great story in the NYT today re Nebraska doctor having to tell his chronic pain patients he must

[csziggy]

48. Have you tried anti-inflammatories? Not TOC but prescription ones?

Before I had my knees replaced I use Piroxicam (brand name is Fedene) and my husband is now using Meloxicam. For both of us the anti-inflammatories were more effective at controlling the inflammation that cause the pain than the opiods were.

Neither of us used all the opiods that were prescribed for various surgeries - I have bottles in my freezer from after the knee replacements and the carpal tunnel surgeries that followed and from my husband's foot surgery. But I used the Piroxicam until my recovery was over and still have most of a bottle in the freezer from the last carpal tunnel and arthroplasty on my left thumb. My husband still takes Meloxicam for his knee that is not bad enough for surgery but that hurts him whenever he walks much.

On the other hand, when my back acts up, I want the strongest pain relief out there - or something that will knock me out completely while the muscles stop spasming.

Opiods have their use and for chronic, untreatable pain they should be available. But there are alternative drugs that might be as or even more effective for some conditions.

If the government is going to restrict access to the painkillers they need to help doctors find alternatives that might give the patients relief. Since not every alternative medication will help they need to relax the restrictions on the dispensation of variations while they see if they do. If nothing else works, let the patient have what does!