You are so right about the phantom pain. My bf thinks he has super bad back pain and continues to take oxycontin. He got addicted after a few weeks and now his pain is worse!
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Thanks so much for your insight and explanation/analogy on how opiates affect the body. It is a shame that doctors continue to renew these prescriptions month after month instead of slowly weaning their patients off after 10 days or so. I so agree this country has a serious problem regarding the current pain management approach. Needs to be revisited for sure.OxyContin is a synthetic opiate, which is basically the same as endorphins that are naturally produced by the body. When you're taking opiates, the body is like, "hey, cool, I'm getting endorphins from this pill, I'm not going to make as many as I used to!".
So then, when you try to stop the opiates, your body hasn't been producing many of its own endorphins, and therefore the pain actually can be worse due to the body's inability to use the endorphins as a natural pain reliever.
This is why stopping opiates is so very difficult, because the person feels everything much more intensely because the endorphins aren't there to buffer. Eventually the body will begin producing them again, but it takes a while. Far longer than most opiate addicts can stand.
I am an RN and have about 8 years of substance abuse experience. I'd like to also point out that there's a difference between substance dependence and substance abuse. Due to the nature of certain drugs the body becomes dependent on them *even when used exactly as prescribed*. Many people don't understand this and find themselves "addicted" but they're not abusing the drug. Doctors don't explain it. I can't tell you how many people I've treated who are literally in tears because they are trying to come off medications that were prescribed for them and they feel betrayed by their doctors.
Our country has a drug problem of a much larger scale than most people know. Substance abuse and mental health issues go hand in hand, as well. People self medicate to alleviate anxiety, to sleep, to stop hearing voices, to feel better....and the cycle continues.
Jun 3 2016, 9:22 am ET
What Is Fentanyl? The Drug That Killed Prince Has Killed Thousands of Others
by Alex Johnson
The drug that killed Prince is a narcotic so powerful that it was blamed for the accidental deaths of as many as 120 hostages when Russian forces used it to subdue Chechen terrorists during the 2002 siege of a packed Moscow theater.
A medical examiner's report Thursday said Prince who was found dead April 21 in an elevator at his home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota died from fentanyl toxicity.
The autopsy report from the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Ramsey, Minnesota, gave no details apart from declaring that Prince, 57, died from an apparently self-administered dose of fentanyl. It's still not known how he got the drug or, if it was prescribed, why...
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ed-prince-has-killed-thousands-others-n584961
Could he have been going to Walgreen's to get the Fentanyl? That's what it seems like...
Could he have been going to Walgreen's to get the Fentanyl? That's what it seems like...
I don't think so. If so, LE would know the name of the doctor that prescribed it. I dont think it was prescribed. I think the patch or patches were given to him.Could he have been going to Walgreen's to get the Fentanyl? That's what it seems like...
Prince had access to everything... Imo.
Doctors must have a very difficult task weighing the balance of famous vs standard medical care. Who would have prescribed fentanyl in a lethal dose, especiously after MJ's death?
Not blaming anyone but wondering if his doctors were in the dark, as well... Or wondering if doctors knew?
It's so very sad, not only for those who loved Prince, but also for those who could not save him....
MJ had also taken pain killers with the propofol didn't he?Dr. Conrad Murray was administering Propofol to Michael Jackson so that MJ could sleep. Propofol is not a pain medication. It is a fast-acting sleep agent that is widely used for minor outpatient procedures like D&C and colonoscopy. Nurse anesthetists refer to Propofol as a "forgetting medicine". I don't know if Propofol is addictive because most folks don't use it nightly like MJ did.