Painkillers are a massive plaster over complex inflammatory issues modern medicine can't yet properly diagnose and treat. (affordable) Doctors don't have the time to do a deep investigation into root causes. As a result you get an outgrowth of snake oil salesmen and quacks along with legitimately well intentioned holistic healers building the alternative medicine industry. Most people with chronic conditions end up bouncing around in the second space until they get lucky or never find anything and suffer on painkillers for years before they die young. We really could do better.
We have these things called opioids that are extremely effective at treating severe chronic pain but people decided weed was good enough because they saw John Oliver talk about it and that convinced them that depriving junkies was more important than ensuring patients be able to easily access the most effective medications.
Wow. That has to be the least well thought out, context blind post I've seen in a while. Especially given the fact the aftermath of the opioid epidemic are still being worked through.
I mean, hell, I'm not big on the whole marijuana industry, but the products have been found to work and be effective for people without the deleterious effects on loved one's mental state. As someone who had an SO on a pain management regimen with them, who has had first hand experience with the effects on personality they can have, opiods are absolutely not the answer, likely for anyone but those already so far gone medicine has no other options but pallatative care.
If anything, the damn things mar your loved one's personality and perception enough that they don't care or can't articulate the pain they are in.
So I don't know about anyone else, but take your opiods and keep 'em. We'll use cannabanoids that take off 80% of the pain and inflammation out so the last 20% isn't an issue, with no need to worry about withdrawl, or adverse side effects.
I have chronic headache, caused by some kind of vascular dystonia (still can't be properly diagnosed).
I would say, opioid-based painkillers is a terrible way to treat chronic pain on a long-term scale. Not to mention harm it cause to your liver (especially when medicine has Acetaminaphen as one of components), all opioids have tolerance - sooner or later it would stop helping you, until you bump into maximum daily dose. Also, all opioids have withdrawal effect. Imagine yourself flying from one country to another, there's no way you can bring any strong painkiller with you, unless you want to be accused of drug trafficking. You have to bring prescription with you, see a doc in other country and buy medicine, it may take up to week. All this time you're going to experience pain AND withdrawal effect.
I would not say about others, but I sincerely hope that soon would be available medical marijuana without affecting cognitive abilities, allowing you work, drive etc.
The effectiveness of chronic opioids for pain is really patient and disease dependent. My SO has chronic abdominal and widespread somatic pain diagnosed with autoimmune small fiber polyneuropathy (by biopsy) and also chronic intermittent small bowel obstruction (diagnosed by gastrografin small bowel xray, thought due to peritoneal adhesions). Local surgeons refuse to try to lyse adhesions.
But opiates have been helpful and remain helpful 8 years into the disease process. They are pretty much the only thing that helps (have tried pain psychology, acupuncture, physical therapy, occupational therapy, several antidepressants, lyrica, gabapentin, celiac plexus block).
So persons with chronic (apparently incurable) disease with pain that responds to opioids <should> have access to the medication that helps. Maybe only 1/100 or 1/500 persons with chronic pain caused by an underlying disease do have a good response to opioids, apparently that was not your experience -- but please don't deny others the benefit of a medication that is helpful because you found it unhelpful!
I usually lurk but this post is relevant to my personal situation, and inspired me to voice an anecdote.
I was born with chronic polyostotic pain caused by a post-zygotic mutation. Because my physical disease is plainly visible, my pain wasn't dismissed so easily unlike others. Unfortunately, I have a life long history of "chronic pain treatment" to show for it. I was 12 years old when I experienced my first withdrawals from opioids, served from a brown bottle as candy flavoured syrup. Today, I've had the experience to try many other analgesic medications including Cannabis but to no avail. Almost nothing helps reduce my suffering.
My opinion isn't popular but I'm not convinced that opioids are useful for treating anything but acute pain because it exacerbates the mental health aspects of chronic pain. The only medication that raised my quality of life, isn't marketed for treating pain and wasn't prescribed to me for treating pain. The only medication that helps me live any appreciable life worth living, is the phenethylamine-class of stimulants used for treating ADHD, mine being marketed under a branded french name meaning liveliness. This accidental discovery has been the closest thing to a miracle for me.
