(800) 447-2766 | info@buffalovalley.org
Buffalo Valley, Inc.
  • Home
    • Contact
  • About
  • Directions
  • Treatment
    • What To Bring
    • Prescreen Application
    • Pre-admission Resources
    • Medically Monitored Detox
    • Residential Rehab
    • Partial Hospital
    • IOP (Intensive Out Patient)
    • Co-Occurring Disorders
    • Prioritized Admission For Block Grant Program
    • PTSD-M
    • Psychosocial Assessment
  • Veterans
    • VA Housing
  • Housing
    • Housing
    • Rental Assistance
    • Rentals
    • Elderly/Disabled
    • COC
  • News
  • Links
  • ACA

Balancing pain management with addiction awareness:

2/3/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
By Lucas Tolbert


It Began With Morphine…

In the early 1960s my grandfather, a smoker of two packs of unfiltered Camels a day, died of lung cancer. Unfortunately for him, WWII and the Korean War had seen a spike in the incidence of morphine addiction from soldiers bringing home the habits they’d picked up to deal with the horrors of war. This influx of addiction precipitated a national opiate addiction scare that was responsible, no doubt, for the medical professionals treating my grandfather to withhold morphine for much of his illness. This denial was certainly enforced during his last days and resulted in an exceptionally painful death.

Heroin As An Alternative To Pain 
In 1898 (through 1910) what is now the Bayer pharmaceutical released diacetylmorphine under the brand name ‘Heroin’ as a pain reliever and (perhaps more so) as a cough suppressant. Pure Heroin was sold for less than $5 (US) an ounce, and, it was advertised, less than that if bought in bulk. Heroin was widely advertised by Bayer as a less addictive alternative to morphine, safe for men, women and children.



Oxycodone Is Our Generation’s Response To Pain
Almost exactly 100 years later in 1996, Purdue Pharma release an extended-release formulation of oxycodone called “OxyContin” (OC). This release was accompanied by an aggressive marketing campaign and the application of “significant political pressure” to relax the prescription restrictions regarding OC. Purdue’s advertisements and literature to doctors touted OC as having “less euphoric effect and less abuse potential” than other opiate painkillers and, in fact, those taking low doses of the drug could quit without suffering any withdrawals. They went so far as to suggest that OC should be considered“a safer alternative to even Aspirin and Tylenol and good for anyone who needed pain relief for ‘several days’ or more.”

Purdue was eventually ordered to pay $634 million in fines for their marketing practices and misbranding. While that’s a whopping fee, it pales some in comparison to the profits OC generated for Purdue (more than $2.5 billion dollars in 2008 alone). In 2007, Purdue was producing 75.2 tons of OC; up from 11.5 tons in 1997. As is generally common knowledge now, OC addiction tore through rural North America. Overdoses skyrocketed and entire regions were swamped with OC. Some First Nations communities have adult OxyContin addiction rates of more than 70%.

And heroin? It’s now one of the world’s most abused drugs, and certainly one of its most dangerous, with an estimated 21 million addicts worldwide.

Balancing Pain Management With Addiction Awareness

That prescription drug abuse and addiction is a serious problem is a fact it’s doubtful anyone would deny, medical professional or layman. And there’s no shortage of publicity to that effect. However, less well known is the widespread (and understandable) cost of under-medicating patients with chronic pain which results from opiate-prescribing concerns. One poll of pain specialists suggested that some 77% of those suffering from acute and/or chronic pain (and without addiction issues) are without sufficient pain medication.

Finding a balance between keeping patients pain-free and keeping a sufficiently tight rein on opiate medication to ensure that they are not distributed irresponsibly has become an increasingly difficult prospect for medical professionals. While there are probably no perfect answers – some people will live with unnecessary pain and some will abuse painkillers.

Are Measures To Reduce Pain Pill Abuse Working?

There are some interesting experiments being done in pain management and some universal steps that can be taken to mitigate abuse. There’s an almost perfect microcosm of this issue being played out in Tillamook County, Oregon. Dr. Harry Rinehart runs a pain clinic in the town of Wheeler where he has become unofficially known as the ‘Pioneer of Pain’ due to the novelty of his philosophy: that patients with pain (and even addictions) should get enough medication to ensure their comfort.

That flies in the face of the current prescribing trend – to issue medication as conservatively as possible. Dr. Rinehart’s methods have even drawn the ire of law enforcement. Tillamook County’s Attorney General William Porter has filed a number of complaints against Dr. Rinehart to the Board of Medicine, concerned that the seemingly liberal prescription policy is possibly responsible for putting opiate pills on the street. To date, all of the complaints have been dismissed.

Rinehart further differs from his colleagues in that rather than meet with patients individually, those under his care are required to attend a group pain management meeting once every three months. Rinehart points out that those group meetings have had huge success in other contexts, creating bonds of camaraderie, shared experience, and support…So why not pain management?

