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Deb was in a near-fatal car accident. Her arms, legs, and pelvis were severely injured and would require multiple surgeries. She relied on opioids to ease the pain. Along with her other day-to-day medical challenges and constant setbacks, she suffered from constipation which her doctor attributed to her use of painkillers. But he offered no…
“The insurance industry appears to have played a major role in the development of a new strategy by the federal government to combat the abuse of opioid pain medication,” writes Pat Anson, editor of Pain News Network. This Orwellian act by powerful insurance companies in collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human…
Are patients qualified to determine whether or not opioids help in treating their pain? Pain Medicine Advance Access published a study that was conducted at the Back and Pain Center, University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, MI. The Back and Pain Center is an outpatient tertiary care pain clinic where patients are evaluated for…
I’ve been critical of the media’s language in describing aspects of the opioid crisis. To solve the opioid crisis, we have to understand it and use terms that are factual but without spin. I believe the media could be a force in motivating people — the public as well as lawmakers — to take constructive…
A cop who arrested addicts is now experiencing life as a pain patient and has a much different perspective. You can read Nick Selby’s first-person account of “what happens when pain meets bad health policy and bad drug laws” in the Washington Post. He tells his story well, and it’s one that’s familiar to…
Once again, I read the Intractable Pain Act (along with the section of it known as the “Pain Patient’s Bill of Rights”) which was passed by the Tennessee House and Senate in 2001 and repealed in 2015. I did not see anything in the legislation that supports the statement made by Knox News columnist Frank…
The headline reads, “As prescription opioid addiction rises, help from doctors lags.” That belies the following statement by Washington Post reporters Scott Clement and Lenny Bernstein: “Despite the high rate of dependence, the poll finds that a majority of long-term opioid users say the drugs have dramatically improved their lives. Opioids relieve pain that is…
In 2012, Vanyukov et al published an article describing two separate views on the role that drugs play in initiating an addiction (Drug Alcohol Depend 2012;123:S3-S17). One is the “gateway theory” and the other is the “common liability to addiction concept.” The gateway theory places the drug as the primary factor in initiating a…
We are making headway in the fight against preventing, detecting, and treating cancer. You may already know that genes may someday hold the answers to treating, detecting, and even preventing cancer. Improved Genetic Therapy for Cancer Treatment You may also have heard that genetic therapy carries with it risks. But, according to the Genetic…
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