Anonymous wrote:Just heard of another sad story yesterday- 18 year old home from college for summer was preparing to go back. Just got back from doing some habitat for humanity stint, parents found him from an Opiod OD. Had no idea he was even taking them. Tragedy strikes again, just too many stories. When will this end.

Anonymous wrote:Opioids can be dissolved in hot water and disposed of safely in rock gardens or grassy areas. By the time they make their way into the water systems like creeks and rivers through rain they are highly diluted. Another option is to crush them into cat litter and dispose of them in the garbage. Medicines turned in at safe community collections sometimes find their way into the black market.

Checking your child's bedroom or belongings, preferably when they are not there, is the right and I would even say the obligation of any parent . After all, don't many parents check on their child's social media.

Anonymous wrote:To the poster above who shared the story about her or his child, thank you so much. You are a strong parent and a caring individual.

I also feel that I have to apologize to you for heating on your nerves. I am the poster asking people to please name every private school where this is an issue. Why? Because every private school parent I have ever spoken to about hard drugs appears to think they are not an issue at their schools. We can continue to bury our heads in the sand of denial, or we can admit oh snap it apparently is an issue at FILL IN THE BLANK and start working on the problem.

But we unfortunately need to name the schools in order to start the process of admitting to ourselves that there is an issue with hard drugs and confronting the issue with parent pressure on the schools and cold hard strategies with the students. One brave poster mentioned Sidwell, but they are not alone, and we need to name the other Schools as well.

Three years ago I took every opioid and other prescription medication in the house, disolved them in boiling water (with the vent on), and poured the pot onto a gravel surface that borders my driveway. Robitussen or any medication with DXM was emptied down the drain, and is purchased strictly on an as-needed basis, and kept only in my bathroom medicine cabinet. Since I am the parent, I periodically search my children's schoolbags or bedrooms while they are out of the house. If I find anything questionable like a lighter or cigarettes, it goes in the trash. Sometimes I bring it up with them (hey, I found cigarettes or cough suppressants ), and other times I don't bother (lighter). I have discussed repeatedly, at length, and many times with all of my children my zero-tolerance drug policy. No marijuana, and certainly nothing else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think until you've experienced truly horrific pain, you may not have a good perspective. Proper pain management is in fact required for recovery. I don't think my friend who just got split from neck to belly button for heart surgery should have to go without adequate pain relief. The real problem is discharging patients with inappropriate prescriptions and types of pain meds.

+1.

If my body is covered in third degree burns I hope to God my doctors will have the compassion to put me on Dilaudid 24/7.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A takeaway here is parents must take teen pain very seriously.

Opiates after a severe bone break are not inappropriate. But the parent has to control very carefully and take proactive measures to manage any lingering pain. This needs to be discussed with the doctor--no harm on impressing on them the dangers of teen pain because most simply don't get that if they won't it is all too easy for the teen to find things he can self-medicate with.

If your teen complains of pain without obvious cause treat this as a medical emergency. Go see a doctor. If he is dismissive or hints it's all psychological so doing anything will just feed the psychological illness, go to doctor after doctor until you find one that will take it seriously and address it urgently through non-opiate means. At a minimum, this will show your teen you are on their side and you at least are taking it seriously. This helps prevents the despair that causes teens in this situation to turn to drugs.

And all of the above also applies to mental pain as well.

+++++ 10000

We do not accept opiates for a bone break, wisdom teeth, etc.

We throw away all opiates in the house. We don't leave drugs around the house.

If only all parents were as wise.

As far as I know, there is almost nothing out there in terms of popular articles or even more academic works that warns parents about the dangers of teen pain and how it can lead to addiction. Heck, doctors don't seem to know how dangerous it is. For that reason, it is a very hard lesson parents learn after the fact.

Interestingly, there is way more public awareness of mental health problems and addiction potential. We need at least as much awareness for physical pain, especially among those we naturally turn to in these situations, the doctors.

(Messed up earlier post)

The sad this is my sister (her daughter is addicted) asked the doctor to not prescribe opiates. He said, I am not an addiction specialist I treat pain and this is what I recommend.

That is crazy to me. Doctors DO NOT CARE. Their job is to write the script if the person can prove they are in pain, not how much pain. Prove also mean, saying "I am in pain."

We really need to realize doctors are human and many are just in it for the money.

I am not opposed to doctors prescribing opiates to deal with acute pain like you get post op or after a bad break. In fact, it could be cruel not to. But it should be the absolute minimum over the shortest period of time and the doctor needs to make sure the parent is responsible and in charge of keeping them safe and administering them. There should be a campaign to add addiction as a possible serious medical complication of surgery or accidents and doctors should be taught how to prevent this complication just as they are taught steps to take to avoid other complications.

Opiates should not be given for chronic pain. But it needs to be taken just as seriously and doctors faced with a teen with such a problem should 1) try his best to get a diagnosis for the teen (can be very challenging) and 2) from the outset convey to the teen that he takes the pain very seriously and embark immediately on throwing all the non-opiate ways of alleviating pain at the problem. Controlled use of Tylenol/NSAIDs may be appropriate, PT prescriptions should be granted generously--even overly generously, as should prescriptions for things like TENS machines.