I can't substantiate any of my anecdotes with academic sources but I've personally found that CNS-depressants like opioids or Cannabis increased my sensitivity to pain, while CNS-stimulants decreased my sensitivity. My chronic pain is forever eternal, but now it doesn't dominate my life. I can now live a more active life, with far greater mood and energy than ever before. If my chronic pain flares up, I take an NSAID with a proton-pump inhibitor and be done with it. I'm satisfied with this combination, and I actively refuse any prescriptions for opioids or Cannabis. My tolerance for pain is greater than ever, much to the horror of those poor nurses working in the ER. When I first met them, they couldn't believe the fact that I wasn't begging for pain relief after seeing my X-rays. Now that we're on a first name basis, they understand that it's business as usual for me.
I hope my history has helped someone, or sparked an intellectual curiosity. This is my first post, and I hope it meets the comment guidelines. I do not wish to elaborate in detail about any specifics, and I'm not promoting any medication in particular. I'm simply sharing a life's worth of struggles, and a life's worth of findings. Happy hacking, comrade!
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 27.6 ms ] threadI mean, hell, I'm not big on the whole marijuana industry, but the products have been found to work and be effective for people without the deleterious effects on loved one's mental state. As someone who had an SO on a pain management regimen with them, who has had first hand experience with the effects on personality they can have, opiods are absolutely not the answer, likely for anyone but those already so far gone medicine has no other options but pallatative care.
If anything, the damn things mar your loved one's personality and perception enough that they don't care or can't articulate the pain they are in.
So I don't know about anyone else, but take your opiods and keep 'em. We'll use cannabanoids that take off 80% of the pain and inflammation out so the last 20% isn't an issue, with no need to worry about withdrawl, or adverse side effects.
I would not say about others, but I sincerely hope that soon would be available medical marijuana without affecting cognitive abilities, allowing you work, drive etc.
So persons with chronic (apparently incurable) disease with pain that responds to opioids <should> have access to the medication that helps. Maybe only 1/100 or 1/500 persons with chronic pain caused by an underlying disease do have a good response to opioids, apparently that was not your experience -- but please don't deny others the benefit of a medication that is helpful because you found it unhelpful!
I was born with chronic polyostotic pain caused by a post-zygotic mutation. Because my physical disease is plainly visible, my pain wasn't dismissed so easily unlike others. Unfortunately, I have a life long history of "chronic pain treatment" to show for it. I was 12 years old when I experienced my first withdrawals from opioids, served from a brown bottle as candy flavoured syrup. Today, I've had the experience to try many other analgesic medications including Cannabis but to no avail. Almost nothing helps reduce my suffering.
My opinion isn't popular but I'm not convinced that opioids are useful for treating anything but acute pain because it exacerbates the mental health aspects of chronic pain. The only medication that raised my quality of life, isn't marketed for treating pain and wasn't prescribed to me for treating pain. The only medication that helps me live any appreciable life worth living, is the phenethylamine-class of stimulants used for treating ADHD, mine being marketed under a branded french name meaning liveliness. This accidental discovery has been the closest thing to a miracle for me.
I can't substantiate any of my anecdotes with academic sources but I've personally found that CNS-depressants like opioids or Cannabis increased my sensitivity to pain, while CNS-stimulants decreased my sensitivity. My chronic pain is forever eternal, but now it doesn't dominate my life. I can now live a more active life, with far greater mood and energy than ever before. If my chronic pain flares up, I take an NSAID with a proton-pump inhibitor and be done with it. I'm satisfied with this combination, and I actively refuse any prescriptions for opioids or Cannabis. My tolerance for pain is greater than ever, much to the horror of those poor nurses working in the ER. When I first met them, they couldn't believe the fact that I wasn't begging for pain relief after seeing my X-rays. Now that we're on a first name basis, they understand that it's business as usual for me.
I hope my history has helped someone, or sparked an intellectual curiosity. This is my first post, and I hope it meets the comment guidelines. I do not wish to elaborate in detail about any specifics, and I'm not promoting any medication in particular. I'm simply sharing a life's worth of struggles, and a life's worth of findings. Happy hacking, comrade!