Posted on 05/10/2012 9:49:03 PM PDT by iowamark
Americans consume 80 percent of the world's supply of painkillers -- more than 110 tons of pure, addictive opiates every year -- as the country's prescription drug abuse epidemic explodes.
That's enough drugs to give every single American 64 Percocets or Vicodin. And pain pill prescriptions continue to surge, up 600 percent in ten year, thanks to doctors who are more and more willing to hand out drugs to patients who are suffering.
As more people get their hands on these potentially-dangerous drugs, more are taking them to get high. Their drug abuse leads to 14,800 deaths a year -- more than from heroin and cocaine combined.
'We've become a society of wusses,' Long Island, New York, pharmacist Howard Levine told the BBC.
Mr Levine stopped carrying all of the major addictive prescription drugs after he was robbed twice by addicts looking to get high.
Nationwide, police are reporting increases in robberies and other crimes by people who are addicted to oxycodone and hydrocodone, the key ingredient in most prescription pain pills...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I think you are correct.
I think you are correct.
double posting too much must go to sleep.
Sulfites are an oxidation inhibitor. They block oxygen binding. Very bad for asthmatics and copd sufferers.
Oh My, your poor wife.
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful medication.
I pray she gets better soon.
</sarcasm>
Have they banned whiskey again? :)
We probably consume 80% of the world’s milk, beef, seafood, etc., too. Is there an epidemic involving those?
“Consume” or prescribed, big difference. A lot of it is sitting on shelves, in drawers, or went into the trash unused. Besides, Americans paid for the R&D, why can’t we get most of what we paid to have developed?
I understand what you are saying. I had a bad car accident in year 2000. I was prescribed Vicoprofen, which is Hydrocodone with Ibuprofen (which I requested due to the liver side effects of acetaminophen). I stayed on the same dosage for 9 years. Three, 10 milligram tablets a day. Day in, day out. I never asked for an increased dosage, nor ask for a stronger med.
One day when my script ran out after 9 years, I decided not to refill. Quit taking them. No withdrawal from the med, no heebie jeebies, shakes or anything at all. Cold turkey and that was that.
I’m calling BS on this one.
That has to be one of the most brazenly false statements I have ever seen on FR. You have obviously never had a kidney stone, or, you had one and were never given painkillers for it, or the painkillers you were given were not enough to do the job. When I had my kidney stone I went from pain so bad I was vomiting my guts out, to absolute bliss after an injection of hydromorphone. That was followed with hydromorphone pills every two hours, not as effective but a lot better than nothing at all.
"Suck it up"? I don't think so, not when there is a safe alternative. You are welcome to though if you believe drugs are worse than severe pain. We should always have the option and never be forced to take any drugs.
Thank God for painkillers.
My mom had to get off those things. They were causing muscle pain in her arms.
Your mother was wise to get off statins at the first sign of pain. Many people suffer muscle damage from statins. And nobody knows who will experience the damage beforehand. Worse yet, apparently that damage can never be repaired after going off the drug. That is the main reason I refuse to take statins even though I have been prescribed them twice. I eat a lot of oatmeal instead and that gets my numbers within spec, at least for now. They keep lowering the acceptable cholesterol limits.....a great way to sell more drugs.
Last tuesday I attended a luncheon for the sole purpose of hearing the speaker, a heart specialist, talk about statins. I thought he would give an objective, pros and cons, presentation. That idea flew right out the window when he gave the title of his talk “statins, the fountain of youth.” It turned out not to be a fair and objective presentation but a sales pitch. What a joke.
I had the surgery on both wrists and elbows 12 years ago, it hasn't bothered me since.
Extremely painful condition indeed. I wasn't able to even turn off the alarm clock in the morning with two dead hands. The pain would keep me awake for hours.
My now 91 year old mother had the surgery about 5 years ago, her pain went away too.
I can usually tell after 24 hours with nothing that I’m a bit more restless or don’t sleep as well or a hard time falling asleep.
We traveled in a road trip last summer out west with 3 of our younger kids and I didn’t think about taking anything. That night as I laid in bed around 1am unable to sleep it dawned on me why..lol
some folks take huge amounts like 250-400 mg a day and require extensive tapering off time
worse even for those on stronger meds like fentanyl or demerol etc
I try to minimize because I fear them becoming ineffective and have no desire to take super high dosage
but without them just typing with my neck looking at the screen and keyboard is a chore after 10 minutes
and I am not much of a candidate for surgery
the neck injections help...but marginally
I had a friend who took Fioracet and it helped until they got so bad she needed some shot. I don’t recall the name of it but it got to the point where her doctor recommend she have at least two doses in the refrigerator.
I hated seeing her when she was in so much pain, on the one hand.
On the other hand, when she took that shot it eased the pain and gave her some peace.
She wouldn’t talk much or do much for two days and everyone else got some peace too....
I was on 8 loratabs for shoulder pain. Because of the Tylenol danger my doctor put me on Replexan which has ibuprofen (same as loratab 10)in it and not Tylenol and I am down to 6 aday instead of 8 the ibuprofen really helps with inflammation.
This is the government expanding its nanny state, its amazing to see how mane communists who support big government are on free republic
War on this , epidemic that,Keep government out of medicine and stop bloating the government !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.