caution is called for here.
How this message is going to be received is this way: Pain doctors, trained in determining which medication works best for their individual patients’ needs — trained in monitoring their patients for adverse effects, as well as for abusive use — will think twice about prescribing opioids. Hospital staff — squeamish nurses, doctors with specialities other than managing pain, administrators and staffers worried about lawsuits and government backlash, will do similarly. And that means patients with true pains, the type of which only opioids ease, will likely suffer.
They’ll be subjected to more questioning, more suspicions, more hurdles to jump to receive their pain pills. Let’s be real here: True pain sufferers don’t really want to take pain pills — they’re not looking for a high. They just want to be able to function, to go to work, to play with their kids, to have a night’s rest.
But government crackdowns on opioids will impact these patients first and hardest. Their prescription amounts will be cut, and they’ll have to jump through additional hoops to obtain enough pills to get them through the month. Their pharmacies will suddenly refuse to fill their prescriptions for codeine. Their pain specialists won’t be covered by their insurance plans any longer.
But the abusers and illegal users?
They’ll find something else to fill the void. They’ll get their highs some other way.
It’s not that the opioid deaths of recent times should be taken lightly, or even ignored. It’s just that opioids were created for specific pain purposes, and those who meet that criteria should not find themselves in the frightening and pitiful position of having to practically beg for their pain meds.
That’s not the White House’s intent. And it’s not the medical community’s intent, either.
But government crackdowns on health matters that best belong between the patient and doctor are never advantageous to the patient. In this case, in this opioid national emergency case, caution is warranted. Leaving true pain sufferers out in the cold would be an unintended consequence that would nevertheless leave those already distressed, already besieged by sad circumstances, in dire, inconsolable straits — and redundancies and all, that’s not overstating.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/11/opioids-defense-pain-pills/
How this message is going to be received is this way: Pain doctors, trained in determining which medication works best for their individual patients’ needs — trained in monitoring their patients for adverse effects, as well as for abusive use — will think twice about prescribing opioids. Hospital staff — squeamish nurses, doctors with specialities other than managing pain, administrators and staffers worried about lawsuits and government backlash, will do similarly. And that means patients with true pains, the type of which only opioids ease, will likely suffer.
They’ll be subjected to more questioning, more suspicions, more hurdles to jump to receive their pain pills. Let’s be real here: True pain sufferers don’t really want to take pain pills — they’re not looking for a high. They just want to be able to function, to go to work, to play with their kids, to have a night’s rest.
But government crackdowns on opioids will impact these patients first and hardest. Their prescription amounts will be cut, and they’ll have to jump through additional hoops to obtain enough pills to get them through the month. Their pharmacies will suddenly refuse to fill their prescriptions for codeine. Their pain specialists won’t be covered by their insurance plans any longer.
But the abusers and illegal users?
They’ll find something else to fill the void. They’ll get their highs some other way.
It’s not that the opioid deaths of recent times should be taken lightly, or even ignored. It’s just that opioids were created for specific pain purposes, and those who meet that criteria should not find themselves in the frightening and pitiful position of having to practically beg for their pain meds.
That’s not the White House’s intent. And it’s not the medical community’s intent, either.
But government crackdowns on health matters that best belong between the patient and doctor are never advantageous to the patient. In this case, in this opioid national emergency case, caution is warranted. Leaving true pain sufferers out in the cold would be an unintended consequence that would nevertheless leave those already distressed, already besieged by sad circumstances, in dire, inconsolable straits — and redundancies and all, that’s not overstating.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/11/opioids-defense-pain-pills/