Most Teens Who Abuse Opioids First Got Them From a Doctor (livescience.com) 181
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Live Science: Most American teenagers who abuse opioid drugs first received the drugs from a doctor, a new study finds. Researchers looked at trends in the use of prescription opioids among U.S. adolescents from 1976 to 2015. They found a strong correlation between teens' taking the drugs for medical reasons and then later taking them for "non-medical" reasons, or in other words, abusing them, according to the study published today (March 20) in the journal Pediatrics. In 2015, the the most recent year of the study, 8 percent of adolescents reported abusing prescription opioids, and the majority of them had been prescribed opioids previously, the researchers found. The U.S. consumes about 80 percent of the world's prescription opioid supply. There has been consistent growth in the number of prescriptions written for opioids in the U.S., rising from 76 million prescriptions in 1991 to 207 million in 2013, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. However, the new study revealed that among teens, both medical and non-medical use of opioid medications has declined in recent years, starting in 2013. The decline may be due to careful prescribing practices, Sean McCabe, a research professor at the University of Michigan, said. There are several medical procedures that teens may undergo for which opioids are recommended for pain management. But doctors can be careful about the amount of these drugs they prescribe, and limit refills. Parents can make sure that any leftover pills are discarded. Another report was published today in the journal Pediatrics that analyzed data from the National Poison Data System. It found that of all 188,468 prescription opioid exposures reported for youth under 20 years old between 2000 and 2015, nearly all the exposures occurred at a home and were most common among children under 5, accounting for six of every 10 cases. According to NPR, those children were able to get their hands on the medication because it was improperly stored or was in a purse.
Doctors hate us... (Score:1)
and only care about profits. This is more proof of that.
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A doctor never gains anything by losing his/her temper. EVER. Something I learned quite early in my career. People are entitled to their opinions because we understand that these can come about for any number of reasons. I don't expect my patients to love me, worship me or even like me. It makes not one bit of difference to the quality of the attention and courtesy you will receive from me. One minute I can be treating a wealthy man, another I can be treating a drug addict brought to me in handcuffs. I trea
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Doctors? This is about pharma companies. Having bestowed upon us four different boner pills, you would think they could come up with an addiction-free painkiller.
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Not this stupid crap again and has nothing to do with the article but gets said by some crazy poster with a grudge and remembers being cut when they were born.
It's not that a person maintains a memory of being cut - It's that circumcision permanently deadens sensitivity. That comes into play during sex. It that worth giving up so that you don't have to wash your penis? Is that a parent's decision to make?
That said, I don't think it's a case of "only caring about profits" as was implied above. Many parents feel it's exactly their decision to make and proceed to make it long before the owner of the penis in question can voice an opinion. The doctors just go along w
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Fuck you. You deserve at least a black eye for all the physical pain I suffered without even knowing I'd been mutilated at birth. And I do remember it being done to me, a memory I was never able to place until I'd learned what had been done to me. Troll or not, fuck you and fuck anybody who agrees with you. All of you need a good black eye.
And I don't even want the damned body part. That's what's even more sick about you assholes. You call sex change surgery "mutilation" MUTILATION! After you had the
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Full disclosure, I am a critical care physician (4 yrs college, 4yrs med school, 3 yrs IM residency, 3 years critical care)
How much do you think the average doctor gets for prescribing an opioid? Doctors aren't pharmacies. Doctors aren't pharmaceutical companies. Doctors aren't insurance companies.
This is a really rough estimate......
Look long and hard look [maryland.gov] at this reimbursement schedule (also look at how poorly Medicaid pays). Pay attention to these 2:
Office Visit, Initial, New Patient Level 2 - $75 for ~20 minutes
Offiice Visit, Established Patient Level 2 - $45 or ~20 minutes
So 3 patients/hour x 8 hours//day
Lets say half the pa
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Honestly, I thought it was basic knowledge that doctors don't get paid to write scripts for pain medications--unless the 'patient' is bribing them to write ones for them.
