Jessica Layman estimates she has called more than 150 doctors over the past few years to find someone to prescribe opioids for her chronic pain.
“A lot of them are outright insults,” said the 40-year-old who lives in Dallas. “They say things like, ‘We don’t treat drug addicts.'”
Lay has tried many non-opioid treatments to help with the intense daily pain caused by double scoliosis, collapsed discs, and facet arthritis. He said nothing was more effective than methadone, an opioid that has
The latest call, she said, came late last year after her former doctor stopped taking painkillers. She hopes current doctors don’t do the same. “If anything happens to him, there’s nowhere for me to go,” she said.
Layman is one of millions of people in the United States living with chronic pain.Since then, many have struggled to create and fill prescriptions for opioids. 2016 guidelines Inspired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, laws regulating the practices of physicians and pharmacies. The CDC recently updated these recommendations to mitigate the impact, but doctors, patients, researchers and advocates say the damage has been done.
“We had a massive opioid problem that needed to be rectified,” said President Antonio Ciaccia. 3 Axis Advisoris a consulting firm that analyzes prescription drug pricing. “But federal crackdowns and guidelines have created collateral damage. Patients were left high and dry.”
Born out of an effort to combat the national overdose crisis, the guidance legally limited the ability of doctors to prescribe pain relievers. With this recommendation, many patients suffer from mental and physical health problems due to rapid weight loss or abrupt discontinuation of medications they have been taking for years, with the risk of withdrawal, depression, anxiety, and even suicide. It was decided to address the impact of
Help for people with chronic pain
In November, the agency announced new guidelines, encourages physicians to focus on the individual needs of their patients. While the guidelines still say that opioids should not be the go-to option for pain, the CDC’s 2016 guidance eased recommendations on limiting doses, which were widely viewed as hard-and-fast rules. The new standards also warn physicians of the risks associated with rapid dose changes after long-term use.
However, some doctors are concerned that the new recommendations will take a long time to effect meaningful change, and may be too little or too late for some patients. cites a lack of coordination from other federal agencies, fear of legal consequences among health care providers, reluctance of state policymakers to fine-tune legislation, and widespread stigma surrounding opioid drugs. included.
The 2016 guidelines for prescribing opioids to people with chronic pain have filled a void for state officials looking for solutions to the overdose crisis, he said. Dr. Pooja RagisethiAssistant Professor of Medicine, University of Michigan School of Medicine.
of Dozens of laws passed Restricting the way providers prescribe or dispense these drugs has had an effect, she said.
He said the first CDC guidelines “brought everyone’s attention.” Dr. Bobby Mukkamara, Chair of the American Medical Association’s Substance Use and Pain Management Task Force. Doctors have reduced the number of opioid tablets they prescribe after surgery, he said.The 2022 revision is a “dramatic change,” he said.
The human toll of the opioid crisis is immeasurable.Death from an opioid overdose is Steadily rising in the US for the past 20 years, with spikes Early in the covid-19 pandemic. The CDC says illicit fentanyl is fueling the recent surge in overdose deaths.
Taking into account the perspective of chronic pain sufferers, the latest recommendations seek to reduce some of the harm to those who have benefited from opioids but have been cut off, he said. Dr. Jean-Marie Perronedirector of the Penn Medical Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy.
“We hope to continue to raise awareness without spreading undue fear of never using opioids,” said Perrone, who helped develop the CDC’s latest recommendations.
Christopher Jones, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said the updated recommendations are not regulatory mandates, but allow physicians to make “informed, individual-centered decisions related to pain management.” He said it was just a tool to “bring down
multiple studies It is questionable whether opioids are the most effective way to treat chronic pain long-term. increased risk, Dr. Stephan KerteszProfessor of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
He said the new CDC guidance reflects “a tremendous amount of input” from chronic pain patients and their physicians, but if the FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration don’t change the way they enforce federal law, it may be possible. I don’t think it will have a big impact.
The FDA approves new drugs and their formulations, but guidance the FDA provides on how to initiate or wean patients may encourage clinicians to do so cautiously, Kertesz said. The DEA, which investigates doctors suspected of illegally prescribing drugs, declined to comment.
The DEA’s pursuit of a doctor has put Danny Elliott of Warner Robins, Ga., in a terrifying predicament, said his brother Jim.
In 1991, Danny, a pharmaceutical company representative, was electrocuted. He had been taking pain relievers for the resulting brain damage for years before facing federal charges that the doctor illegally dispensed prescription opioids, Jim said.
Danny consulted out-of-state doctors, first in Texas and then in California. But Danny’s latest doctor had his license suspended by the DEA last year, and Jim said he couldn’t find a new doctor to prescribe those drugs.
Danny, 61, and his wife Gretchen, 59, committed suicide in November. “I’m really frustrated and angry that pain patients have been cut off,” Jim said.
Danny became an advocate He opposed forced tapering before he died. A chronic pain patient who spoke with KHN pointed to his predicament for seeking more access to opioid medications.
Even for people with prescriptions, it’s not always easy to get the drugs they need.
pharmacy chain and drug wholesaler Settled multi-billion dollar lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis. Some pharmacies were found to have restricted or reduced opioid allocations by three Axis Advisors.
Rheba Smith, 61, of Atlanta, said her pharmacy stopped filling prescriptions for Percocet and MS Contin in December. She had been taking these opioid medications for years to manage chronic pain after her iliac nerve was accidentally cut during her surgery.
Smith visited nearly 20 pharmacies in early January but could not find one to fill her prescription. I found But the pharmacy told her that the drug and her MS Contin are now unavailable.
“It’s been a terrible three months. I’ve been in a lot of pain,” Smith said.
Many patients fear a future of constant pain. The layman thinks about the lengths she would go to to get the medicine.
“Would you mind buying drugs on the street? Why don’t you go to an addiction clinic and get some pain treatment there? What would you like to do for a living?” “That’s the result.”
