I think I just had a flash back........

LOL
Big flash backs
How funny that is exactly what Pink Floyd reminds me of.
Never really indulged myself but of course I had friends & that was the music of choice.
Couple times maybe. Once I was to accompany a cousin on a date to the drive-in movie with another friend so she would not be alone & well back seat was occupied.
Well needless to say we both fell into such a sound sleep being the light weight I was & left her alone with the guy anyway.
Lot of help we were. Woke up on the way home asking for the nearest Burger King & a pack of Oreos. LOL
Also thought we were going at the speed of 100 when we were going more like 45. Nope never my thing.
Although can't blame anyone for wanting to gain some relief.
Sammy

i first want to address how people abusing painkillers have been addressed in this thread: as the 'bad guys' and as 'derelicts'.

addiction is a serious disease. addicts are not 'bad guys' or 'derelicts'. addicts are people who suffer with a lifelong incurable disease called addiction.

the laws around prescribing narcotic painkillers, nationally now including hydrocodone, are necessary. i live in an area in the midst of a long-running heroin epidemic that can be traced directly to when Oxycontin became available for prescribing. the electronic databases that have begun being used nationwide to check when narcotic scripts have been filled, and by who, will help prevent doctor shopping and people who obtain numerous false scripts in order to sell pills on the street.

Amen Steph! Addiction is a serious disease that needs to be addressed and not swept under the rug. Addicts do need help. However, I'm not sure that these new laws are going to benefit\help these members of our society. I work with chldren who are caught in this web. Of course I think education is the answer , not more restrictions.
I wish everyone a pain free Sunday!

I fully agree addiction is a sad & serious matter.
For that matter many do not realize the difference between addiction & dependence.
Also feel for those in chronic pain, doctors should treat who specialize in CP.
Rules & regulations are a must but in the end those who want something bad enough find a way.
The most infuriating part of it all is so many in our medical community do not know the difference nor acknowledge CP or the need for treatment. Hard to gain understanding when ignorance exists with the ones we should have understanding from.

The fact remains there are those that are in need to control serious pain to try to maintain some kind of quality in their life.
Sadly those who do choose to take these meds for the wrong reasons risk those who need them for the right reasons.
Yes I'll admit it makes me angry to watch those suffer in pain they did not ask for because these meds fall into the wrong hands.
Makes me mad to see my brother suffer with Cancer & worry about obtaining meds to help with pain.
All the way around it's sad.

Doctors know fine well what diseases/conditions cause pain that disrupts life. Yet they allow patients to suffer after taking an oath
to "do no harm". There's an out cry when animals suffer yet how many people are left with no help no relief?
It's just wrong.
Sammy

I know A LOT about addiction, alcoholism. It comes very, very close to home and I have spent a great deal of time working in and with 12 step programs.

I agree that most addicts and alcoholics were actually born that way -- they didn't make themselves addicts. What is also true is that EVERY addict and EVERY alcoholic has a CHOICE to use or not to use. I know hundreds of sober alcoholics and addicts and none of them were blessed with a reprieve from their compulsion -- they worked hard and they made different CHOICES.

I did NOT have a choice to get RA. There are absolutely ZERO links to my behavior or choices that left me with RA. So to make laws and regulations to protect people from their own bad choices over those who suffer through no choice of their own is ASININE. There is no argument there.

Bad people will still get their hands on it. Good people who refuse to make better choices will get their hands on it. Until we hold people responsible for their bad choices and allow them to pay the consequences for their bad decisions we will have a lot of people making bad decisions. This could get very political if I keep going and that doesn't belong on this board.

But I completely believe that the federal government should stay the heck out of the relationship I have with my doctor. They are NOT doctors and they don't know me like she does.

So while I have HUGE respect for addicts and alcoholics I know -- every single one of them would tell me that "rules" wouldn't have gotten them sober. An active addict will get anything he needs and get around barriers to get at it. Rules are to make the politicians LOOK like they are DOING something. It isn't a problem that can be solved by passing laws and writing rules but it is the easiest thing to do and be able to say, "See, we DID something. See we care."

Here Here RockyMtnGal - excellent post on the subject!

Dope is for dopers. Simple. It doesn't relieve pain. It just bends your mind around the pain for a while. Better than opiates? Maybe, but don't kid yourselves. Marijuana is fool's gold.

