New CDC Guidelines Seek Doctors' Help In Fighting Opioid Epidemic
In an effort to curb America's deadly opioid crisis, federal health officials are urging doctors to largely avoid prescribing highly addictive painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin when treating patients for chronic pain. The new guidelines, issued Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are directed at primary care providers, who issue about half of all opioid prescriptions. Since 1999, such prescriptions and sales have quadrupled in the United States, a boom that the CDC said has "helped create and fuel" the current epidemic of opioid abuse and overdose. In 2012 alone, doctors han...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - March 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
New CDC Guidelines Aim To Reduce Painkiller Prescribing
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prescription painkillers should not be a first-choice for treating common ailments like back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin.
Amid an epidemic of addiction and abuse tied to these powerful opioids drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging general doctors to try physical therapy, exercise and over-the-counter pain medications before turning to painkillers for chronic pain. Opioid drugs include medications like morphine and oxycodone as well as illegal narcotics like heroin.
RELATED: Em...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - March 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: nealjriley Tags: Health Local News CDC opioid crisis opioids Source Type: news
CDC guidelines aim to curb painkiller prescribing
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prescription painkillers should not be a first-choice for treating common ailments like back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin. (Source: U.S. News - Health)
Source: U.S. News - Health - March 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
CDC Issues Tough New Guidelines on Use of Prescription Painkillers
TUESDAY, March 15, 2016 -- Hoping to stem an epidemic of drug abuse tied to prescription narcotic painkillers such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin, federal officials on Tuesday issued tough new prescribing guidelines to the nation's doctors.
The... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - March 15, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: news
Coronary artery vasospasm induced by cocaine (maybe)
2.5 out of 5 stars
Cocaine-Induced Coronary Artery Vasospasm. Almaddah N, Ajayi TO. N Engl J Med 2016 Feb 4;374:e5
Full Text with video
In a series of amazing studies that are now about three decades old, Richard Lange and his colleagues at Parkland Hospital in Dallas investigated the cardiovascular effects of administering intranasal cocaine to patients to patients during cardiac catheterization for routine workup of chest pain. In an initial study, the group demonstrated that cocaine produced coronary artery vasoconstriction that was relieved by nitroglycerin and exacerbated by smoking a cigarette and also by ad...
Source: The Poison Review - February 4, 2016 Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Tags: Medical cardiovascular effects cocaine coronary artery vasospasm Source Type: news
Prescriptions for Combo Hydrocodone Products Fall After Stricter Controls (FREE)
By Kelly Young
Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH
Prescriptions for combination drugs containing hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin) dropped after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration enacted tighter … (Source: Physician's First Watch current issue)
Source: Physician's First Watch current issue - January 26, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
We know the cure to the opioid epidemic
Like many others, Bill suffered lower back pain. He was prescribed hydrocodone and then methadone, and an overdose killed him at age 33. Lance was prescribed opioids for a root canal, after which the Army veteran became addicted. He died in a Texas hotel room of an overdose at age 26. Michael was prescribed hydrocodone for Crohn's Disease when he was 18 and, after almost three years of escalating dosages, he took his own life with a shotgun after being unable to find a treatment program. The stories of Bill, Lance, and Michael are horrifying ones, all of them beginning with a seemingly benign prescription from a docto...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - January 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Vicodin Scripts Down After Tighter Controls
(MedPage Today) -- A billion fewer hydrocodone combination pills on the market after policy change (Source: MedPage Today Primary Care)
Source: MedPage Today Primary Care - January 25, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
Chronic Pain – Stories Of Struggle And Hope: Part 9 – Addiction Misconceptions
BOSTON (CBS) – Many people who take painkillers say they’re being unfairly targeted in the current war on drugs.
The opioid crisis has been grabbing headlines for months. Gov. Charlie Baker has declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency.
Over 1,200 Massachusetts residents have died from opioid overdoses in 2014. Cindy Steinberg is the policy council chair of the Massachusetts pain initiative.
“We know that 78 percent of people who are abusing these medications did not get them from a physician,” said Steinberg. “They’re getting them on the street, they’re getting diverted, they’re getting th...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - January 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: mwschooley Tags: Health Local News Syndicated Local Chronic Pain – Stories Of Struggle And Hope Rod Fritz Source Type: news
Must-read: combination acetaminophen-opioid formulations should be abandoned
4 out of 5 stars
The prescription paradox of acetaminophen safety. Dart RC, Green JL. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2015 Dec 29 [Epub ahead of print]
Reference
Last week, we pointed out that the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) had issued a position statement on prescribing opioids that had missed a good opportunity to call for abandoning use of pharmaceutical products that combined strong opioids such as hydrocodone with acetaminophen.
I just discovered that a recent editorial by Richard Dart and Jody Green from the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center agree with my take on this matter. They point out that a re...
Source: The Poison Review - January 13, 2016 Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Tags: Medical acetaminophen adverse effects hepatotoxicity opioid Source Type: news
ACMT position statement on prescribing opioids: a missed opportunity
3 out of 5 stars
Safety Issues Regarding Prescription Opioids. American College of Medical Toxicology J Med Toxicol 2016 Jan 5 [Epub ahead of print]
No abstract available
This “Position Statement” from the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) covers 3 topics related to safety issues associated with use of prescription opioids. Unfortunately, some of the positions taken by the College are, to say the least, wishy-washy, and represent a missed opportunity to make some important points forcefully.
The first topic addressed in this statement involves the use of medications that combine acetaminophen with a...
Source: The Poison Review - January 7, 2016 Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Tags: Medical american college of medical toxicology opiates opioids position statement prescribing Source Type: news
Prescription drugs ARE a 'gateway to heroin addiction'
New York University researchers found that 75 per cent of teenagers who abuse heroin got hooked on the drug after abusing prescription painkillers, such as Percocet, Vicodin and Oxycontin. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - December 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
That Time My Ovary Grew Something It Shouldn't, Twice
I felt it jolt me awake and suddenly I knew I couldn't really move. My stomach was clenched tight from the stabbing sensation, my legs were curled, and I laid there in a fetal position in our bed waking my fiancé up with my groaning. "Do you need a Gas X again or suppository? I told you not to eat all that ice cream," she mumbled half-asleep like she's had to every other night for years because I'm a stubborn fat ass. Though it was very possible Chocolate Malted Crunch was to blame, something told me it was something else. And I was right. Later at the hospital that day, we learned I had ruptured an ovarian cyst on my ri...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - December 3, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
The problem with prescription painkillers
Pain. It’s a nearly unavoidable part of the human experience. Whether it comes as the result of an injury or accident, surgery, or a health issue such as a headache or infection, arthritis, or fibromyalgia, pain can interfere with the ability to sleep, work, and enjoy life.
There are many ways to treat pain. Opioid drugs are one of them. Some examples include hydrocodone (used in Vicodin), oxycodone (used in Percocet), methadone, codeine, and morphine. These prescription drugs reduce the brain’s recognition of pain by binding to certain receptors in the body. In many situations, opioids are a reasonable choice for cont...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - October 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Wynne Armand, MD Tags: Addiction Drugs and Supplements Pain Management naloxone narcan opioids painkillers prescription painkillers Source Type: news
Surge in heroin use tied to prescription opioid abuse
Heroin use has increased 63 percent over the last 10 years in the United States, experts report. That increase is closely tied to the growing abuse of prescription opioids such as oxycodone (Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and codeine. An alarming 45 percent of Americans addicted to heroin are also addicted to prescription opioids. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - August 18, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
