At times it is overwhelming to realize we live in a culture where the attempts to cure, or mitigate symptoms of an illness are often, instead, responsible for the affected person’s death. And we allow the manufacturers of these instruments of death to advertise through televised media, among others, very powerful media intended to deceive, quite simply induce the person with the pain to ingest their fully and scientifically developed medicine.
Come on now, down the hatch with it. Just take four Morphine, three vicodin, three Valiums, and a trazodone, and call me in the morning. That is, if you can wake up in the morning.
And the disabled are particularly vulnerable. And it’s not just the pain and loss of concentration—-it’s the drive and desire to fix their illness, whatever it takes. Look under every rock.
Many of the disabled population have had upwards of twenty different medications prescribed for the same condition. I am living testament to this as the truth. Once, I was given a recalled drug–Neurontin–for two years, It was for off-label use, and produced very unpleasant, if not dangerous side-effects. Some deaths were attributed to Neurontin.
And, so it would seem, many medications requiring a prescription are poison. Stuff that can kill you. I recently lost a friend whose physician removed him from all his pain medications—(he was severely injured in a car accident years ago, resulting in intractable pain)— then placed him on METHADONE.
Any physician, nay, even laymen who do a modicum of research, will discover the alarming rates at which Methadone is implicated in the deaths of patients who switch from other pain relieving regimens to Methadone. Ultimately, the drug is so insidious, it requires the patient to take more and more of it to keep alive whatever level of pain relief which could be achieved otherwise. Better to have stayed where you were, I suppose, but the hope for relief is a powerful motivator.
Unfortunately, more and more means only one thing. Overdose. And, I fear, immunity from any sort of litigation which seeks justice, which indeed, defines justice as assigning responsibility for horrific actions such as above described, requiring public penalty for those involved in its manufacture to those who write prescriptions for its dissemination throughout the populace. Done knowingly.
The number of methadone prescriptions increased by 700 percent from 1998 to 2006 — a period during which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled package inserts with a dangerously high dosage recommendation of up to 80 mg per day for a starting dose. The FDA refuses to disclose who made this decision.
The FDA cut the recommended starting dose to 30 mg in late 2006, but some experts believe they should also require physicians to take special classes on prescribing narcotics, a move the agency is considering.
In general, if agencies did less considering and initiated more action, it is only logical to believe common sense might ultimately dictate the course of the agency. This assumes, of course, all parties desire harmony, growth, and a well run organization full of happy, productive employees. And yes, this world is possible, but not without a lot of practical work. In the meantime, we are forced to do what it takes to survive.
And that means loudly voicing your concerns. It means questioning your doctors when they want to change your medications. Make them tell you why—in layman’s terms. Then make them write down references you can check on the Internet. Things are way out of control here, and as usual, we are sheepishly going along with the program.
Here’s a question: how many of you have seen the numerous television commercials where all is goodness and light when you take– (insert name here)–, but then some smooth talker starts gently informing you that bleeding from the gums, or some other event which would otherwise be considered as a disease itself starts happening, instead of you gaining any meaningful relief from the drug itself?
This is absolute madness, and there has yet to be written any justifiable, and reasoned out argument that the production of these medicines need create such virulent side effects. Just one argument, please?
Come on here—is anybody getting this? There must be hundreds of medicines which need to be expunged from existence—- from Celebrex to Vioxx, all creating conditions of ill health while touting their own powers of success. Apparently, there is no shame, and certainly no moral or ethical standards to adhere to in the world of ‘Big Pharma.’
You know, they ought to do us all a huge favor and forever ban this drug Methadone. There can be no logic offered to allow people allowed by law to continue to sell this.
If Orowheat started to sell bread in grocery stores which killed people in alarming numbers, do you think that your local store would keep it on the shelves? I mean, think about it…….
Who is in charge of this thinking? Here’s one guy’s position, put clearly:
“This is a wonderful medicine used appropriately, but an unforgiving medicine used inappropriately,” said Howard A. Heit, M.D., a Georgetown University pain specialist. “Many legitimate patients, following the direction of the doctor, have run into trouble with methadone, including death.”
What? Did he really say that?  Is this a bit Orwellian, or is it my imagination? First, it can be bad if used inappropriately, but then, ‘legitimate’ patients using the drug correctly— can die? Pure double-speak, it appears.
Nationally, the number of deaths in which methadone was listed as a contributing factor increased fivefold to 4,462 from 1999-2005, but experts say that figure understates the problem because of incomplete reporting in some states. Florida saw its deaths caused at least in part by methadone increase from 367 in 2003 to 785 in 2007.
785? Hello out there! What if you people in Florida got a newsflash? A new, killer storm is rapidly approaching Florida, and is going to continue to come, killing 700, 800 people each year? This is approaching Hurricane Katrina strength……every year!
This total number of deaths (for a six year period) associated with Methadone bears a close similarity to the number of our troops killed in Iraq. During the whole time we have been there! Whoa, Nellie…….and we get to hear about some ‘swine flu’ which has killed one person in the US. A little perspective, please.
Many health experts believe doctors who are increasingly prescribing the medication for pain management do not have enough knowledge of how slowly Methadone is metabolized, or how various patients can experience different effects from the medication. They say some physicians prescribe too much of the drug too fast, while others do not inform patients of the risks of using alcohol or sedatives with the medication.
And does anyone admit to this problem? Evidently not, but at least a few do care.
As a result, some physicians have instituted innovative practices in conjunction with prescribing methadone for pain management, including contracts with patients that list mutual obligations or occasional phone calls from the physician to a patient’s loved ones to check on the patient’s progress.
But most physicians simply don’t bother.
Therefore, this is simply not acceptable. The benefits of this drug simply cannot outweigh the amount of personal horror associated with death. Especially death through ‘professional’ incompetence.
Knowledge is power, so goes the saying. So inform your doctor about this drug, and your concern that many new medications contain very harmful elements. Why should you subject yourself to this? You wouldn’t buy a new car with no transmission, would you? Tell people you know. Have them come to our blog and sign up. Our organization needs lots of concerned people.
And we will continue to provide all the help we can to navigate this complex world of medical records, medicines, government agency rules, and a host of other matters.
Be well,
Advocate
