Here is the email I sent to The Oregon Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) and its subcommittee, Value-based Benefits Subcommittee (VbBS), at the suggestion of a recent National Pain Report article: I am writing in regards to the Oregon Health Plan’s proposal to limit access to opioids for people in chronic pain. Certainly, opioid abuse…
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“Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” Benjamin Disraeli reportedly said that there are three types of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” He may have been right. The Washington Post recently published an article titled, “Companies shipped 1.6 billion opioids to Missouri from 2012 to 2017, report says.” The story references a report released by Senator Claire…
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HHS Pain Task Force Holds Its Inaugural Meeting The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Task Force held its inaugural meeting in May 2018 that included a public comment period. Members of the public had also been invited to submit their comments about chronic pain online, and the site received 2,530 posts.…
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What Is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)? Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) affects between 1 and 3 million Americans, typically women between 15 and 50 years old. It is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, or a dysautonomia disorder, which involves blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, urination, breathing, and body temperature. As the Standing Up…
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Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Means Babies Are Born in Withdrawal Babies who are exposed to drugs in the womb may be born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Some people mistakenly believe these infants are born addicted to opioids. In fact, babies with NAS are born in withdrawal from opioids. They are not addicted to them. If…
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Many Types of Pain Are Considered Rare Diseases According to Scientific American, there are approximately 6,800 rare diseases, most of which have no approved treatment. To be considered a rare disease, it must affect fewer than 200,000 Americans. Most rare diseases have limited treatment options. Unfortunately, many types of chronic pain are considered rare diseases…
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Marijuana May Help Solve the Opioid Crisis The opioid crisis is a complex problem with many components, one of which is untreated pain. To the extent that it could be used to help patients manage pain, marijuana might have the potential to become part of the solution. However, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has…
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Virtual Reality Beyond the Holodeck If you’re a fan of television’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” then you’ve seen virtual reality (VR) at work in the episodes that featured the holodeck. In the series, the holodeck was used mostly to entertain the Starfleet crew. While the holodeck is still science fiction, a goggles-based form of…
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TV’s Hit Show “Breaking Bad” Glamorized Meth Abuse The television hit show, Breaking Bad, lionized the idea of making and selling meth. A high school teacher who was dying of lung cancer wanted to leave his family enough funds to live, and he chose drug dealing as a way to achieve his goal. The show…
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CDC Guidelines for Opioid Prescriptions The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in March 2016, was meant to provide recommendations for prescribing opioids. It was not meant to mandate policy. Since then, states have developed their own restrictive guidelines for prescribing opioids largely…
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