Also, don't forget that you've got to pick the right specialty--neuro and OB/Gyn can be bad here, because of a long history of ambulance-chasing trial lawyers and bad science in the tort system has resulted in the malpractice insurance being high, which in some states has resulted in a lack because nearly nobody can afford to practice those
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and only care about profits. This is more proof of that.
Doctors = legalized crack dealers
You wouldn't say most patients then are "legalized crackheads", would you? So why then, since most doctors don't give pain medicine to make money (see below) like a crack dealer, nor do doctors give pain medications because they know a large portion (most don't) will become addicts like crack dealers, would you say that about doctors?
There is also a bit of cultural shift - some of it driven by the pharmaceutical industry pushing "pain free" and away from the thought process of our grandparents that some ach
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Doctors Urge CMS, Joint Commission to Rethink Pain Treatment to Help Stem Opioid Epidemic [hhnmag.com]
But... but... (Score:5, Funny)
Our Attorney-General has told us that it was all because of pot!!!!
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Nobody ever says, "Gee, this marijuana is entertaining, I think I'll go buy a bag of gross dirt that's been in someone's rectum and inject the liquified contents into my arm!"
But I knew kids in HS (2
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fucking high five to you! I used to abuse opoids. Than later in life started taking them for pain, but i have switched to kratom. its wonderful for pain, dont really get the high from it. and i smoke weed to get high. because it motivates me to read and learn shit and get into my projects. also helps with anxiety/panic attacks i get from time to time. sorry to hear about your son. but that is close to how i got started on them(high school friends). Its really hell when you want to stop but cant because of t
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Food isn't a necessity. It is a choice. Everyone likes to be well-fed. Everyone. But stop being so narcissistic thinking that you have to not starve all the time. Life isn't supposed to be like that.
Re:Just stop (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's actually a medical condition. Opiate withdrawal is not just a lack of feeling good. Addiction can happen even when the drugs are taken exactly as prescribed. Sometimes even that significant drawback is justified by the amount of pain the person would otherwise be in.
If the DEA would quit practicing medicine without a license it would be a solvable medical problem rather than a legal issue.
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It is true that an adequate environment and rewarding life helps to break the addiction cycle, but that doesn't mean there is no medical aspect to addiction.
Re:Just stop incrementally (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's actually a medical condition. Opiate withdrawal is not just a lack of feeling good. Addiction can happen even when the drugs are taken exactly as prescribed. Sometimes even that significant drawback is justified by the amount of pain the person would otherwise be in.
I was prescribed opiates for pain after I had spinal surgery on c4-c6 in my neck. I was on them for months. The haze they produced meant I didn't really care about anything at all. This was not normal. It began to dawn on me that I was dependent on these drugs. I posted about the the withdrawal symptoms of opiates [slashdot.org] while I was going through the withdrawals.
I discussed this again with the doctor who confirmed I had been on them long enough to develop an opiate dependence. I can tell you what it feels like to be a junkie despite the fact that I have a completely different set of behaviors to draw on and nothing to reinforce an addictive behavior like that.
You feel confident, nothing really bothers you, but it's a false result of being detached from your pain and all of your emotions, which mean you come off as a stable balanced person. However you have very little empathy and you are truly apathetic. I found it to be an ugly sensation. Disconnected, I didn't care about anything.
When you think about it to be disconnected from pain also means to be disconnected from joy, from people. Next time you are in pain ask yourself how real it is. No sane person has that discussion with someone in pain. Opiates just make the pain and everything else, not real. So I would argue now that pain and joy are more real than materialistic concerns. That the connections in life, pain and joy are perhaps the only real things we have. My experiences with opiates were the more you take the less real you are.
If the DEA would quit practicing medicine without a license it would be a solvable medical problem rather than a legal issue.
True that.
Re:Just stop incrementally (Score:4, Informative)
No, it's actually a medical condition. Opiate withdrawal is not just a lack of feeling good. Addiction can happen even when the drugs are taken exactly as prescribed. Sometimes even that significant drawback is justified by the amount of pain the person would otherwise be in.
