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PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) – While she was staring at a caricature portrait on her wall, of her and her husband, Dawn Anderson started to cry.
It was not so long ago that she was able to go on a cruise to the Caribbean, where this picture was drawn. Now, Anderson, who uses a wheelchair because she has two amputated legs, is at home.
Everything, she says, because of the opioid crisis.
"This image up there, it was better. his face in his hands. "Since the reduction of the pain medication, it's just too painful."
Anderson, 52, took 90 milligrams of morphine sustained release. But in the midst of an epidemic of overdose deaths from opioids, his doctor removed him.
It is in a shorter and weaker action form of the drug now. She says that she can barely work.
She's not an addict, she says. Why can not she take the medication she needs?
"It's almost like I'm taking insulin from a diabetic," she said. "Having a good and productive life and having it removed is like a shot in the gut."
Patients with chronic pain across the country are beginning to comment on how they feel they are unintentionally victims of opioid suppression.
These people are particularly troubled by new federal and national opioid prescribing guidelines, which, among other things, encourage doctors to reduce doses. According to them, with the repression exercised by the federal authorities on opiate prescribers, many doctors have even discouraged prescribing painkillers.
"Legitimate patients who suffer from chronic and serious pain are denied treatment because the pendulum swings up and down the other way," said Dr. Shaun Kondamuri, a management specialist He compared it to the consequences of the mortgage crisis, where no one could get a loan.
"Let's face it: there are doctors who probably feel a lot of pressure to not prescribe – from the state of Indiana, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), from the general press People feel punished for the misdeeds of others. "
Claudia Merandi, a former stenographer from Rhode Island who is now disabled because of Crohn's disease, founded the Do not Punish Pain movement after meeting patients with chronic pain who saw opioids cut (Anderson will be conferred) ncier at the next gathering of Do not Punish Pain on September 18 in Valparaiso)
can not find a primary care physician in his condition that prescribes opioids; many of these doctors now refer these patients to pain specialists to avoid the hassle, scrutiny of the federal police.
"It's a form of discrimination," said Merandi, 50. I still recognize the opioid crisis, but prohibition will only make things worse – it always does.
She pointed out that most overdoses are caused by heroin and illicit fentanyl, and not by legally prescribed opioids. The numbers prove it. Of the 42,000 overdose deaths from US opioids in 2016, 40% involved an opioid sold by prescription, according to the CDC. (The local overdose death registers provided to the Times were not detailed enough to be accurately analyzed for comparable figures for Northwest Indiana.)
Sally Peterson, of East Chicago, took over Hydrocodone for about a year and a half. This helped her to walk painlessly.
Then her doctor told her that she should undergo regular screening tests, another federal recommendation. The copay for them was $ 160. She says that she can not afford it.
But this 59-year-old woman, who is disabled from Social Security because of physical and mental health issues, says she's able to handle it now. She takes 16 ibuprofen a day. She walks with a walker
"For people who really need (opioids), I think it's ridiculous," she said about the new guidelines. "What about our veterans, our veterans can not get them, they defend our country, they lose their limbs and they can not have the drugs to help them?"
A person who suffers from chronic pain for 50 years … old from South Haven, used to take three or four hydrocodone a day to work. He said that he suffered tremendously in the back and extremities after working for years at the factory.
Then, three years ago, his doctor removed him from the drug. He could not find a pain clinic that prescribed it. He tried alternatives – steroid injections, an analgesic that he thought made him suicidal – but none worked.
He went to a methadone clinic and lied to the staff. Because he does not want his family, friends, and his work to know that he is taking a medication to cure opioid-dependent people, he would only address the Times at the same time. condition that his name is not used.
"Do you know how much? I feel like walking in this place? he said, "But I have to manage to go to work, I have children to raise, a house to pay, I have a wife."
Another patient suffering from pain, a 53-year-old Portage's wife will only consent to an interview if her name has not been given and she is also concerned that her family and friends are discovering her situation.