An Individualized Plan Is Key 
To be sure no one unauthorized has access to the medications, he also insists that his patients bring him a photograph of their medication locked up in the lockbox he requires them to keep. Those patients are further required to bring their lockboxes with them when picking up any medication. Whether or not his system will prove an effective (or ethical) one in the long term remains to be seen. For the duration, however, prescription abuse can be curbed and pain more effectively treated when doctors, patients, pharmacists, families and caretakers work together to establish individual plans for each patient and keep an eye out for indications of abuse.


4 Comments
rose Sarah
11/19/2017 07:01:21 pm

I am very happy today with my family. My name is rose Sarah living in USA, My husband left me for a good 3 years now, and i love him so much, i have been looking for a way to get him back since then. i have tried many options but he did not come back, until i met a friend that darted me to Dr joy a spell caster, who helped me to bring back my husband after 2 weeks. Me and my husband are living happily together today, That man is great, you can contact him via email joylovespell@gmail.com… Now i will advice any serious persons that found themselves in this kind of problem to contact him now a fast solution without stress.. He always hello, now i call him my father.contact him now he is always online email (joylovespell@gmail.com) or contact him on his whatsapp mobile line +2347059014517.



Reply
Sarah Jack
2/4/2018 02:08:16 am



Henderson Elizabeth
Dr joy is a trust worthy spell caster and he will be of great help to you. I never believed in spell casting but After 4 years of marriage my husband left me because I lost my womb, and i was unable to give birth to children. I felt like my life has come to an end, and i almost committed suicide, i was emotionally down for a very long time, but thanks to this spell caster called Dr joy whom i met online after my friend Becky Ross told me how he also helped her to bring back her husband in less than 2 days. I believed her and decided to give Dr joy a try and i contacted him on his email joylovespell@gmail.com. and explained my problems to him. He laughed and told me that In less than 2 days, my Husband will come back to me again, and that he will restore my womb and i will give birth to children. At first i thought it was a joke but i took courage and believed as Dr joy has said and it did happen just as this Great spell caster said, My husband called me and was crying, begging for forgiveness. I forgive him and today i am so glad that all worries and problems has gone away, and we are even happier than before, another good news is that i am pregnant now, and very soon we will have our baby. Dr joy is really a gifted and a powerful spiritual man and i will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man. I advice you all If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster to solve all your problems just Contact Dr joy on his email on joylovespell@gmail.com. because he will always help you to solve all problems. Once again thank you Dr joy. Thank you, thank you.
you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2347088404185.

Reply
Sarah Jack
4/29/2018 05:36:23 am


Henderson Elizabeth
Dr joy is a trust worthy spell caster and he will be of great help to you. I never believed in spell casting but After 4 years of marriage my husband left me because I lost my womb, and i was unable to give birth to children. I felt like my life has come to an end, and i almost committed suicide, i was emotionally down for a very long time, but thanks to this spell caster called Dr joy whom i met online after my friend Becky Ross told me how he also helped her to bring back her husband in less than 2 days. I believed her and decided to give Dr joy a try and i contacted him on his email joylovespell@gmail.com. and explained my problems to him. He laughed and told me that In less than 2 days, my Husband will come back to me again, and that he will restore my womb and i will give birth to children. At first i thought it was a joke but i took courage and believed as Dr joy has said and it did happen just as this Great spell caster said, My husband called me and was crying, begging for forgiveness. I forgive him and today i am so glad that all worries and problems has gone away, and we are even happier than before, another good news is that i am pregnant now, and very soon we will have our baby. Dr joy is really a gifted and a powerful spiritual man and i will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man. I advice you all If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster to solve all your problems just Contact Dr joy on his email on joylovespell@gmail.com. because he will always help you to solve all problems. Once again thank you Dr joy. Thank you, thank you.
you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2348100452479.

Reply
Lara
1/31/2020 03:31:46 pm

I want to let everyone here know that Spell casting really works. However it wouldn't have been possible for me to get my ex back without the kind support and help of LORD PADMAN,whose his Website: https://padmanspell.com/index-3.html i would like to extend my golden sincere thanks to LORD PADMAN who helped me to get my ex back. i want to thank LORD PADMAN the great spell caster who is so powerful and good in spell casting. I am highly indebted to LORD PADMAN for his help in getting my ex back. My boyfriend left me for another girl, i was so heart broken so i contacted a friend who introduced me to the great LORD PADMAN who have helped her before to get her boyfriend back so i did all he asked me to do. Surprisingly 48 hours later as he promised my boyfriend called me and asked me to forgive him we are back together living happily. Don't let anybody to deceive you spell casting works. Contact him through his website: https://padmanspell.com/index-3.html and Email: padmanlovespell@yahoo.com. (info@padmanspell.com) OR Whatsapp +19492293867 https://twitter.com/padman_dr . thank you so much sir,.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    BLOG TOPICS

    All
    Addiction
    Anxiety Disorder
    Drug Abuse
    Pain Management
    Physical & Emotional Abuse
    Pregnancy
    Self-Esteem

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

Buffalo Valley Inc.
501 Park Avenue South
Hohenwald, TN 38462

Local: (931) 796-5427
Toll-free: (800) 447-2766


Picture
© 2017  Buffalo Valley, Inc.  | Privacy Policy

​​Site Powered by InnerDigital
Photo used under Creative Commons from H o l l y.