My brother passed away a couple years ago. He used a lot of pain medicine. I think it contributed. If nothing else it masked the pancreatitis for at least some time. He was on just far too much stuff. It was insane and all of it was legally prescribed. I flushed it all after he passed. It took several flushes.
From everything I've read, he might have lived a far longer life had he smoked pot instead for the pain. Again, not a perfect solution, and you really want to get off them if you possibly can, but the opiods seem a lousy long term solution.
If marijuana really is a better choice and less hazardous than many opiods and such, then we really should get rid of the ridiculous classification. Again, I'm certainly not espousing smoking it recreationally, but if it is the choice between one that will kill you and pot, then pot seems less bad.
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Damn Mr AC, I'm sorry to hear that.
Opiates are a lousy long term solution. Like you're observing life and not really participating, not present.
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It's good that you added that to our water supply instead of taking it back to a pharmacy or a police station for proper disposal.
Re: Just stop incrementally (Score:1)
Don't tell anyone else but I poop into your water supply on a daily basis.
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As a civil engineer (albeit not a wastewater one), I was thinking about this issue too. On one hand, flushing unused medicine does add to the downstream contamination. But on the other hand, even if it were used it (or its metabolites, which might be equally bad) would still end up being flushed anyway. And even then, medicines aren't the only (or even the largest) problem: there's also pesticides, detergents, etc. to deal with. this study [usgs.gov] (which, it should be noted, measured streams as opposed to treatment
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Yea... guess what pharmacies and police stations do?
They read the disposal instructions for the drug, which is almost always "Mix with water and flush down the drain."
Re:Just stop incrementally (Score:5, Interesting)
I had spinal surgery as well to repair a slipped disc in my lower back (lumbar area? Not sure on the proper English terminology) and was put on Tramadol for the pain after the surgery.
Tramadol was great. It really was. Not only did it take the pain whenever it flared up, it also helped me to think more clearly. Not just my own opinion of it, mind you, but what my family told me. I was easier to be around, pure and simple. And it didn't cloud my mind - in fact I went and took my driver's license while 'high' on painkillers.
The thing is, the pain in my back never went away, so I kept taking Tramadol. Until one Easter I miscalculated how many pills I had left, and with the doctor's office closed I ran out.
It was horrible. Just HORRIBLE. My entire lower back felt like someone was holding a branding iron against it, I was wet with sweat and could barely move for four days. But then it just ... stopped. It went from burning to throbbing to sore to 'acting up' over approximately 24 hours. I could get up from my bed again, could walk around. It was only then, after it was all over, that I realized I'd gone through withdrawal symptoms and the back pain had, for who knows how long, been the body begging for the next fix of painkillers.
Opioid addiction is not something you just notice and realize you have, because the original symptoms STAY. You take the pills because of the pain, so as long as the pain keeps coming back you keep taking the pills. It's not about choice as the GP would like to claim.
Re: Just stop incrementally (Score:1)
As someone who lives with extreme chronic pain after 3 failed back surgeries, I wouldn't be able to move as much as I do without pain meds. I use the Fentanyl patch 100 along with percocet 10s for break out pain. I have gone the route of no paid meds after each surgery, the longest was 6 months. Then the pain came back even worse than last time. I have also tried to go without just to see what happens, pain doesn't go away. Over the last 10 years I have been to a ton of doctors, xray, MRIs, CT scans, etc an
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You are at the cutting edge of 1880's psychological and medical practice. Really truly ignorant of science.
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But the relationship between addiction and depression is a very real one:
https://psychcentral.com/lib/d... [psychcentral.com]
People stay on the most common addictive substances to keep depression at bay.
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Addiction can happen even when the drugs are taken exactly as prescribed.
Yes, and it's quite common for physicians to prescribe drugs improperly. For example, giving people benzodiazepines for longer than two to four weeks, or for non-FDA approved off-label use.
