Here she is again, going on for what, the third time now about The Opioid Crisis, Opioid Epidemic, Overdose Epidemic. Whatever it's being called this minute. Why, you must be wondering, do I keep going on about it again and again? Perhaps I'm hoping that eventually my words and my information will get through somehow, will sink in, will resonate. This is a subject of hot debate and for very good reason. The trouble is, however, that misinformation is not only widespread amongst the laymen in the public but amongst doctors and political figures as well.
Many are of the opinion that this issue is caused by prescription pain medications, that pain patients are overdosing left and right on opioids we are being prescribed. This is not the case. The number of prescriptions written for opiates has been falling dramatically since 2010 yet overdoses continue to climb.
The true cause of the overdoses in the opioid epidemic is illicitly manufactured and purchased fentanyl as well as heroin - both of which are opiates as they are, as is the case with most narcotic pain medications, derived from opium. These drugs are what are causing massive overdoses - fentanyl especially. Many who use heroin are unaware of how potent fentanyl is and overdose on their first go, or their dealer irresponsibly sells laced heroin - or worse yet sells fentanyl as heroin - with no warning, leading to immediate overdose.
Meanwhile, responsible chronic pain patients are being punished for the actions of people using street drugs. I am not denying that accidental overdoses happen amongst chronic pain patients; nor am I denying that some utilize opioids to commit suicide. However they are a small fraction in this epidemic. Even terminal cancer patients are now being denied adequate pain management because of these people shooting fentanyl and heroin into their veins. Doctors are being handcuffed whether by new laws or out of fear that they will be investigated simply for prescribing adequate pain management to their patients.
The result of this? Chronic pain patients are committing suicide at an alarmingly growing rate, and some are even turning to street drugs in search of pain relief and overdosing. This isn't because we're junkies unable to get a fix - this isn't because we're addicts. This is because we are in severe, constant agony that is in desperate need of pain control and we are being denied that aid because the government is far more concerned with its ineffective war on drugs than those who have no choice about the pain in their bodies and the fact they depend upon pain medication to function or even to have a life remotely worth living, which is the defining factor between someone who is dependant upon a medication rather than addicted to it. We depend on these medications for quality of life.
Some of these people are veterans, others are fire fighters or police officers that were injured on duty. Some are simply like me - born this way. And some simply were just hurt at work or in an accident and the injury causes constant and unceasing pain that has no cure.
Are we all to be punished because of these things? Are we to be denied a remotely desirable existence? Are we to be denied the right to take a breath without agonizing pain?
Because right now the only answer I am seeing in this whole mess is "Yes."
All methods of adequate pain control are being cut off one by one. Is it any wonder many are choosing death over a life of endless agony brought about at the hands of a government that doesn't understand the first thing about chronic pain? Nor that takes the time to listen to pain management doctors about what is truly necessary to treat their patients.
It seems less a war against the opioid epidemic and more an extermination ploy against chronic pain patients, and without the voices of those who do not suffer it sounding out with our voices that denying our pain is wrong, it will only continue, and the death toll of those in ceaseless pain will only continue to climb in this utterly unsympathetic and unempathetic climate that is being created.
No comments:
Post a Comment