On Zohydro
Mar. 13th, 2014 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lliiraNormally, people writing about things like opiate painkillers say to make a decision with your doctor and do your research and decide what's best and etc. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to say this:
Do not let your doctor prescribe you Zohydro. Don't take it. Period.
Zohydro is an opiate that was approved by the FDA against the recommendation of its own panel. It is far stronger than Percocet (which I also recommend against taking). It is so strong, merely two pills are enough to cause a deadly overdose in adults. Giving a drug this strong to people who are already miserable because of pain is extremely questionable solely because of the suicide risk. But the risk -- no, not risk. The near certainty of addiction makes it criminally irresponsible for any doctor to prescribe this thing.
I have experienced addiction to Percocet, and it was hell on earth, even though I used less of the drug than prescribed and my withdrawal only lasted for a short time. Further, with the help of surgery, I am now able to take Tylenol to control my pain during the day, supplemented with a muscle relaxant every other night and daily icepacks. Percocet did not help my pain in the slightest. In fact, it caused me more pain than it alleviated. I am not unusual in this.
Tylenol and ibuprofen (which I can't take because it upsets my stomach) are incredibly effective pain relievers. There are surgical procedures which also help immensely. I do not believe that these opiates are as effective as over-the-counter pain medications, and their risk is incredibly high. Doctors, even those whose specialty is in pain management, are by and large too quick to prescribe dangerous drugs without telling their patients all the facts about said drugs. In my experience, they're likely to not even know the facts about the drugs in the first place.
Chronic pain patients desperately need the medical establishment to help on a regular basis throughout our lives. Continually prescribing these drugs without thinking twice is not helping. At best, it is putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. At worse, it's pouring acid on it. When you're in constant pain, physical activity becomes much more difficult or impossible, so the life of the mind becomes even more important. But these opiates cloud the mind. So what life do we have then?
Possibly worst of all, doctors' confidence in opioid painkillers probably makes them less likely to look for other sources of pain relief, and less likely to push the pharmaceutical industry for more effective, safer drugs.
I know what it is to be in too much pain to do anything other than swallow whatever the doctor gives you. Heck, when I went to the hospital, I was in too much pain to even know what the doctor was giving me. This is essentially a captive population being given hugely addictive drugs that very often don't even work. It's no wonder that the pharmaceutical industry is so incredibly profitable. They do produce many essential, lifesaving and lifechanging drugs. However, it makes sense that many people don't trust any prescriptions or the medical establishment at all when government oversight is broken enough to approve drugs like Zohydro.
Do not let your doctor prescribe you Zohydro. Don't take it. Period.
Zohydro is an opiate that was approved by the FDA against the recommendation of its own panel. It is far stronger than Percocet (which I also recommend against taking). It is so strong, merely two pills are enough to cause a deadly overdose in adults. Giving a drug this strong to people who are already miserable because of pain is extremely questionable solely because of the suicide risk. But the risk -- no, not risk. The near certainty of addiction makes it criminally irresponsible for any doctor to prescribe this thing.
I have experienced addiction to Percocet, and it was hell on earth, even though I used less of the drug than prescribed and my withdrawal only lasted for a short time. Further, with the help of surgery, I am now able to take Tylenol to control my pain during the day, supplemented with a muscle relaxant every other night and daily icepacks. Percocet did not help my pain in the slightest. In fact, it caused me more pain than it alleviated. I am not unusual in this.
Tylenol and ibuprofen (which I can't take because it upsets my stomach) are incredibly effective pain relievers. There are surgical procedures which also help immensely. I do not believe that these opiates are as effective as over-the-counter pain medications, and their risk is incredibly high. Doctors, even those whose specialty is in pain management, are by and large too quick to prescribe dangerous drugs without telling their patients all the facts about said drugs. In my experience, they're likely to not even know the facts about the drugs in the first place.
Chronic pain patients desperately need the medical establishment to help on a regular basis throughout our lives. Continually prescribing these drugs without thinking twice is not helping. At best, it is putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. At worse, it's pouring acid on it. When you're in constant pain, physical activity becomes much more difficult or impossible, so the life of the mind becomes even more important. But these opiates cloud the mind. So what life do we have then?
Possibly worst of all, doctors' confidence in opioid painkillers probably makes them less likely to look for other sources of pain relief, and less likely to push the pharmaceutical industry for more effective, safer drugs.
I know what it is to be in too much pain to do anything other than swallow whatever the doctor gives you. Heck, when I went to the hospital, I was in too much pain to even know what the doctor was giving me. This is essentially a captive population being given hugely addictive drugs that very often don't even work. It's no wonder that the pharmaceutical industry is so incredibly profitable. They do produce many essential, lifesaving and lifechanging drugs. However, it makes sense that many people don't trust any prescriptions or the medical establishment at all when government oversight is broken enough to approve drugs like Zohydro.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-13 10:31 am (UTC)I desperately wish the pharmaceutical industry would look for heavier-duty non-opiate painkillers. The few times I've had to take them after a surgery or for some acute problem, they've dulled the pain some but not gotten rid of it, and, much worse, have left me useless and crying not only the entire time I was on them, but for days thereafter, and depressed for longer than that. They are miserable drugs for me, and I avoid them up until the point that I'm even more incapable of doing things without them than with them. Codeine is never, ever worth it; I'd much rather take four ibuprofen or naproxen and deal with the rest.
Opiates have so many issues for so many people, and I really don't understand why there's not more work on other options. There's an awareness that not everyone can take tylenol because of liver or kidney issues, or ibuprofen because of stomach issues, or whatever, so they're always working on another alternative so that there's something else available otc, and they come out with a new one every so many years. There must be more possibilities for drugs to counter more pain than that, and yet they are not available.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-13 10:51 pm (UTC)The group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescription (http://www.supportprop.org/) has a couple videos that are jawdropping. Prescription opioid manufacturers have blatantly lied in order to get their extremely addictive drugs prescribed to people. It's frankly criminal, and now causes more deaths than any other form of accidental death, including car accidents. People are going to die because of Zohydro, and not "just" people using it to get high. If you forget you already took a pill -- and it's rather easy to forget things when you're on opioids -- and take another, that's it.
I don't usually ascribe conspiracy, but in this case, drug manufacturers have created a perfect way to keep making money. Taking opioids for the long-term makes them significantly less effective for anyone and even causes more pain in lots of people. Their solution: prescribe more! Which doesn't work. Oh then you must not be prescribing enough. You monster who wants people to be in pain you. And when it's pointed out that these things don't work, I noticed in browsing this stuff last night, they always somehow come up with the idea that Tylenol causes liver damage. Which, when used properly by people who drink little or no alcohol, it does not. And of course they try to ignore the fact of the existence of ibuprofen and aspirin entirely.