I have also heard horror stories about patients who do develop addictions being cut-off cold turkey when they inform their physician and not being allowed to taper properly. To make matters worse sometimes physicians dismiss withdrawal symptoms from drugs as not being due to the drug, but because of the condition or di
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Prescribing off-label is not necessarily a problem. The FDA is not the end-all of drug uses. However, it is wrong and even dangerous to simply cut a patient off rather than tapering them down. Some of that though is caused by fears of the DEA. Some is just not good practice.
Some people are simply between a rock and a hard place when it comes to pain and pain relief. Trying to walk the thin line between tolerable pain and tolerable side effects is more art than science. Sometimes, even the best answer isn't
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Burroughs mentioned something about the injuries that result from thrashing around on a concrete floor... incarceration in small rooms with concrete floors being a corollary of addiction.
If you suddenly withdraw alcohol from an alcoholic, they can die sitting on a sofa, so I suppose it's the sofa that killed them?
Twat.
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Addiction isn't a disease. It is a choice.
Bullcrap. Try to go three days without food. The urge to eat will be overwhelming. Yet a heroin addict will chose heroin over food.
Re:Just stop (Score:5, Interesting)
Physical hunger pain stops, but psychological desire to eat doesn't. I once fasted for 5 days to see if I could, and after the 2nd day or so hunger pain stopped, but I dreamed about eating. By the fourth day, I was literally drawing out pictures of the food I wanted to eat.
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fact is opiates are the safest and most effective pain relieving and antipsychotic drugs we know. It is society's retarded desire to push this demand on to the black market that makes them so dangerous
The safety profile really should be emphasized. Too many people think it's the drug itself that is so dangerous when in fact the danger is due to having to purchase on the black market where you don't know the potency, don't know if it's the drug you want (lots of people substitute fentanyl these days) and don't know if it's been adulterated. If people could just buy some dope at the local pharmacy we wouldn't have as many dying from it, although people do still manage to overdose on pharmaceuticals like
Re:Just stop (Score:5, Insightful)
Addiction isn't a disease. It is a choice.
Stop being an idiot. Break your back in two places, go on tramadol for 5+ years along with a muscle relaxant and then come back and tell me how you live your life. Sometimes, addiction isn't just to "feel good" it's also due to circumstances beyond your control. I couldn't live the life I do without pain killers, I'm physically addicted to it. My choices are: No pain killers and live a life of incredible pain, if I didn't decide just to end it all. Or pain killers and being addicted to them until I drop dead.
If you're popping pills to "feel good" you've got a problem. The only difference between a junkie looking for the next hit and me grabbing my next pill is the life we lead.
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To summarize the post I just wrote a little higher in this thread, I was on Tramadol as well with the same symptoms you describe, but accidentally ran out of pills without being able to get more. It took four-five days to get through a hell of pain and come out on the other side, but other than my back being weaker now than it was and hurting sometimes I am fine. Are you absolutely certain you need the pills still, or are you like me addicted with your body 'faking' pain to get you to take more pills?
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Are you absolutely certain you need the pills still, or are you like me addicted with your body 'faking' pain to get you to take more pills?
Absolutely, I broke my C2 and C3. If people have a well of luck, I probably used up all mine since 95% of people don't walk out of those without more severe problems(partial/complete paralysis, lack of the ability to breath, and so on), not counting the multiple years of physio. One of the guys in the physio class I was in, was in a similar spot and broke his C1 and C2 in a car accident. He'd been there 3 years, last I heard he'd gotten to the point where he could run(not well) again but he also takes pa
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I've seen people sing the praises of tramadol but I can only take it when all other options fail.
It's one of those very weird drugs that has a lot of swing compared to other painkillers without a doubt. Two people I bump into occasionally at the local pain clinic have real problems with it, one of them takes 20mg/night for zolpidem to get them to sleep. Even then they only manage 5-7hrs, it's one of those drugs that wouldn't surprise me a decade from now where there's a class-action lawsuit over.
