Heroin deaths double after painkiller crackdown

[catbyte]

78. You're so right

If it weren't for those "evil" opiates, I would either be curled up in the fetal position, sobbing--or dead. Those "evil" meds allow me to live an almost-normal life & also allows me to work 45+ hours a week. I would be completely incapacitated without them. Anti-seizure drugs of the Lyrica family cause intolerable side effects & I developed an anaphylactic allergy to aspirin/NSAIDS from trying to deal with this nerve pain on my own. I took NSAIDS all the time. Then one morning I popped a naprosyn & 30 minutes later I was in the ER with my throat closing up & hives from head to toe--even on my eyelids, palms, & soles of my feet. They released me, but 4 hours later I was back because while the adrenalin had worn off, the naprosyn hadn't. They stabilized me & released me again. Six hours later I was back. That time they admitted me until the meds were all out of my system. Now I have to carry an Epi-Pen because aspirin is hidden in so many things.

Opiate pain meds are probably over presccribed, but the anti-pain med zealots are making it more difficult for people who would suffer immeasurably without them to get them. Pain doctors who cut people off cold turkey are doing immeasurable harm. My pain doctor tapers off the meds over a month for those no longer needing them and that works well. Only 10% of legitimate pain patients develop an addiction to them. I am physically dependent on the meds, but have never even really gotten "high" off of them. My pain seems to suck up all of the meds or something. To others upthread, please don't demonize these meds--they literally ARE lifesavers when used properly.