Little Mini-rant on prescription painkillers... [View all]

[Humanist_Activist]

OK, this is something that I really changed my perspective on, at least in passion, compared to several years ago.

I will admit that I have yet had the need for prescription strength opiods to manage pain for myself. I have a pinched nerve in my left shoulder, but the most I've been prescribed for that is piroxicam and/or meloxicam if I need any. Mostly I just take Naproxen and call it a day if its a bad day, but it hasn't been intolerable since my shoulder was frozen many years ago.

My perspective on opiate and other addicting prescription drugs has always been to make sure the people who take them need them, but I didn't really feel that strongly about it, one way or another.

That all changed a few years ago when my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my grandmother's cancer came back, and my fiancée’s stepfather developed cancer as well, all within a span of about 1 year. By the way, fuck cancer, it fucking sucks.

The fact is, my mother was lucky, in home hospice we were able to easily manage her pain level with just a few prescription pain killers given a few times a day, up until about the last 2 days, she was conscious and cognizant. I'm glad for that.

My grandmother was a different story, even with all the painkillers they gave her, she apparently was in a lot of pain up till the end. But, from what I was told, they also didn't hold back either. Sometimes nothing can help, wish it weren't true, but it is.

Not to make things any more tragic, but my grandmother and mother died within 3 weeks of each other, it was a rough xmas/new year/birthday.

Fast forward to that coming spring/summer and my fiancée got news that her stepfather was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. She went down there to assist her mother in caring for her stepdad(they lived out of state). However, and this is where things got really fucked up, he was a recovering addict, being both a member on NA and AA. This caused problems in that the hospice actually held back pain medication in fear he would become an addict. This was a guy who was going to be live maybe an additional month, month and a half at most. Why the fuck should anyone be concerned if he is addicted to anything? He was in a hospice care facility, and apparently both my fiancée and her mother had to practically beg them to administer to him some of the strongest pain killers available. This to me seems beyond fucked up.

Now, I don't know about you, but I figure if anyone develops a terminal condition where prospects of recovery are practically non-existent, they should be allowed all the pain management medications they wan. Fuck give them every mind altering substance they could ever desire, as long as they are as comfortable as possible. If I had a choice between being high as a kite or being in excruciating pain while dying, I prefer being high, thank you very much. I also don't want to even know my own name, like I would give a shit.

And if, by some rare happen stance, I recover from said malady, then send me to rehab when I don't need the drugs any more, there should be no shame attached to chemical or psychological addiction, its a medical condition that needs to be treated as such. I would say this holds true for chronic pain suffers as well, if, in order to function, they need strong, potentially, addicting pain killers, then give it to them, as long as they are actually in pain and can be diagnosed that way. If they are addicted, manage it as a side effect of the medications, but don't cause people to needless suffer due to some misdirected war on drugs bullshit.

Actually, here's a conundrum. if someone suffers from diagnosed, chronic pain, and the only way they can function is for them to be, for example, taking oxycontin. If it allows them to function, possibly even work, within tolerable and manageable pain levels, would them being addicted to it really matter? As long as they can take it legally, and as a result, stay productive members of society without developing destructive behaviors, where's the harm?