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Back when I was having serious pain issues, m MD prescribed me Tramadol. You know what it did? NOTHING that I could tell anyway. Had no effect on me
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And I truly feel for you.
I get the impression you mistake my post for essentially saying "Man up and get off the meds, I did and it worked out well!" All I wanted to point out was that sometimes, from personal experience, it's just a few days of utter and complete pain hell to get out on the other side. I had no one who told me that.
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Nope, didn't sound like that to me at all so no worries. Rather your personal experience with tramadol and pain killers. I mentioned to a AC that a couple of people I've run into at the local pain clinic has serious problems with the stuff, one takes 20mg of zolpidem so they can sleep because tramadol keeps them awake until their body hit's that magical exhaustion point(usually 4 days or so). The thing is doctors expect people to not abuse drugs, it's not that simple of course. A lot of problems with thi
Re:Just stop (Score:5, Informative)
The approach people take on addiction has a surprising connection to their political stance. For decades, the right has been approaching addiction as a mental/moral weakness: that those succumbing to addiction are not sick or diseased but mentally weak and need to be punished so that they will correct their behavior. This is the driving force behind the 'war on drugs':
Those on the left have taken more of a medical approach and insisted that addiction is a neurochemical issue which needs to be treated by doctors.
When we actually look at research [npr.org] and data it turns out the truth is slightly more complex than either of these models. Turns out, it's not just about character or chemicals, but the combination of addictive chemicals and the environment the individual is in. Around 20 % of US troops in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. However, upon returning to the States, only about 5 % of them continued using. This by itself has given researchers some insight into key components of addiction and the affect environment has on it. Quoting the link above:
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"This is the driving force behind the 'war on drugs'"
Also, gaining the legal right to steal peoples' stuff without due process.
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This type of insight into behavior is can be very useful in every day life.
Re: Just stop (Score:5, Insightful)
What? If you had actually read my post rthrough you'd have noticed I did no such thing but specifically pointed out that both the left and the right have been by and large wrong in their approach.
The right is wrong in saying it's all about the individual. But the left is also wrong in saying it's nothing but chemicals and can be handled with medicine alone. That was the whole point of my post, and instead of bothering to read it you stopped after 4 sentences just to rave at me for essentially agreeing with you,
Ironically enough, this is just what you yourself did by not reading through the argument that was presented.
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But the left is also wrong in saying it's nothing but chemicals and can be handled with medicine alone.
Disease metaphor is rather useful here. A lot of those can't be cured, only managed. For example, a person can have asthma and not even know about it, if they live in an environment which lacks the triggers, like pollution, allergens or humidity. If changing an environment is not an option, medication is.
Perhaps I am reading different liberal media, but I haven't seen a viewpoint that treats addiction as easely solvable by medication first and only. Can you point out your sources? I really would like to see
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Yes, and the right is also traditionally more religious so these are connected.
The whole point the comment was to highlight that punishing people with jailtime for substance abuse is a non-functioning strategy for getting them to take responsibility for themselves. People use drugs for a variety of reasons, but taking addicts and putting them into what's likely even a worse environment than they're n
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Eh, what? I have no problem whatsoever with people diagreeing with me so long as they base their disagreement in facts. The whole reason I comment actively in places like /. is because I'm fine with discussion and open to new ideas so long as they're rationally justified.
I've been disc
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Your postings are just poorly masked "if you disagree with me you are an evil bigot".
He wasn't disagreeing, just pointing out facts that any objective observer would note.
Its people like you that prevent real progress from happening because it is more important to you to be liberal than to actually help people. That ends up with hundreds of people being killed in Chicago violence every year and nothing done because Chicago is already "liberal" and "doing the right thing". So you just let mass murder continue because liberalism is FAR more important than actually helping anyone.
