House Oversight Committee: America’s Heroin and Opioid Abuse Epidemic
Discussion
Rehab Can't Be the Only Solution
Republican John Mica, got quite vocal at the hearing, when he stated that rehabilitation is not enough when it comes to dealing with heroin and opioid addiction. As he stated, "treatment is at the end of the process. They've already been addicted." Mica called for immediate action, "we haven't killed this many people in multiple-year wars as we're killing in one year. We are going to lose half a million people in a decade at this rate. Every family has been affected by it, and now it's just a slaughter out of control."
Emergency Fund
Representative Carolyn Maloney was one...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 24, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
CDC Releases Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids
The dramatic increase in overdose deaths due to opioids has been a major focus of political and medical leaders over the last few months, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new guidelines for practitioners to think twice before prescribing opioid medications for their patients.
The guidelines, which are voluntary, ask primary care providers who are treating adults with chronic pain to consider alternatives to prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, to limit treatment length, and to monitor their patients to see if the opioids are the best choice for them.
Even though...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 21, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
I’m a doctor. I worry every time I prescribe painkillers to a patient. - Vox
"Please, I need my Oxycodone!" my patient, M, pleaded with me.
My eyes met his. I observed every fleeting facial expression, hoping to gauge his intentions. The discussion about whether to continue to prescribe this medication was one I'd had too many times with too many patients over the past few months.
"My arthritis is always worst in the winter," he said, rubbing his lower back.
It was a snowy afternoon in clinic, and M and I were in the midst of a debate. Oxycodone is an opioid medication, and, like other painkillers such as Oxycontin, Percocet, and Vicodin, it carries a significant risk of ...
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 16, 2016 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs
I ’m a doctor. I worry every time I prescribe painkillers to a patient. - Vox
& quot;Please, I need my Oxycodone! & quot; my patient, M, pleaded with me. < br > < br > My eyes met his. I observed every fleeting facial expression, hoping to gauge his intentions. The discussion about whether to continue to prescribe this medication was one I & #39;d had too many times with too many patients over the past few months. < br > < br > & quot;My arthritis is always worst in the winter, & quot; he said, rubbing his lower back. < br > < br > It was a snowy afternoon in clinic, and M and I were in the midst of a debate. Oxycodone is an opioid medication, and, like other painkillers such as Oxycontin, Percocet,...
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 16, 2016 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs
No More DEX
For over a week I had to take a little dexamethasone (DEX) now and then to manage a severe pain in my back and lower right abdomen. I don ' t know for sure why the DEX fixed the pain when Vicodin didn ' t, but it was magic. DEX is a powerful anti-inflammatory, so my theory is that something was inflamed and pressing on the spinal cord, and the DEX reduced that inflammation.
If that ' s what happened, I don ' t know why the inflammation showed up, or why it went away. I haven ' t taken any DEX for three full days now, and I ' m glad to be off DEX because it can have serious side effects from long term use.&nb...
Source: Myeloma Hope - March 4, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: blogs
No More DEX
For over a week I had to take a little dexamethasone (DEX) now and then to manage a severe pain in my back and lower right abdomen. I don't know for sure why the DEX fixed the pain when Vicodin didn't, but it was magic. DEX is a powerful anti-inflammatory, so my theory is that something was inflamed and pressing on the spinal cord, and the DEX reduced that inflammation.
If that's what happened, I don't know why the inflammation showed up, or why it went away. I haven't taken any DEX for three full days now, and I'm glad to be off DEX because it can have serious side effects from long term use. I ma...
Source: Myeloma Hope - March 4, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: blogs
Adventure In Pain
Lots has happened since my last post, and this is a record of those events. I have to write it somewhere. It ' s interesting to me, part of the journey, but you ' ll be the judge. It ' s mostly whining.
Background for the reader: Last Wednesday I had an infusion of a study drug and an infusion of Zometa, and also began a week of oral Valtrex in case my back pain might be the prodrome for shingles. By Friday the pain in my back and abdomen was much more pronounced, continuing into Saturday. I posted about that here.Saturday, February 20, 2016:
I have a new respect for people who are obliged to ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - February 24, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: DEX dexamethasone kidney pain Source Type: blogs
Adventure In Pain
Lots has happened since my last post, and this is a record of those events. I have to write it somewhere. It's interesting to me, part of the journey, but you'll be the judge. It's mostly whining.
Background for the reader: Last Wednesday I had an infusion of a study drug and an infusion of Zometa, and also began a week of oral Valtrex in case my back pain might be the prodrome for shingles. By Friday the pain in my back and abdomen was much more pronounced, continuing into Saturday. I posted about that here.
Saturday, February 20, 2016:
I have a new respect for people who are obliged...
