To think that doctors in the UK/EU are stigny with benzos/opioids?

[janef001]

I understand how addictive these drugs can be but I think the pendulum is swung too far on the other side. I know a woman who had to have a painful root canal and wisdom tooth extraction. She wasn't given any strong post-operative painkillers but instead told to take panadol . OTC Codeine and tramadol never worked for her as she was deficient in the liver enzyme that metabolises them. She ended up having to get a friend from America bring her Vicodin.

I've heard the same things with benzos. Many GP's and psychiatrists just refuse to hand them out and instead put patients on SSRI after SSRI even when they say that they don't work.

Agree. It also makes people try and buy them on the streets which can be very dangerous.

A few years ago when I was having appts with a psychiatrist he would do me a prescription for a few diazepam but only 5mg's and only a few tablets at a time. It was so awful because I had crippling anxiety at the time and they were the only thing that would give me any peace.

I agree. To an extent. I think benzos definitely have a role in specific, short term anxiety situations but are rarely prescribed.

Antidepressants aren't going to help someone get on a plane fgs. A couple of Valium might and are hardly going to result in dependence.

I agree, my dh was given paracetamol to take home after a hernia op, we had to really push for a bottle of oromorph, the staff kept saying patients manage with paracetamol at home but how they knew that I have no idea. When I had a frozen shoulder occasional diazepam and cocodomol really helped relax my muscles and pain but the hospital crossed them off and gave me tramadol so I could hardly lift my head off off the pillow post op.

OP - do you know how many people in the US are addicted?

Valium should only be given as a one-off and opioids are strictly controlled for really good reasons.

Wisdom tooth post-op pain is so short lived, I wouldn't be prescribing highly addictive meds for something you can tough out for 3 days!

I remember having to get really angry and push for pain relief for my son, in agony with a broken wired jaw.
There is no reason not to give adequate pain relief, other than what seems to be some weird Protestant (sorry) stoical, endure/tough it out mindset that seems to be prevalent in the UK NHS, and in other countries of similar styles, the Netherlands being one example.

Did he not explain why?

Tooth and facial pain can be excruciating, especially if there is a post op infection. , it can affect eating, drinking, sleeping, talking. Isn't pain what the patient says it is and different for everyone, why should anyone have to tough it out. . What would you prescribe.

Why should you have to tough it out just prescribe a small amount surely?

Watch dopesick.

OTC Codeine and tramadol never worked for her as she was deficient in the liver enzyme that metabolises them. She ended up having to get a friend from America bring her Vicodin.

That's interesting because vicodin is hydrocodone and paracetamol, and hydrocodone is metabolised by the same enzyme as codeine (CYP2D6).

Seriously? You don’t understand the addictive nature of opioids and the devastation that that addiction can cause?

Why should people 'tough out' pain when relief is available?

I was thinking that, they are two very similar narcotics.

The culture is to withhold anything that people want and make them feel pathetically grateful for their woeful treatment. So sad. Nowhere else on earth are doctors revered as gods. They are often not even that good.

I ended up overdosing and ending up in hospital twice through toothache. The one nhs dentist in my area closed when I was 11 and we couldn’t afford to go private. Every single one of my wisdom teeth was impacted and absolutely agonising. I couldn’t eat or sleep, there were nights I’d be in so much pain I’d be panting and rocking back and forth like you do in labour. I got a referral to have them removed in hospital at the end. I had to wait 7 months for the appointment. After the overdoses I was actually expecting the doctors to prescribe something strong enough so that I didn’t want to literally kill myself because of the pain, instead they’d just check my my liver function, tell me not to take any more pain killers and send me on my way??

I had a complication with my ELCS and ended up with an incredibly painful infection. I was allowed enough painkillers for a single day and then had to report back to the pharmacist, in person, each day so they could request another days worth of painkillers. So I had to get myself into and out of a car and be driven 10 miles there and back on bumpy country lanes having just had a baby to get 2 single tablets of painkillers when I was supposed to be on complete bed rest. It slowed down my healing so much and absolutely ruined the first few weeks with my baby. All because 10 years previously I had been put on antidepressants for 3 months after my dad died. Apparently that made me a suicide risk despite the fact I have never once claimed to be suicidal.

@MolliciousIntent if you can say that it’s pretty obvious that you’ve never experienced true dental pain so have no idea what you’re talking about. Short lived pain is the ideal time to be giving strong painkillers, it’s when it’s a chronic condition doctors are, or should be, more concerned with addiction.

I agree to an extent.

I get occasional bouts of crippling pain (every few years) if I aggregate an old injury. It quite literally makes me feel suicidal without pain relief because it is unbearable and I get entrenched in the idea that the pain won’t go away and I can’t think of any other way to make it stop. GP offers paracetamol and ibuprofen. I have a genuine fear that I will take my own life during one of these episodes. Surely the relatively low chance of addiction is worth taking in those circumstances.

I had awful sciatica and was a complete mess for months in pain, they gave me codeine, naproxan, amatriptoline- all things that made me feel like shit! Luckily I had queried the long term impact of amatriptoline and the duty dr rang me up and prescribed me two weeks of diazapam. I felt like myself on the diazapam for the first time in months. They won't prescribe me anymore - so I'm left with no pain relief as amatriptoline made me depressed, naproxan gives me reflux and I don't like the codeine feeling where you still have pain but you feel removed from it all.

The diazepam made my physical and MH (because of long term pain and divorce) so much better. It completely reset me. I don't have to have surgery now. I still have sciatica but it's nowhere near so bad. I think they are completely over the top about not prescribing benzos but SO many people are regularly prescribed high dosage codeines and are physically addicted to those.

I've had all of my wisdom teeth removed under GA (two ops). Each time I got a dose of codeine when I was discharged and then had a few uncomfy days that were very manageable with paracetamol. People massively underestimated how dangerous opioids are, even short-term usage can lead to addiction.

Giggorata's point makes perfect sense when you see other comments that pain should be 'toughed out'.

There's definitely a morality involved in suffering, how it should be 'stoically endured' and 'bravely borne' etc.

For example, a woman who births her baby without any pain relief will definitely be praised.

I agree. Of course, some people are vulnerable to addiction and it is very dangerous for these people to give it them. However, many people would benefit greatly without becoming addicted.

My mum who now lives in another country got it prescribed during the menopause when she just couldn't relax and sleep. She took a low dosage at might. It settled her, helped get some proper sleep and allowed to function the next day. She did that for a few years, then passed the menopause and she stopped without issues and gas never felt the need to take it again.

When I stayed with her for a while, the doc prescribed ne a whole box of them. I still have 3/4 of it full after 18 months. I don't need them but I'm so glad to have them if I get a sudden uncontrollable panic attack.

So would this be an example of a placebo effect?

I'd ask the question, "when ARE addictive drugs prescribed please?" Must I be a member of some exclusive club or something? They are being made by the gazillion out there somewhere so who is using them legally?

There should be absolutely no problem in prescribing a few valium to help someone get on a plane, or get relief from panic attacks on a need to use basis. Not a repeat script of 50 tabs a month FGS.

Not carefully and holistically prescribing for certain situations is very cruel IMO.

Youre so right, I had an attack of trigeminal neuralgia and went to the gp dribbling with so much pain and was told to take paracetamol, absolute joke, I bought otc co codomol which barely touches it.