Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Markey wants the FDA to rescind its approval of OxyContin for children, and then convene an advisory panel to reconsider the issue. Senator Markey is well intentioned but misinformed. The FDA is not the problem. The agency has not “willfully blinded itself of the warning signs” of prescription painkillers, as Senator…
Read MoreThe China Food and Drug Administration is investigating 35 restaurants in China for potentially using powdered (and possibly addictive) opium poppies to season their food. They detected morphine and codeine as well as other poppy derivatives in the food. The Chinese restaurants involved might view using powdered poppies as an innocuous way to keep patrons…
Read MoreThank you to the LA Times for recently running a story about Chris Bell. Chris Bell was producing a documentary about prescription drug abuse. Bell wasn’t only making a documentary about the problem. He was also living it. Bell was using alcohol in combination with Xanax which led to a decline similar to the one…
Read MoreCan good, old-fashioned fun help people overcome chronic pain? Sometimes. It all depends what we mean by “fun.” One person’s fun is another person’s work For example, therapists have been recommending coloring books to their adult patients for years. The benefits of using crayons (and markers and colored pencils), the theory goes, extends beyond…
Read MoreFor more than fifteen years, I have lectured that addiction is determined by one’s genetic vulnerability and environment. Exposure to a drug is necessary, but not sufficient by itself, to cause the disease of addiction–any addiction. Genetics is more of a factor for opioid addiction than it is for most other forms of addiction, but…
Read MoreAuthor’s note: “Emily” is a pseudonym, and she’s someone I know. I’ve changed just enough details of her story to protect her family’s privacy. Four-year-old Emily had a rare form of cancer. She had received chemotherapy every week for about three months. She also had to bear frequent painful procedures. Emily’s mother, Sally, vicariously experienced…
Read MoreAuthor’s Note: This blog contains references to “Star Wars,” but you will find no spoilers here. In my world, a physician working with Pharma is perceived to be serving the Death Star. It doesn’t matter that thousands of drugs have been developed to save millions of lives, and have enabled millions more to live longer…
Read MoreGet involved in the discussion about using marijuana as pain medication. Here is my latest opinion piece on this topic, published the Morrow County Sentinel in Ohio: http://morrowcountysentinel.com/opinion/6387/is-marijuana-the-holy-grail-for-pain-medication. Leave us your comments on this topic as we continue to evaluate and advocate for both alternative and traditional treatments for chronic pain.
Read MoreIs marijuana the holy grail for pain medication? You might think so by reading the popular press. An ideal drug therapy is one that is highly effective for a multitude of pain disorders and has low to no toxicity regardless of duration of exposure. Marijuana flirts with this profile—but it is a Trojan horse. Depending…
Read MoreStudies show conflicting results about whether or not acupuncture can help people with chronic pain, but there is evidence that acupuncture works for some people and some types of pain. Even if, as some studies have found, the benefits of acupuncture are all in the head, those benefits could still be worth pursuing. After all,…
Read More
Recent Comments