Source: Myeloma Hope - February 24, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: DEX dexamethasone kidney pain Source Type: blogs
2016 The Year of Pharmacy Enforcement
Conclusion
The unfortunate thing is that in all four cases this was preventable. In the Palisades, Nashville and CVI cases, the proper internal review and the establishment of SOPs, basic training, and monitoring were the need. In the case of MedIV, establishing a Quality Management System and following current Good Manufacturing Practices could have prevented needless tragedy.
Over the years, pharmacy compliance programs have been sorely neglected. Pharmacies and pharmacists need to take compliance seriously and take the necessary steps to establish or reinforce their programs -- before the Government com...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 19, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Medicine is often more complicated than the first positive finding
77-year-old Edward Tripp had been to the emergency room with chest pain last Friday night. It was relentless, aching, and involved the upper part of his left chest.
He had no cough, fever or shortness of breath. He was not sweaty or nauseous, and his blood work, EKG and chest x-ray were normal. He was distinctly tender over the part of his rib cage where bone and cartilage join each other a few inches from his breastbone. He had indeed done some heavy work with his arms in the days before, so the doctor made the assessment that his pain was caused by this apparent costochondritis.
Ed received a shot of pain medication at t...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 16, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: A Country Doctor, MD Tags: Conditions Pulmonology Source Type: blogs
Opioid Drugs for Mental Anguish: Basic Research and Clinical Trials
The prescription opioid crisis of overdosing and overprescribing has reached epic proportions, according to the North American media. Just last week, we learned that 91% of patients who survive opioid overdose are prescribed more opioids! The CDC calls it an epidemic, and notes there's been “a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers and heroin.” A recent paper in the Annual Review of Public Health labels it a “public health crisis” and proposes “interventions to address the epidemic of opioid addiction” (Kolodny et al., 2015).In the midst of this public and professional outc...
Source: The Neurocritic - January 7, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Stealth Public Relations and Health Advocacy, Special Pleadings and the Opposition to Guidelines Discouraging Overuse of Narcotics
As I have written before as a physician who saw too many dire results of intravenous drug abuse, I was amazed how narcotics were pushed as the treatment of choice for chronic pain in the 1990s, with the result that the US was once again engulfed in an epidemic of narcotic abuse and its effects. In mid-December, 2015, as reported in the Washington Post,The nation continues to suffer through a widespread epidemic to prescription opioids and their illegal cousin, heroin. The CDC estimated that 20 percent of patients who complain about acute or chronic pain that is not from cancer are prescribed opioids. Health-care prov...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 4, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: CDC Cephalon conflicts of interest deception Endo Health Solutions Johnson and Johnson narcotics public relations Purdue Pharma stealth health policy advocacy Source Type: blogs
Annual NIDA Survey Shows Declines in Teen Drug Use
The kids are all right.Every year, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health, conducts its Monitoring the Future survey of drug use among American young people in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades.This year, students got very good marks. “We are heartened to see that most illicit drug use is not increasing, non-medical use of prescription opioids is decreasing, and there is improvement in alcohol and cigarette use rates,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of NIDA. Here are some highlights from this year’s study:— Despite nationwide concerns over prescription opio...
Source: Addiction Inbox - December 15, 2015 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
Teens and Prescription Drug Use: Do You Know When to Intervene?
Natalie W.* was a beautiful, vivacious 12 year old. Yes, this is a true story and yes, she was 12 – not as uncommon as you might think. Her energy and kindness were contagious. In spite of her parents’ divorce 3 years earlier, she seemed happy during her weekend visits to her father’s house. She nurtured a kitten she found in the street and enjoyed playing with her baby brother, her half-brother from her mother’s remarriage. There were no signs that Natalie would be difficult for her parents, until the day that she didn’t come home after school and was brought to the door late that night by a police officer, in...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - October 31, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Publc Health Rx Source Type: blogs
Stemming The Tide Of Prescription Opioid Overuse, Misuse, And Abuse
This article describes how Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans, is working to reduce opioid abuse among its more than 10 million members, and offers insight for the health care system as a whole.
How We Got Here
Beginning in the late 1990s, patient advocacy organizations began asking the medical community whether pain was being under-treated. In 1999, the Veterans Health Administration launched the “Pain as the 5th Vital Sign” initiative, urging doctors to assess pain at every visit. Soon, other major health care accreditation and regulatory authorities, such as the Joint Commi...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 22, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Samantha DuPont, Athan Bezaitis and Murray Ross Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Health Professionals Hospitals Innovations in Care Delivery Organization and Delivery Population Health Public Health addiction chronic pain Kaiser Permanente oxycodones Substance Abuse Source Type: blogs
