Guest guest Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 DEAR NINA, HI, MY NAME IS CINDI, I DON'T POST TO OFTEN, BUT THIS SITE HAS BEEN WONDERFUL TO ME AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU AND I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE. I HAVE A RHEUMATOLOGIST AND NEUROLOGIST. I HAVE 4 AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASES. MY RHEUMATOLOGIST HAS BEEN KNOWLEDGABLE FROM THE START, THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES THROUGH THE PAST 3 YEARS THAT I HAVE GREATLY DOUBTED HIM. THE POLICY IN MY TOWN IS NO AGGRESSIVE PAIN TREATMENT, BY ANY OF THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. THAT HAS LEFT ME UPSET WITH HIM AND MY OTHER DOCTORS.. I AM ONLY 45 AND I DON'T LOOK FORWARD TO LIVING IN THIS MUCH PAIN FOR WHATEVER THE REST OF MY LIFE IS LIKE....I WAS WONDERING, WHAT KIND OF MEDICATIONS YOU TAKE NOW, IF YOU DON'T MIND SHARING. I TAKE ULTRACET, NEURONTIN, METHOTREXATE INJECTIONS, AND I DID A HIDEOUS YEAR ON PREDNISONE. I ALSO TAKE A TON OF OTHER STUFF BUT IT IS NOT FOR RA.... I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST AND HOPE THAT YOU LIKE IT HERE, CINDI FROM WI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 DEAR NINA, HI, MY NAME IS CINDI, I DON'T POST TO OFTEN, BUT THIS SITE HAS BEEN WONDERFUL TO ME AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU AND I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE. I HAVE A RHEUMATOLOGIST AND NEUROLOGIST. I HAVE 4 AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASES. MY RHEUMATOLOGIST HAS BEEN KNOWLEDGABLE FROM THE START, THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES THROUGH THE PAST 3 YEARS THAT I HAVE GREATLY DOUBTED HIM. THE POLICY IN MY TOWN IS NO AGGRESSIVE PAIN TREATMENT, BY ANY OF THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. THAT HAS LEFT ME UPSET WITH HIM AND MY OTHER DOCTORS.. I AM ONLY 45 AND I DON'T LOOK FORWARD TO LIVING IN THIS MUCH PAIN FOR WHATEVER THE REST OF MY LIFE IS LIKE....I WAS WONDERING, WHAT KIND OF MEDICATIONS YOU TAKE NOW, IF YOU DON'T MIND SHARING. I TAKE ULTRACET, NEURONTIN, METHOTREXATE INJECTIONS, AND I DID A HIDEOUS YEAR ON PREDNISONE. I ALSO TAKE A TON OF OTHER STUFF BUT IT IS NOT FOR RA.... I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST AND HOPE THAT YOU LIKE IT HERE, CINDI FROM WI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 Cindi, Thanks for the warm welcome. I think that doctors will soon come around to treating pain relief aggressively. Scientists recently discovered that chronic back pain caused significant brain shrinkage. Here is a link to the news story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139310,00.html The government's own anti-drug group, NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) says that " the abuse potential of opioid medications is generally low in healthy, non-drug-abusing volunteers. " see: http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol15N1/Research.html Here's another quote from NIDA: " Dr. Chilcoat of the s Hopkins University School of Public Health and Hygiene in Baltimore discussed research into the epidemiology of prescription drug abuse. Overall, he said, the number of people who abuse prescription drugs each year roughly equals the number who abuse cocaine-about 2 to 4 percent of the population. " Further down the same page: " Dr. Schmader of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said that the elderly (persons age 65 or older) represent about 13 percent of the U.S. population but consume one-third of all prescription drugs. These patients are generally less healthy than younger persons and often suffer from multiple diseases for which they take multiple drugs, Dr. Schmader said, and are therefore more vulnerable than are younger patients to unintentionally misusing and becoming habituated to prescription medications. In one study of more than 1,500 elderly patients, 50 patients, roughly 3 percent, were abusing prescription drugs. " See http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol16N3/Scientific.html Notice that they used the words " prescription drugs, " not all of which are opiates. Anyway, doctors' fears that opiod pain medications will cause addiction are really unfounded. Very few people develop this problem. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is THE authoritative source of healthcare standards for the United States. If JCAHO says " jump, " hospitals and clinics ask, " how high? " Here is what they have developed as the " standard of care " for pain relief in a hospital setting: http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/health+care+issues/jcaho+focuses+on+pa in+management.htm Sorry that one is so long. The words " standard of care " are so powerful that malpractice cases are won or lost depending upon whether the doctors and hospital workers adhere to it or not. For example, there is a " standard of care " that covers what to do when someone's heart stops. The procedures to be followed are spelled out very specifically - first you give a shot of A, then you shock the patient at X level of amps, etc. If your loved one dies and the heathcare team did NOT follow the procedure properly, you have grounds to sue the hospital. Now, given that a standard of care is being developed for pain management, and given that failure to treat pain aggressively leads to significant loss of brain matter, and given that opiod pain medications are some of the safest drugs around (I'm referring to side effects here), and finally that opiod pain medications are only abused by a very small percentage of the population, I can see the day coming when I can sue my doctor if he DOESN'T provide adequate pain relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 Cindi, Thanks for the warm welcome. I think that doctors will soon come around to treating pain relief aggressively. Scientists recently discovered that chronic back pain caused significant brain shrinkage. Here is a link to the news story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139310,00.html The government's own anti-drug group, NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) says that " the abuse potential of opioid medications is generally low in healthy, non-drug-abusing volunteers. " see: http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol15N1/Research.html Here's another quote from NIDA: " Dr. Chilcoat of the s Hopkins University School of Public Health and Hygiene in Baltimore discussed research into the epidemiology of prescription drug abuse. Overall, he said, the number of people who abuse prescription drugs each year roughly equals the number who abuse cocaine-about 2 to 4 percent of the population. " Further down the same page: " Dr. Schmader of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said that the elderly (persons age 65 or older) represent about 13 percent of the U.S. population but consume one-third of all prescription drugs. These patients are generally less healthy than younger persons and often suffer from multiple diseases for which they take multiple drugs, Dr. Schmader said, and are therefore more vulnerable than are younger patients to unintentionally misusing and becoming habituated to prescription medications. In one study of more than 1,500 elderly patients, 50 patients, roughly 3 percent, were abusing prescription drugs. " See http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol16N3/Scientific.html Notice that they used the words " prescription drugs, " not all of which are opiates. Anyway, doctors' fears that opiod pain medications will cause addiction are really unfounded. Very few people develop this problem. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is THE authoritative source of healthcare standards for the United States. If JCAHO says " jump, " hospitals and clinics ask, " how high? " Here is what they have developed as the " standard of care " for pain relief in a hospital setting: http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/health+care+issues/jcaho+focuses+on+pa in+management.htm Sorry that one is so long. The words " standard of care " are so powerful that malpractice cases are won or lost depending upon whether the doctors and hospital workers adhere to it or not. For example, there is a " standard of care " that covers what to do when someone's heart stops. The procedures to be followed are spelled out very specifically - first you give a shot of A, then you shock the patient at X level of amps, etc. If your loved one dies and the heathcare team did NOT follow the procedure properly, you have grounds to sue the hospital. Now, given that a standard of care is being developed for pain management, and given that failure to treat pain aggressively leads to significant loss of brain matter, and given that opiod pain medications are some of the safest drugs around (I'm referring to side effects here), and finally that opiod pain medications are only abused by a very small percentage of the population, I can see the day coming when I can sue my doctor if he DOESN'T provide adequate pain relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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