I'm a nurse at a hospital in a state hit very hard by the current epidemic. Unfortunately we are one of the top. After years, it still appalls me how narcotics are over prescribed for some patients. And it's not the stereotypical ones who are the worst. They definitely get treated differently (even sometimes when their pain is legitimate). It's the person who seems totally normal. But they know how to manipulate the doctors to get drugs. And hospitals are so concerned about the scores they drill into the providers head the need to get good scores. So some doctors cave and just give in to the patients.

I've lost count of how many times patients have rated their pain a 10/10 while they casually watch TV or flip through their phone. I do extra documentation to show what I observe but I'd get in trouble if a patient complained that they said their pain was a 10 and I gave them nothing (because I thought their pain was a 2). And most doctors don't read my documentation so patient says "my pain was uncontrolled all night. The meds do nothing". And so they get more more or different dosages.

I've started to see some positive changes due to a new addiction /pain Management group at the hospital, so hopefully things are heading in the right direction.

I think the whole "keep patients happy so they give us good scores" crap that's pushed at providers and nurses is so detrimental to patient care. But the numbers are what matters

Anonymous wrote:DS had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled recently. We were given a script for an opioid which I proceeded to tear up and throw away. No way in hell was I going to expose my kid to that shit. Thankfully he did fine with plain old Tylenol and ice packs.

To be fair, it's not that addictive. Taking one or two pills wouldn't have doomed your son.

Of course they are fleeing NYC and moving to West Palm. WPB society takes in any disgraced degenerate NYer looking to avoid taxes (Jeff Epstein, Trump, etc.)

DS had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled recently. We were given a script for an opioid which I proceeded to tear up and throw away. No way in hell was I going to expose my kid to that shit. Thankfully he did fine with plain old Tylenol and ice packs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one forced the pills down their throats.

+ a million


Nobody made doctors over subscribe, nobody made people take them


It's like my kid squeezing the toothpaste all over the floor and me filing a lawsuit against Crest

When a doctor prescribes medicine for you, you're supposed to take it. Or else you are non compliant.

Every single time I've been prescribed a pain reliever the instructions have said something like, take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed for pain relief. They didn't say "crush this up and snort it, then lie to the doctor to get more. If you can't get more switch over to heroin as it is cheaper".

Shame on you and your industry.
100 Dead. Americans. Every. Single. DAY.
- > Because of OPIOIDS.

Do you know how many die every day from lung cancer? From car accidents? From alcoholism?

Life expectancy is down in the US for two years in a row from “deaths of despair” — opioids, suicide, violence. This epidemic is different because it is killing young people. It’s tragic. That people also die of other causes doesn’t change that.

People who market and prescribe opioids have tons of blood on their hands. Opioids should never be the first thing prescribed for routine pain management.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one forced the pills down their throats.

+ a million


Nobody made doctors over subscribe, nobody made people take them


It's like my kid squeezing the toothpaste all over the floor and me filing a lawsuit against Crest

When a doctor prescribes medicine for you, you're supposed to take it. Or else you are non compliant.

Every single time I've been prescribed a pain reliever the instructions have said something like, take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed for pain relief. They didn't say "crush this up and snort it, then lie to the doctor to get more. If you can't get more switch over to heroin as it is cheaper".

Shame on you and your industry.
100 Dead. Americans. Every. Single. DAY.
- > Because of OPIOIDS.

Do you know how many die every day from lung cancer? From car accidents? From alcoholism?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought many of the people dying from opiod deaths were taking it and their pain wasn't that severe. Their doctors prescribed it to them anyway and they became addicted. I just can't solely blame the Sackler family for this.

A person has pain, minor or major, and the doctor gives them an opioid prescription. The person trusts the doctor, takes the pain med, becomes addicted.

The person didn't know how addictive the opioid was. The doctor didn't know how addictive the opioid was. The Sackler family knew how addictive the opioid was. Who is to blame? The addict? The doctor?

I don’t buy the part about the doctor didn’t know how addictive they were. I feel like I have been hearing about people getting addicted to painkillers for quite some time now. Longer than the opioid crisis.

Until very recently, it has been accepted medical wisdom that taking an opioid for pain isn't addictive. That's false, but doctors thought it was true, up until the past few years.

It wasn’t by chance that this was accepted medical wisdom. That’s how it was marketed, based on basically nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the manufacturers of this LEGAL product are public enemy #1, but you'll do nothing to stop the flow of ILLEGAL drugs coming into this country? Fentanyl deaths far exceed those from opioids, and when you add in cocaine and heroin, the numbers are mind-boggling.

Read up on the epidemic. We wouldn’t have a heroin or fentanyl problem if we didn’t have a prescription drug problem first.

Exactly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one forced the pills down their throats.

+ a million


Nobody made doctors over subscribe, nobody made people take them


It's like my kid squeezing the toothpaste all over the floor and me filing a lawsuit against Crest

When a doctor prescribes medicine for you, you're supposed to take it. Or else you are non compliant.

Every single time I've been prescribed a pain reliever the instructions have said something like, take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed for pain relief. They didn't say "crush this up and snort it, then lie to the doctor to get more. If you can't get more switch over to heroin as it is cheaper".

Shame on you and your industry.
100 Dead. Americans. Every. Single. DAY.
- > Because of OPIOIDS.

Sorry, my post is obviously for the doctors who prescribe opioids (as a first resort).

Anonymous wrote:So the manufacturers of this LEGAL product are public enemy #1, but you'll do nothing to stop the flow of ILLEGAL drugs coming into this country? Fentanyl deaths far exceed those from opioids, and when you add in cocaine and heroin, the numbers are mind-boggling.

Read up on the epidemic. We wouldn’t have a heroin or fentanyl problem if we didn’t have a prescription drug problem first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one forced the pills down their throats.

+ a million


Nobody made doctors over subscribe, nobody made people take them


It's like my kid squeezing the toothpaste all over the floor and me filing a lawsuit against Crest

When a doctor prescribes medicine for you, you're supposed to take it. Or else you are non compliant.

Every single time I've been prescribed a pain reliever the instructions have said something like, take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed for pain relief. They didn't say "crush this up and snort it, then lie to the doctor to get more. If you can't get more switch over to heroin as it is cheaper".

Shame on you and your industry.
100 Dead. Americans. Every. Single. DAY.
- > Because of OPIOIDS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one forced the pills down their throats.

+ a million


Nobody made doctors over subscribe, nobody made people take them


It's like my kid squeezing the toothpaste all over the floor and me filing a lawsuit against Crest

When a doctor prescribes medicine for you, you're supposed to take it. Or else you are non compliant.

Every single time I've been prescribed a pain reliever the instructions have said something like, take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed for pain relief. They didn't say "crush this up and snort it, then lie to the doctor to get more. If you can't get more switch over to heroin as it is cheaper".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they made a real-life deal with the devil.

Exclusive: OxyContin made the Sackler family billions—but now, after 400,000 deaths, it’s made them near-pariahs. For the first time, David Sackler pleads his case.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/david-sackler-pleads-his-case-on-the-opioid-epidemic?

They should fit in on the 7 Circles of Hell. I wish them hell (youngest brother addict in California, rehab numerous times)

She sounds like a gem demanding they review the “neon f’ing hoodie” that she designed while not rock climbing or parlaying her linguist skills.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they made a real-life deal with the devil.

Exclusive: OxyContin made the Sackler family billions—but now, after 400,000 deaths, it’s made them near-pariahs. For the first time, David Sackler pleads his case.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/david-sackler-pleads-his-case-on-the-opioid-epidemic?

These people are the face of evil. Thank you for this thread, OP.