Kirsten Gillibrand Says Her Limit on Opioid Prescriptions 'Is Not Intended to Interfere With These Decisions'

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
There is no dispute that doctors sometimes prescribe more pain medication than patients end up needing, and leftover pills from those prescriptions may be diverted to nonmedical use (or saved in case they are needed for another painful condition, which the government still considers "misuse," although someone who takes a pill originally prescribed after oral surgery when he throws out his back would probably disagree with that characterization). Bills like Gillibrand's force doctors to err in the opposite direction, which means some patients will suffer from pain that could have been relieved. And even if some of those patients manage to get additional prescriptions, the upshot could be that more pills are prescribed than otherwise would have been: two seven-day prescriptions, say, instead of the 10 days that would have sufficed.

"Most acute pain doesn't need more than seven days," says Lynn Webster, a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. But while "there's clearly been more prescribed than has been necessary" in many cases, Webster says, seven days is "an arbitrary number" and "not sufficient for a large number of patients."

After some surgeries and traumatic injuries, Webster says, patients "end up having a need for far more than seven days," and "in many cases, these are people that can't easily get back into the doctor's office." He notes that "these are Schedule II drugs, so you can't call it in." If the initial prescription is legally limited to seven days, "you're going to have to stretch it out or otherwise you're going to be without analgesic."

Clinical pharmacist Jeffrey Fudin agrees that seven days will be too short for some patients with acute pain caused by major surgeries or by injuries such as compound fractures. "Imagine if you had your pancreas taken out," he says. "I mean, come on. It's going to be more than a week of pain for certain."

Gillibrand's bill makes an exception for patients with chronic pain (as well cancer patients and people in hospices or palliative care). But people who suffer from chronic pain worry that the distinction is not always clear, especially when you begin care or switch to a new doctor. "The distinction between chronic pain and acute pain isn't nearly as neat and tidy as the Gillibrand and Gardner press release indicates," Matthew Cortland, a chronic pain patient and disability rights lawyer, told The Huffington Post. "The patient community knows that for many living with pain, it can take months or years to get a correct diagnosis of chronic pain."



 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Is there anyone over 40 years old who doesn't have some left over medicine or pain pills in their cabinet where they keep their medicine?
Does anyone actually throw this stuff away?
I know there are some Doctor feel goods around, but most Doctors only prescribe what they think is necessary.
I don't see where Gillibrands bill is necessary, except she is running for President and has to say and do something.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Does anyone actually throw this stuff away?


Only when the pills gets really old.


If I have something that was prescribed for my Arthritis pain and I start passing a Kidney Stone, I am damn sure going to be taking that for relief
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Only when the pills gets really old.


If I have something that was prescribed for my Arthritis pain and I start passing a Kidney Stone, I am damn sure going to be taking that for relief
I believe the fact is if people have these drugs left over in their cabinets where they keep their medicines that is proof that they are not addicts.
If they were addicts it wouldn't be left over. That's for sure.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Yep, have a mini-pharmacopia in my medecine cabinet, courtesy of 10 years of off and on crippling back pain, and brushes with kidney stones and diverticulitis. Generally take half or less of whatever they give me, but I heal fast and have a pretty high tolerance
 

LightRoasted

If I may ...
If I may ...

Only when the pills gets really old.
If I have something that was prescribed for my Arthritis pain and I start passing a Kidney Stone, I am damn sure going to be taking that for relief
As long as the old meds, pills, have been properly stored and sealed, a tight lid, they really do not lose their efficacy. Maybe by an infinitesimal amount, but will still work as intended. Plenty of studies have been done. They don't expire as they would have us believe, non-prescription or prescription. I'm with glhs837. I never throw away the good stuff and will use sparingly when needed.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Former co-worker had done some research on this sort of thing back in college. Other than you anitbiotics, there's no real evidence that any of this stuff loses any potency. The govt did a study back in the 50s, maybe early 60s, thinking long term civil defense stuff. Thats about the only research thats been done, because really, whose gonna fund that, Big Pharma? Ha.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The was a article I saw on someone's fridge a while back ... after 3 yrs most meds are 70% effective

the whole 'unsafe' to take throw away bs that comes from the FDA is just that BS



Most Drug Expiration Dates Are Bogus, and the FDA Knows It



and a Harvard Report:

Drug Expiration Dates — Do They Mean Anything?

Most of what is known about drug expiration dates comes from a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years. What they found from the study is 90% of more than 100 drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, were perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date.

So the expiration date doesn't really indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe to use. Medical authorities state if expired medicine is safe to take, even those that expired years ago. A rare exception to this may be tetracycline, but the report on this is controversial among researchers. It's true the effectiveness of a drug may decrease over time, but much of the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date. Excluding nitroglycerin, insulin, and liquid antibiotics, most medications are as long-lasting as the ones tested by the military. Placing a medication in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, will help a drug remain potent for many years.

Is the expiration date a marketing ploy by drug manufacturers, to keep you restocking your medicine cabinet and their pockets regularly? You can look at it that way. Or you can also look at it this way: The expiration dates are very conservative to ensure you get everything you paid for. And, really, if a drug manufacturer had to do expiration-date testing for longer periods it would slow their ability to bring you new and improved formulations.
 
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