My doc just wrote me a script for time release tramadol. This required a paper script hand delivered to my pharmacy. I was surprised and annoyed by this. One trip to the pharmacy to deliver the script and one trip the next day to pick it up. With all the meds I take now on this 30 day thing, it is making me a bit crazy. I am at the pharmacy almost every week, and spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to get all these meds to run out at the same time. I have a full time job, I get really tired and do not have the energy for this extra running around.
About the MMJ, always made me nervous, but I'm sure it works great for some. Sounds like more running around to me.
Anyway, my new time release tramodol isn't cutting it tonight, I'm awake again with pain. Funny how much pain we just get used to dealing with!

addicts/alcoholics only have a choice to use or not to use when they are sober. that's the whole point of step one - we are POWERLESS over our addiction when we are active. once we stop using, we have the power and the choice. i did not choose to have RA, i did not choose to be an addict, and anyone who thinks that addicts have a choice when faced with their substance is lucky. as much as we talk about 'terminal uniqueness' in the rooms, addiction is not the same for everyone.

where i live, oxycodone has heavily contributed to a heroin epidemic. i work in the field, i'm in recovery, and we can draw very specific conclusions in correlation to oxycodone's approval, increase in hospitalizations for overdoses, and a boom in IV heroin use.

yes, doctors should be able to treat chronic pain. but we should not have to deal with pill mills in our neighborhoods that perpetuate the opiate addiction cycle. i'd rather make an extra trip to the pharmacy than have another kid addicted to pills. maybe that's just me, but after seeing firsthand - and after experiencing firsthand - the devastation of opiate addiction, i'll always make that choice.

Amen to the government staying out of my medical.
Actually I'd like the government to put their 2 cents in where it would help. Get these insurance companies to stop having more input then the doctors when treating the patient.

There will never be a perfect world. Yet working hard with common sense in place there should be options doctors can provide for patients to maintain quality.
Heck with all the rules in place for pain management still can't prevent meds getting in the wrong hands yet it can help. Nothing will stop it all together.
I've sat in the waiting room & exam room listening to patients "red flagged". Calling for early refills, failing urine tests etc.........
Never have I seen the attitude from doctors in regards to narcotic therapy. It's appalling to be treated like your doing something wrong simply because you do not want to suffer.
It's down right depressing.
Everyone has the right to live without out suffering.
To be productive & content or at least try.
Without fear of repercussions & judgement.
It's hard enough to live in pain & accept daily life as we know it has changed. Before RA my doctor told my husband & I that I would have to learn to live with pain daily. Fighting depression was & can be a daily journey. Fighting for relief & medication more then doubles that battle.
It's hard to empathize with those that threaten my ability to gain relief.
All I want is some control & what others have. To live a life that holds some promise of good things. Let's face it when pain is crippling it can be hard.

I find it funny how the government wants us to remain productive & contributing. Yet blocks the ability to get the help we need. So when we no longer can remain working disability is denied.
Makes no sense.
I'm very curious to see if medical use of MJ does help.
I don't know anything about it but I do know there are different kinds. I wonder if one helps over another depending on the pain?

The question of it's effectiveness on pain has been asked over & over on groups like this. As far as I know it's helpful for certain types of pain.
Ive heard of one person who takes it for back pain with success.

Another thing doctors/medical community cannot agree on.
Some prescribe without hesitation others won't even discuss the topic.
I have a feeling it will be used more in the future. Listening to patients at my PMs not able to obtain their pain meds it may soon be a more open option.
Pharmaceutical will loose some business though so I think it may be a battle.
In the long run It comes down to who's pocket is benefiting.
Just my opinion.
Ok enough rambling off for me.
Sammy

doctors are afraid to prescribe pain meds because of the red tape. it's more trouble than it's worth to work on the eprescribe and the federal check websites that help ensure patients aren't double dipping into narcotic prescriptions. it's easier to refer to pain management, where that's all they do, than to outfit your local doctor's office to prescribe long term pain medication.

i agree that those who want something bad enough will find a way; why make it easier for them? if you have a doctor that is ignorant to chronic pain, imho you need a new doctor. we have to advocate for ourselves. and as far as it being hard to gain understanding when ignorance exists - i'm assuming you're talking about living with chronic pain. the same can be said for addiction/mental health issues. as has been swiftly demonstrated in this thread - the belittling of addicts by referring to them in negative ways. how is our chronic pain more important that our addiction, or vice versa? both are important and need recognition and treatment.

the laws around narcotic prescriptions have been tight where i live for years, like what's going into effect nationwide now, but chronic pain patients have been able to receive treatment for their pain. it's hard to see how it's affected the opiate epidemic here, but addicts i speak to say it is much harder to doctor shop and is near impossible to get multiple prescriptions filled.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day you fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way. Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town waiting for someone or something to show you the way. Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain. You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today and then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run you missed the starting gun. You run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking and racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Oh, sorry. Somebody said something about Floyd.