No no no. It's people like YOU who prevent real progress. When you hear something you don't like that doesn't fit perfectly into your worldview, it's easier to dismiss it than face the possibility you might have been wrong. Instead of trying to refute his arguments and present sound arguments of your own, you toss his opinions away in the blink of an eye and attack his character. Then you go about bringing up an unrelated
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It sounds like your understanding of brain function is woefully inadequate. Regardless of what you think you think, drugs that mimic brain chemicals (they fit the same molecular key and trigger cerebral physiological functions) will alter your behaviour, completely and totally, from simply dying on the spot as a result of the wrong combination or an excess to altered social interaction to fight or flight to sleeping to waking to everything that goes on in your head. Things that cause susceptibility an addic
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Addiction isn't a disease. It is a choice.
I didn't get to choose. I refused the pain medication when I was in hospital, which they entertained at first and then when the pain came on and I was moaning from it the nurse came in with a jab, announced it was time for my drugs and stuck it in my shoulder without even giving me a chance to object - then I was in la la land.
Everyone likes to "feel good". Everyone. But stop being so narcissistic thinking that you have to feel good all the time.
I think you're right, though I would put it down to naivety over narcissism. Worse than that are the people who are so terrified of being alive they have to lie to themselves and ever
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You didn't get a choice then - but there is always choice later.
Indeed. However when the doctor does not reduce your dose when you request it and says that you have to stay on these tablets for the next month, then no, you don't have a choice because if you start to withdraw and then the pain is too much you can't start taking them again unless you want to risk a heart attack.
You reduce the dose gradually until you quit from some minimum dose. That way you never get the big withdrawal problems. Any doctor can make such a plan.
This is exactly what we did. It took six agonizing weeks to withdraw to the minimum dose because even the little withdrawal problems are pretty bad. horrible stuff.
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Life isn't "supposed to be" like anything.
Re:Just stop (Score:5, Informative)
Alcoholic here going AC for this topic.
The only context the word "disease" appears in any of the articles is "Centers for Disease Control".
Personally I don't care if you call it a disease or not. I consider it a disorder but the AMA has considered it a disease since the 1950s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The modern disease theory of alcoholism states that problem drinking is sometimes caused by a disease of the brain, characterized by altered brain structure and function.
The American Medical Association (AMA) declared that alcoholism was an illness in 1956. In 1991, the AMA further endorsed the dual classification of alcoholism by the International Classification of Diseases under both psychiatric and medical sections.
(emphasis mine)
And although you can find sources which argue that addiction is not a disease, you might want to consider this link too:
Why Is Alcoholism Classified As A Mental Illness? [hazeldenbettyford.org]
I don't think it's a choice to be an addict, however I do make a choice whether or not to drink every day and on days that I choose not to drink I'm making the choice to be sober multiple times throughout the day.
I'm on my first drink of the day. I'm not doing it to "feel good". I'm doing it to stop shaking. I'm doing it just to feel "normal".
I can't speak for other addicts, but I'm sure I would feel a lot better overall if I did manage to quit completely. I might start feeling "good" after at least 5 drinks - Incidentally 5 drinks is considered binge drinking by many (if not most) medical professionals and is generally taken as a sign of possibly having a problem. Most drinkers I know scoff at the idea that having 5 drinks in one sitting is a problem. I know I won't feel good when I wake up whenever I wake up tomorrow.
And I'm generally depressed, but sometimes I get really depressed and being drunk and really depressed at the same time is definitely not feeling "good". In fact just knowing I get that way sometimes is a big reason I do not own a gun.
I've quit many times and withdrawal really sucks the first few days. That is quite the opposite of "feeling good".
Some recovery groups reject the disease model of addiction because like the First Step in 12 step programs it means we are "powerless" although having a disease doesn't necessarily mean you're powerless, but some people seem to use it as an excuse.
I consider myself fortunate to never have become addicted to opiates. I've never needed them long term, but I really like them. (benzos too). The benzos can really help alcohol withdrawal, but it's my understanding that a full-blown benzo addiction is no picnic either. I've never asked for them, but I've been prescribed them twice for alcohol withdrawals - both times just a week-long supply.
