Two articles on opiods and chronic pain.
The Myth of an Opioid Prescription Crisis Opioid Commission Mistakenly Blames Pain Treatment for Drug Deaths Press release: The Unintended Victims of the War on Opiate Abuse - Legitimate Pain Patients10/31/2017
Press Release: Chronic Pain Association of Canada, October 30, 2017
We all feel sympathy for lives lost from overdoses and the pain felt by their family and friends. Addiction is complicated as are the solutions but care must be taken to ensure that collateral damage to innocents with chronic pain does not result. EDMONTON, Alberta - Oct. 30, 2017 - PRLog -- November 5 is the start of Pain Awareness Week and so we should consider the new plight that those with chronic pain are suffering as the result of the opiate deaths being experienced throughout North America. One of the more common solutions for those with chronic pain is opiate medications. Read Huffington Post's Marvin Ross' blog on "Catherine", and how the new opioid prescription guidelines impacted the last six months of her life here.
Misguided Strategy to Deal with Opioid Overdoses Targets Legitimate Patients in Chronic Pain9/8/2017
THE CHRONIC PAIN ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Barry Ulmer (780) 482-6727 [email protected] Doctors across Canada are being forced to taper and “discontinue” patients in severe chronic pain from the medication they need. The result? A return to pain and disability and, in some cases, suicide. Edmonton, September 6, 2017 At a loss as to how to contain deaths and overdoses in some parts of Canada by addicts who use drugs illegally, the federal health minister Dr Jane Philpott summoned “experts” to a conference in Ottawa last November. Sadly, as the Ottawa Citizen wrote, pain specialists and patients weren’t included, and results were consequently ill-informed. Only two pain patients were invited, and at the last minute one pain specialist was allowed in, though not to speak. The conference determined that epidemiologists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario should rewrite Canada’s 2010 opioid prescribing Guideline. The 2010 Guideline, agreed to by pain specialists and medical groups nation-wide, worked well. Patients in chronic pain (1 in 5 Canadians) got the medication they needed so long as it relieved their pain with few side effects. No one has explained why we needed a new one. The McMaster Guideline was said to be developed in extensive consultation with stakeholders, but decisions were ultimately appears to be made by a four-person steering committee chaired by Dr Jason Busse, a chiropractor who can’t prescribe but who is nonetheless an associate professor of anaesthesiology at the University. The new Guideline slashes medical opioid use by as much as 90% by advising doctors to taper and “discontinue” otherwise stable and productive patients who’ve enjoyed a good quality of life—in some cases, for decades. Four patient advisors to the Guideline committee have withdrawn their names from the final document, which has been loudly derided by many pain specialists. Driving this effort is the myth that street drugs have been diverted from legitimate prescriptions, despite reports from the Alberta and British Columbia coroners to the contrary, and despite objections from pain experts. Additionally, the well-respected and representative National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 70% of all opioid misuse starts with medication not prescribed for the misuser. Moreover, 90% of all addictions—no matter to what—start in adolescents and teens who, for the most part, are unlikely to be prescribed opioids long-term. “Discontinued” patients are now contemplating suicide, and some have died. From BC, where the allowable dose is even lower than in the rest of the country and where doctors can’t prescribe more, one pain patient told the Roy Green Show that she’d had her lawyer request assisted suicide on her behalf. The lawyer also told the BC regulatory college that her estate would sue for wrongful death. Among other evidence, missed or ignored, the new Guideline overlooks a significant 2010 Cochrane Review of nearly 5,000 patients on opioids long-term, all of whom reported “clinically significant reductions in pain” with addiction occurring in only 0.27%—a mere 13 patients out of 5,000. Opioids work for people in pain. Almost none, when properly screened for addiction precursors, gets addicted. A report just issued in Ontario found that doctors are prescribing fewer opioids to patients in pain. McMaster’s Dr Busse called the trend “encouraging." Unless, of course, if you’re in pain with your medication reduced—or gone. For further information, contact Barry Ulmer: (780) 482-6727 About the Chronic Pain Association of Canada: CPAC is a large network of pain patient support groups in Canada governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. CPAC is a not-for- profit association whose goals are to create timely, effective treatment for all those who suffer with pain; to provide support for those suffering and to improve the area of education and understanding in pain medicine. |