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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Is the Opioid Crisis Uniquely an American Problem? For the past two weeks, I have been visiting Ireland. I attended a meeting for a few days in Dublin, but then my wife and I toured parts of the beautiful country boasting deeply green meadows that connected huge historic cathedrals and exquisite castles. On the way…
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Checking the Accuracy of a Story In a recent Washington Post story, “Are restrictions on opioids a threat to human rights?,” Charles Lane states that the wave of prescription opioid overdoses has crested thanks to public policy changes including the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Actually, opioid prescribing and overdoses essentially…
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Addiction Is a Complex Disease In a WBUR CommonHealth article, “How I Was Seduced By Cigarettes, And What Set Me Free,” David C. Holzman bravely recalled his struggle with the addiction of nicotine. He was honest enough to describe the stressors in his life that made him vulnerable to the addiction and the changes of…
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Implications for People With Chronic Pain Several lawsuits have been filed against several opioid manufacturers, distributors, and physicians for participating in what was allegedly a scheme to cause incalculable harm for profit. I am one of the physicians named as an alleged “conspirator.” The opioid lawsuits are far more than legal matters that involve the…
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