Usually I just go it alone at home. That is not actually recommended as alcohol withdrawal can kill you and there is something called "Kindling". (Don't try this at home.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Kindling due to substance withdrawal refers to the neurological condition which results from repeated withdrawal episodes from sedative–hypnotic drugs such as alcohol or benzodiazepines. Each withdrawal leads to more severe withdrawal symptoms than the previous withdrawal syndrome. Individuals who have had more withdrawal episodes are at an increased risk of very severe withdrawal symptoms, up to and including seizures, and death.
So why do I keep drinking if it's so bad? I can't fully explain it but I have some ideas that I'm not even going to delve into here.
I really don't think I'm "narcissistic" either. I generally have a low self-esteem
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Why hasn't depression and addictiveness been bred out of humans thus far? Could it be that we care about others far too much?
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Addiction is not a choice, by definition.
The difference between an addiction and a simple habit is that you can't overcome the former without some kind of treatment. Maybe putting yourself in that mess was originally a choice but staying an addict isn't.
what I'd like to see (Score:1)
Why hasn't there been a study with spree killings and prescriptions? Most of the ones I looked into had a "disorder" / "treatment" while they were a teen.
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Nerds are people too!
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citation needed
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Not surprised (Score:2)
In high school and college, every now and then someone would have surgery or have a bad injury, and they'd come back from the doctor bragging about the drugs they got. It was like a free pass to get high, and no one was ever concerned that it might lead to addiction because the drugs were prescribed by a doctor, so of course they aren't dangerous. It seems due to a failure to educate young people properly and a success on the drug companies' part to make their product seem like magic.
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Would you please define unnecessary, and please detail just how much pain is harmful?
Re:Not surprised (Score:4, Interesting)
Pain killers in a lot of times are prescribed over strength. Doctors are more likely to give someone a strong opiate instead of something weaker mixed or supplemented with a mild muscle relaxant for example. Or give them a longer dose then what they should actually receive(a doctor here in ontario was disbarred for repeatedly giving HS students 60-day scrips -- which the kids would mainly sell), instead of giving say 7-14 days with a return appointment. In my day, high school kids and college kids were mostly hitting booze. But they've ramped up the punishments that parents get nailed their kids get caught drinking in some places. Which explains why the "get high" path is so much easier, and getting caught with a handful of pills is less likely then a micky(375ml), unless you're acting out of it.
This happened to my friend (he's now a Vet) (Score:4, Informative)
This happened to my buddy. He got in a car accident or something. This was shortly after he graduated from high school, and his father had just died. He ended up on pain meds, ended up getting addicted after a couple of months. When his prescription ran out, he called up our mutual friend who was in to drugs and got more. This went on for about 18 months before he decided he wanted to become a veterinarian, somehow his friends and family weaned him off pills, and after two years was accepted in to vet school. Through no small miracle he made it through grad school and graduated, he's now pretty successful.
I grew up in a pretty rich suburb, we had time to help him and his family through the addiction, and he had a strong goal to strive for. Many people don't have the opportunities or strong safety net that he did.
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This happened to my buddy. He got in a car accident or something.
Or something?? Sounds like you don't know your buddy very well, friend.
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>he decided he wanted to become a veterinarian
That's not such a great idea in the States. They send all their vets to Vietnam I hear.
Most teens? (Score:2)
abusable by design thanks GOP (Score:4, Informative)
Both of course.
How can you defend yourself if you don't know what is attacking you?
Proper defense necessitates "pointing the finger of blame"...aka identifying the cause of the problem.
Fortunately we already know: Pharmaceutical companies make drugs abusable on purpose and incentivize doctors to prescribe them.
Democrats have been pushing for more pharma regulations for years, Repubicans opposing them.
Republicans have fought over and over to make it easy for these abusable drugs to get FDA approval.
Oxyconin is a perfect example, read up:
"In 2006, Giuliani acted as the lead counsel and lead spokesmen for Bracewell & Giuliani client Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, during their negotiations with federal prosecutors over charges that the pharmaceutical company misled the public about OxyContin's addictive properties. The agreement reached resulted in Purdue Pharma and some of its executives paying $634.5 million in fines"
source [wikipedia.org]
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great info thanks!!!