She is suffering from injuries degenerative all over the body as a result of a car accident at age 21. For years she took morphine and hydrocodone.] 19659003] Then, in the midst of the opioid crisis, her primary care physician stopped prescribing painkillers and said pain clinics "would not touch her" because of the high doses of medication she was taking.
She did not so turned to other means, some legal, others not: holistic drugs, muscle relaxants, analgesics l On the street, marijuana.
She can not even walk to the back of her yard, even with a cane. She sometimes uses two. She is looking for a wheelchair.
"It steals your will to live, even," she says.
"I think this addiction is a sad thing, but it's not the solution to removing the drugs. Chronic pain patients, that is not the answer, just to erase everyone, what they did is simply wrong.
A number of patients were suffering from Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the executive director. doctors for the responsible prescription of opioids. They say that he has, in essence, written the 2016 CDC opioid limitation guidelines to encourage people to use Suboxone, an opioid replacement drug, which they say he has a Financial participation.
He says these are conspiracy theories. has detoxification treatments – started by pain pills manufacturers to discredit his work.
"The framing of this question is not accurate," he said. "Advocacy and public health intervention to promote a more cautious prescription should not limit supplies to stop abusers … Efforts must … produce better results in people with pain."
Chronic use of opioids may lead to decreased functioning and increased sensitivity to pain, he said. And because opioids create such physical dependence, patients may not be relieved of their underlying pain but withdrawal symptoms.
He also argued that doctors do not prescribe opioids because they are afraid of federal authorities. Calls this another myth – but because they are trying to solve a problem of their own creation. The public health facility widely acknowledges that the opioid epidemic was caused by overescription of painkillers from the late 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies ensured that the drug was safe. they did not cause dependency.
"The medical community accepts the fact that horrific mistake that has led to a public health crisis," said Kolodny
. Rajive Adlaka, medical director of pain control specialists in Schererville, said that A "middle ground" could be found if doctors prescribe opioids only to people who really need them, always considering other modalities such as physiotherapy.He said that opioid patients should be closely examined – on Indiana's INSPECT prescription monitoring system, with regular drug testing.
"I've always been adamant about trying to avoid these drugs." l. State of Indiana promulgated a law limiting opioid prescriptions for the first time to seven days. "Senator Jim Merritt, a Republican from Indianapolis who is one of the authors of the draft l oi, said the law gives doctors the freedom to use their medical judgment. He said that opioid prescriptions were down 10% in Indiana, which he called a "victory".
While acknowledging that doctors are more afraid of writing opioid prescriptions, he does not anticipate any legislative solution. He said that he thought things had to be "played out".
"I do not see how we could encourage doctors to prescribe painkillers," he said.
Dawn Anderson leaned forward in her wheelchair, resting her arms on a reclining leather chair. According to her, leaning is the only position that relieves pain.
Her back pain comes from a botched surgery, she says. She lost both her legs under the knee due to complications related to diabetes. She has kidney problems. Her right eye was the victim of a retina detached from diabetes
She says that on the highest dose of morphine – she was 75% stronger – she could move, play with her grandchildren, go on to holidays.
Now, she says, she can not go up or down the stairs. The bottom of her stumps hurt her, so she can not wear a prosthesis. She can not drive – it's too painful to get in and out of the car. His garden has been overgrown with weeds.
So she is mostly sitting in her wheelchair or lying on the couch. She watches a lot of television. While she was talking, a divorced couple played on "Dr. Phil" on the muted television.
She was wearing a Carnival Cruise T-shirt. She said the cruise line is still calling her, asking when she will come back. She has palm trees on her curtains.
She says that she wrote to the president, to her senators, to her congressman, even to Dr. Phil, to complain about the treatment of patients suffering from pain. All she got was an answer from her congressman.
"It's almost like a feeling of helplessness: the quality of life," she said. "If it was not for my family, I would look for a Dr. Kevorkian, you would feel so helpless." 19659003 Source: The Northwest Indiana Times, https: // bit. ly / 2zAH3iF
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Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com
This is an Indiana exchange story shared by the Times
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