Woman warns of dangers with chronic-pain meds

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Woman warns of dangers with chronic-pain meds

By Jim Kanak

jkanak@...

OGUNQUIT — Resident Blanche Staples has been around the world many times in

her 91 years. This winter, she decided to make another circuit and booked

passage on the QE2 to set sail in January from New York to South Hampton,

England, and then home again on the Queen . Staples didn't make the last

leg of the journey by ship, however. She took ill on the trip and had to be

flown home and transported to York Hospital.

It's what Staples discovered during her shipboard illness that was the

lesson of the entire trip. She learned she was addicted to prescription pain

medication.

" I was on narcotics for arthritic pain and had taken a codeine-based

narcotic with me on the trip, " Staples said. " You start taking one pill and

it makes you feel good. Then you take two. I had been taking eight a day.

I'd let it build up over a number of years. It makes no difference if you're

a 25-year-old or 91-year-old. You're hooked. "

Staples said the trip started out very well and she enjoyed seeing many of

the ports-of –call. Because she'd been to many of the places before, often

she stayed on board to conserve her energy for ports she was not familiar

with. She said she took ill on April 1. She kept the illness to herself

until April 9, when she was hospitalized. " The rumor had it that they would

put sick people ashore at the next port and leave them in a hospital there, "

said Staples about why she hid her illness. " But the doctor onboard said

absolutely not. He was an excellent doctor and a wonderful human being. I

had a very fast and erratic heartbeat. When we got to Greece, the doctor

sent me for a CAT scan and they found some blood clots. "

Staples said the pain medication problem arose because she couldn't take the

pills once she got sick. " When I got sick on the ship, I couldn't take the

narcotics, so I got withdrawal symptoms, " she said. " I guessed what my

symptoms were. I told the doctor and he said I can help you without a

narcotic, but it will take two or three days to get it out of your system.

It was the worst, most horrifying thing I've ever experienced. I couldn't

sleep for 48 hours. "

When the ship got to Southampton, Staples said she was assigned a transfer

nurse by the cruise line and given a flight to Boston. " The nurse stayed

with me every minute, " said Staples. " We were met at the ship by an

ambulance and taken to London for a night. We flew business class to Boston.

The nurse was with me to Boston and there was an ambulance waiting. They

brought me to York Hospital and gave me a bed. Only then did the transfer

nurse depart. She had never left me for even a minute. "

As Staples recovers from her illness, she wants to let people know about the

potential dangers involved with narcotic-based chronic pain medication.

" I'm not ashamed that I became addicted, " she said. " I will gladly talk with

anyone to tell them how to get out from under. You never know when you might

get into a crisis situation and have to give them up. I'll never take them

again. When I die, I want to be Blanche Staples. I don't want to be a blob.

I want to have all my faculties.

" The only way this problem is going to be solved is if people are honest and

speak up. One person can make a difference. I have a purpose in life now and

that's to see that not one other person becomes an addict to narcotic drugs

if I can help it. If I can save one person the horror I went through, it'll

be worth it. "

--

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