3 to come out. I'll be watching Huffington Post to see when his next article comes out. So well-researched! And as a journalist for many years when I was younger, I know that it's not easy to get this stuff printed. It's not "popular". Let's hope the writer continues to keep an eye on the problem!

Trulu amazing is that they count as a drug death any death where any narcotic is in the blood.

Consider cancer. My mother did not "die" from cancer. She died from "heart failure secondary to dehydration".
It was cancer that destroyed her intestines leading to the dehydration. But that does not count.

When the gov wants to gather stats to support their "war on drugs" they change the reporting stats in the favor of what they want.

Leaves you feeling real warm and fuzzy about all those stats spouted all the time.

Huff is great! Good "Points" re: needle exchanges as I was swiping as many as possible from every Doc or Vet I saw back in "72" to exchange simply because I saw the rusty, blood covered ones people I knew were using together! No one but a few were even speaking of AIDS back then.

My G'Friend contracted Hep-C from one lost weekend but has just completed a new drug trial and is now CURED! Clean, bug free, zip, gone, done deal, book closed so if any of you know of someone with Hep-C, tell them a cure is one the way! Hit me up for information as there are many trials in progress and some are very dangerous and DON'T WORK! Her host company just sold itself to Squibb so there goes the sky rocketing prices but at least now there will be some publicity and hope!

Thanks for the spreading of information! More! More!

Madman, Mark

I have seen loss of freedom in the name of GOOD do some really bad things. We can not see the end result nor do we know what some evil will do with that freedom.

COnsider that the freedom to open pain clinics in FLA contributed to the Pill mills that were nothing more than legal drug pushers.
Until people take responsibility and understand that their actions have effects beyond themselves, socitey will always have ills and the weakiest will always be the most injured.

Interesting read
Thanks for the info

Be Well seak peace
Michael

Very interesting article and thread...
Thank you, thaliajen..........hug.....jc..

T*ank you for t*is post!

I ran into this on facebook's cp site. Thanks for spreading it. Lets us feel not so alone.......it's a crime not to treat us. Especially if we have mri's to prove it. Thanks again.