I wrote a bitch a week ago about the issues with obtaining pain medication for very valid reasons. Then today I go to the pharmacist and ask her… a 25 yr veteran of the front line drug dispensing business and asked her… “I know this is a touchy subject but why is it so hard to get a prescription for narcotic drugs that work on pain? They are less expensive than other clases of drugs, work better, and If used properly as prescribed, there should be a very slim risk of becoming an addict and or abusing the medication.” She blew my mind with the best answer ever! She says “EVERYBODY WHO TAKES THEM DOES NOT TAKE THEM AS PRESCRIBED. I been in this business for 25 years and I have dispensed millions of pills. Most people on whatever prescription they have… are always late for picking theirs up, forget to see the Dr. for refils, firget to phone it in and so on and so forth. HOWEVER… EVERYBODY who is on narcotic type drugs are ALWAYS ON TIME! To the exact day!!! They never ever miss. They are lined up like cowboys at a chuck wagon for dinner.” And that answered my question. Great answer by the way from a really great pharmacist. Thanks. I will keep it in mind and pass that along when people discuss the topic. —Narcoticless… still painful… more edjucated
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2013.
The problems with prescription drugs don’t lay solely on the person prescribed the drugs.It‘s the drug company’s,the doctor’s,the government’s and the people who are prescribed narcotics who are to blame for doctors crackdown on over prescribing the drugs.
The drug companies who make trillions of dollars aren’t blamed for the problem of doctor’s over prescribing narcotic pain medication.General Practitioners who were not given information needed to properly diagnose pain then to safely ween addicted patients off narcotic pain meds, while in med. school then in their own practice by drug representatives who peddle the drugs.
Instead, John Q Public blames the poor drug addict who was rightly or wrongly prescribed narcotic meds by a lazy and or over worked GP or by a dentist after pulling the wisdom tooth of a 16 year old who could have had the pain sufficiently managed by taking a much weaker less addictive acetaminophen with codeine instead of a hydrophone tablet.
Shit rolls downhill folks.
Really? THAT’S the BEST answer you’ve ever heard? You’re dumb as fuck, OB!!! The translation of what she said is, “they’re highly addictive”, you lunchbox!!!!!!
So when one of approximately 33,000 licensed pharmacists (in Canada) gives you the answer that you were expecting, that then becomes fact?
I have chronic pain op.
Don’t take these pills. If you have to once in awhile, I won’t judge you because sometimes, when you haven’t slept for two days and you’re pulling muscles trying to live around the pain and everything is on fire, a narco can help you keep from going insane ok. I get that.
But they don’t WORK, op. WORK means that you are treating the source of the pain, not putting a bandaid on the pain you’re feeling.
She only gave a partial answer anyway. here is the complete answer.
Think about it op, if your body is damaged, pain tells you what you are safe to do and what you should avoid doing while you heal. If you are always taking a drug that dulls pain, you will inflict damage because you won’t know your limits and end up overdoing it. Which will cause MORE pain and will require MORE drugs, not to mention that tolerance will build up, also creating a requirement for a higher dose. And addiction is right around the corner, ok? So don’t go down this road.
I’m not sure what’s causing your pain so i don’t know what is safe to recommend. PT has been the ONLY thing that manages my pain and doesn’t just dull it.
You need to speak to a pain specialist or at least a specialist that manages the body part(s) that are giving you so much discomfort.
Reply to a couple of comments… that is what I am saying… they are addictive and nobody or very few people take them as prescribed. The proof being the pharmacists words. This is a bit of front line proof from questions I asked the pharmacist. My opinion was that if taken as prescribed… there should be no no problem. Pharmacist says… very few take them as prescribed… the proof is… how punctual people are who are prescribed the narcotic for their refill as compared to other medications which are not usually filled punctually. It was just an interesting view I respected… and posted.
I’ve been prescribed all kinds of narcotics over the last 25 years for acute bouts of pain related to a chronic disease, sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks, and on two occasions in my life, daily for several consecutive months — Demoral, Percocette, Dillaudid have been prescribed most often. As a chronically ill patient, I’ve received prescriptions for pain control from more doctors than I can count.
I can say with great conviction that I would never want to take narcotics every day to cope long term with the pain that comes from illness and disease. While we may not become addicted psychologically, our bodies DO generate a physical dependency, and require higher does to get the same benefits.
The long term use of narcotics has negative consequences which are out of our control. The withdrawal symptoms are awful; that tells you why people pick up their refills on time.
Be careful what you wish for, OB.
And it’s spelled e-d-u-c-a-t-e-d.