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Your country is under attack from its own.
No Objective Measurements (Score:1)
No objective measurements of pain, that is the problem. I've seen people with a simple toothache report their pain a 12 on scale of 10, while those who have tombstone ST segments and in the process of dying from a myocardial infarction say their pain is a zero. It's as if pain is a subjective thing or something. How is a physician to determine just how much a patient is hurting?
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Since we have opioid receptors and endogenous opioids, it would stand to reason that receptors and endogenous opioid production would vary among the population.
So perception of pain is likely to vary in the population as well, as not everyone will produce the same amount of endogenous opioids.
I'd wager that people prone to addiction may produce fewer endogenous opioids or have a greater number of receptors, which causes them to respond more strongly to opioid medications.
I also wonder if below average opioi
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No objective measurements of pain, that is the problem. I've seen people with a simple toothache report their pain a 12 on scale of 10, while those who have tombstone ST segments and in the process of dying from a myocardial infarction say their pain is a zero. It's as if pain is a subjective thing or something. How is a physician to determine just how much a patient is hurting?
You hit them with a big hammer on another part of their anatomy and see if they notice. If they react, it means they weren't in that much pain originally.
Simple.
abusable by design (Score:2)
Pharmaceutical companies that do this and the doctors who enable them are absolute scum.
Good example of why the private sector needs regulation.
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Good example of why the private sector needs regulation.
Spoken like someone with little interaction with the US healthcare system.
As someone that suffers from chronic pain I have to fight to get the care I need. I complain that my medications are not treating my pain and I'm told by my physician that if I'm sent to a pain specialist that the first thing that they will do is take away the meds I have. I've been told by several physicians now that they are prevented by DEA policy from what medications they can prescribe.
So, some faceless bureaucrat in DC has dec
Your Dealer (Score:1)
The CIA's gotta do something with all that opium they're farming.
Lortab (Score:2)
I wanted to keep going so much. I wanted to always feel....fine! I was prescribed soooo many more pills than I actually used.
Sounds like the rest of the opioid users (Score:2)
Whilst reading this (Score:2)
Gotta Fill Prisons Somehow (Score:2)
Got different info (Score:2)
Yesterday, in a medical conference, I was told that 75% of heroin addicts that started with oxycontin abuse never had a prescription for their oxycontin.
Different statistic, but also very different implication. And no I don't have a source to cite, sorry, but I do believe in the sincerity of the speaker, FWIW.
Instinctively, I have avoided opiates. (Score:1)
I have always felt that pain killers should be used sparingly and that one should only take the minimum level necessary to make the pain tolerable.
For me, it wasn't about avoiding addiction. I don't like the feeling of having my mind feel cloudy.
When I had my wisdom teeth removed, the doctor gave me a prescription for Lortab. I declined to fill it. I said that if Tylenol or Aleve made it tolerable, that's what I would use. Even though I had already made my decision, when a friend offered to buy them from me
Conflicting base article (caught in lie?) (Score:2)
Um... how can this be true:
"Most American teenagers who abuse opioid drugs first received the drugs from a doctor,... and the majority of them had been prescribed opioids previously, the researchers found"
and later the pediatric report said:
"of all 188,468 prescription opioid exposures reported for youth under 20, [most] occurred among children under 5, [who got] the medication because it was improperly stored or was in a purse".
Has anyone else noticed the increase in bogus new releases, that don't jive wit
Cited study doesn't look back far enough. (Score:1)
The late 1980s and early 1990s was a time of huge scare campaigns over pain medications and the rise of Oxycontin becoming a drug problem. Suddenly, it was almost impossible to get a prescription for pain medication. People in a cast with a broken leg were given Tylenol for the pain. In some states they were flagging physicians for a review board if they wrote more than six prescriptions for pain killers a month. By the end of their time slice, 2013, some sanity had come back into the attitudes on p