Opiate Crisis.

[Pasithea]

So the country is apparently on the verge of an prescribed opiate crisis. When will people realise that not all people on opiates are addicts. I have been on opiates for most of my life as I was diagnosed as a young child with one of the most painful chronic illnesses you can have. Just recently I was told that I could not go to the gp or district nurse for my regular opiate injections I had to go to a and e instead. So I did and now a and e are refusing to treat me. As requested as I am apparently drug seeking. So here I am struggling with my pain , with what I have in painkillers and have lost my way of life. I can no longer do things due to my chronic pain and am totally fucked. The medical profession are targeting the wrong people it’s easy to stop prescriptions for the chronically ill. But we are not the ones who are addicted.

To be fair, having been on them so long, you will likely be addicted. But not in the traditional stereotype of a drug addict way.

I sympathise. Dh is on opiates as well. When he has run out in the past, he has been very unwell along the lines of withdrawal symptoms as well as unrelenting pain. Hence my saying you will be addicted to them.

Since we've managed to sort his prescribing routine out, we haven't had this problem.

Unfortunately it is those who misuse and abuse drugs and the system who screw it up for everyone else.

I hope you get sorted out soon. If nothing else I would be at the gp as often as it takes until you get sorted out with effective pain relief.

You may not have an addiction but you will have developed a physical dependence on your therapeutic opioids after such a long time on them. Are you seen by a Pain Consultant (anaesthetist)? Can you get your injections in a chronic pain outpatients clinic?

What injections do you need, could you have a visit to the pain team and see if there are alternatives, maybe you would manage with patches or tablets instead. What reasons have the g.p. given you, they must know you cant just stop opiates, did they refer you to a&e.

@TwinsTrollsAndHunz - thanks. That was the word I was looking for - dependence.

I’m not sure I absolutely understand. If you’ve been on opiates for almost your entire life and you cannot be without them, then surely you have an addiction / a dependence?

Completely agree with you OP.

I recently had an appointment with my GPS resident pharmacy who, although is aware of my incurable, agonising pain condition, wants to slow taper my meds.

I'm on the lowest dose of Shortec (5mg) 4 times a day and he wants to wean that down to 2-3 times a day.
I'm also on 30/500 Zapain 4 times a day.
I have been on these meds for 4 years with no need to up my dosage, no sign of becoming addicted to them.
I take them purely for the pain, sod all else.

I cannot take NAIDS.

When I attended the appointment I told him that yes, of course you can stop the Shortec, but only if you can cure my pain (incurable) or give me another med that'll help (which would be a stronger dose of opiate..)
He agreed that the Shortec is the best bet for me.
Still determined to cut the dosage down but if I'm in agony I will not martyr myself, I will take my painkiller.

I already use TENS, magnesium flakes & Epsom salts in a hot bath, physio (can't do without painkillers), yoga (same), gentle stretches.
Doctor talks about pacing, which is all well and good, but how do I do that with uni and being a single parent to 4yo DD who is with me 24/7/365 apart from the few hours she's at nursery.

I'm sick of having to explain myself with every prescription, when the consultant himself has said that I'll need meds for life and he's happy that what I'm taking is all I need.

Stopping opiate prescriptions will only push the addicts to gain the meds in a different, underhand way.
It'll also push those in chronic pain the same way.
If doctors didn't dish them out like sweets instead of referring people in the first instance we wouldn't be here.

Frustrating.

@ShirleyPhallus In my case, if I don't take my tablets I end up in the exact same agonising pain I was in before I was diagnosed and given my meds.

There's no withdrawal and, due to a massive cock up at the GP, I've been without my meds for roughly a week. Nothing except for the same pain.

My body isn't craving the drug, I don't feel a 'high' from it.
But within 20 minutes of taking it I can move relatively pain free and start to get on with life.

I have patches which they have halved in strength and oral morphine which I cannot take when I have an acute flare. My gp gave me sublingual which I said I couldn’t take but would try. I took them three times and they made me worse. I have done everything that was asked of me even undergoing spinal nerve surgery. Which has failed. I have lost my acute pain control. I live in constant pain with flares and am afraid of doing anything now as I can’t rely on pain control.

Are you under the pain team. Could they look at increasing your patches. Do they not prescribe injections you can do yourself..

This sounds more like you should be involved with the pain team. It isn't the type of issue that should be dealt with in the ED and the GP should not have suggested it as an option.

YANBU.

Stopping opiate prescriptions will only push the addicts to gain the meds in a different, underhand way.
It'll also push those in chronic pain the same way.

Yep, this is a lot of why it happens in N. America, people in chronic pain with no insurance or money to buy prescribed pain relief/obtain proper pain relief so they wind up buying from street vendors.

It's the same with people on benzos.

The cart is always put before the horse, just stop prescribing but don't offer any real, viable alternatives and the person just gets desperate.

Health services for chronic pain in this country are appalling.

YANBU. If they want to take away your pain relief, they have to offer an alternative that works at least as well. Simple as that. It’s not acceptable to leave you in pain, with your life curtailed.

In your case, as with those who suffer similar intractable pain, dependence on the drug (which will vary in degree, depending on individual genetics) is the lesser of two evils. It is easy to pontificate about dependence being awful when you’re not the one in agonising pain without the drug.

Don’t let this lie. Be a pain in the GP’s backside until this is resolved.

And this ‘drug-seeking’ business is really lazy-thinking, isn’t it? Who the fuck wouldn’t be seeking a drug if it was the only thing that made their pain tolerable? And what exactly is wrong with wanting a drug that eases otherwise intolerable pain??

Health services for chronic pain in this country are appalling.

Yep. And if you develop a mental health condition because of it you might as well wear an 'I'm a Junkie' tshirt because that's what everyone will think.