There is a shortage of doctors who specialize in teen pain management, but doctors should make every effort to get a teen to one to prevent the complication of addiction. All of this applies to all situations, including those where the doctor would prefer to be an amateur psychiatrist and say the pain is all in the teen's head. As an aside, adults, especially women, get this treatment all the time from doctors, but they have the executive function in most cases to not seek out street drugs. Also adults are far less equipped than teens to actually find the street sources.

But what if alternative pain relief options just don't work? Withhold relief from teen but not adults - withhold relief from all people and impose suffering to prevent addiction?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am not opposed to doctors prescribing opiates to deal with acute pain like you get post op or after a bad break. In fact, it could be cruel not to. But it should be the absolute minimum over the shortest period of time and the doctor needs to make sure the parent is responsible and in charge of keeping them safe and administering them. There should be a campaign to add addiction as a possible serious medical complication of surgery or accidents and doctors should be taught how to prevent this complication just as they are taught steps to take to avoid other complications.

Why is it cruel not to give your teen a pain meds after surgery? What is going to happen to him? He will lay down without moving a little bit longer, right? What is the danger of that? Is that the same like not to giving a pain meds during the labor?

Anonymous wrote:
I am not opposed to doctors prescribing opiates to deal with acute pain like you get post op or after a bad break. In fact, it could be cruel not to. But it should be the absolute minimum over the shortest period of time and the doctor needs to make sure the parent is responsible and in charge of keeping them safe and administering them. There should be a campaign to add addiction as a possible serious medical complication of surgery or accidents and doctors should be taught how to prevent this complication just as they are taught steps to take to avoid other complications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. So much sympathy now that the victims are white.

Drug addicts are drug addicts.

How do you know the victims are white? Are POC not permitted at top private schools? I don't think so!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A takeaway here is parents must take teen pain very seriously.

Opiates after a severe bone break are not inappropriate. But the parent has to control very carefully and take proactive measures to manage any lingering pain. This needs to be discussed with the doctor--no harm on impressing on them the dangers of teen pain because most simply don't get that if they won't it is all too easy for the teen to find things he can self-medicate with.

If your teen complains of pain without obvious cause treat this as a medical emergency. Go see a doctor. If he is dismissive or hints it's all psychological so doing anything will just feed the psychological illness, go to doctor after doctor until you find one that will take it seriously and address it urgently through non-opiate means. At a minimum, this will show your teen you are on their side and you at least are taking it seriously. This helps prevents the despair that causes teens in this situation to turn to drugs.

And all of the above also applies to mental pain as well.

+++++ 10000

We do not accept opiates for a bone break, wisdom teeth, etc.

We throw away all opiates in the house. We don't leave drugs around the house.

If only all parents were as wise.

As far as I know, there is almost nothing out there in terms of popular articles or even more academic works that warns parents about the dangers of teen pain and how it can lead to addiction. Heck, doctors don't seem to know how dangerous it is. For that reason, it is a very hard lesson parents learn after the fact.

Interestingly, there is way more public awareness of mental health problems and addiction potential. We need at least as much awareness for physical pain, especially among those we naturally turn to in these situations, the doctors.

(Messed up earlier post)

The sad this is my sister (her daughter is addicted) asked the doctor to not prescribe opiates. He said, I am not an addiction specialist I treat pain and this is what I recommend.

That is crazy to me. Doctors DO NOT CARE. Their job is to write the script if the person can prove they are in pain, not how much pain. Prove also mean, saying "I am in pain."

We really need to realize doctors are human and many are just in it for the money.

I am not opposed to doctors prescribing opiates to deal with acute pain like you get post op or after a bad break. In fact, it could be cruel not to. But it should be the absolute minimum over the shortest period of time and the doctor needs to make sure the parent is responsible and in charge of keeping them safe and administering them. There should be a campaign to add addiction as a possible serious medical complication of surgery or accidents and doctors should be taught how to prevent this complication just as they are taught steps to take to avoid other complications.

Opiates should not be given for chronic pain. But it needs to be taken just as seriously and doctors faced with a teen with such a problem should 1) try his best to get a diagnosis for the teen (can be very challenging) and 2) from the outset convey to the teen that he takes the pain very seriously and embark immediately on throwing all the non-opiate ways of alleviating pain at the problem. Controlled use of Tylenol/NSAIDs may be appropriate, PT prescriptions should be granted generously--even overly generously, as should prescriptions for things like TENS machines.

There is a shortage of doctors who specialize in teen pain management, but doctors should make every effort to get a teen to one to prevent the complication of addiction. All of this applies to all situations, including those where the doctor would prefer to be an amateur psychiatrist and say the pain is all in the teen's head. As an aside, adults, especially women, get this treatment all the time from doctors, but they have the executive function in most cases to not seek out street drugs. Also adults are far less equipped than teens to actually find the street sources.