St. Mary’s County Pharmacies Dispensed Over 32 Million Opioids from 2006 to 2012

[vraiblonde]

Plenty of avenues if you don't want to rely on pills.

You're coming at it from temporary pain, like from a surgery or just random achies. I guarantee you that if you had rheumatoid arthritis or another chronic painful condition, you would reconsider your aversion to pain meds.

I agree with you on some level because I am averse to drugs as well and prefer to ride it out or live with it, but again I've only had temporary pain and general getting old achiness. By making that public declaration you're just asking for the gods to smite you with a painful condition to make you eat crow.

 

[Auntie Biache']

Doing a little math on 32 million doses over six years, and 104,000 county residents... 3% of the county's residents could take 4 doses a day every day. If we exclude the youth who are less likely to need such medicine, and given typical distribution of ages from the 2010 census, roughly 6% of the population over the age of 40 could take 4 daily doses.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that "Approximately 20 percent of U.S. adults had chronic pain and 8 percent had high-impact chronic pain"...

So while 32 million doses is a large number without any context, it doesn't look quite as outrageous in the broader context.

I'm not saying we don't have a problem. I am saying not to let big numbers be scary by themselves.

...and all 3% have been stigmatized because, junkies.

 

[Kyle]

I've had this crap prescribed twice in the past for severe pain, in one case a broken bone, and it did nothing. Zilch. Bupkis.

I took it for a day in one case and said #### it and the remainder sat in the medicine cabinet for years.

How people get high off of it is baffling.

 

[RoseRed]

I learned morphine doesn't work on me. After 2 doses, they had to give me something else.

 

[Auntie Biache']

I learned morphine doesn't work on me. After 2 doses, they had to give me something else.

I begged off morphine when I had surgery...thought I was gonna' die!

 

[warneckutz]

You're coming at it from temporary pain, like from a surgery or just random achies. I guarantee you that if you had rheumatoid arthritis or another chronic painful condition, you would reconsider your aversion to pain meds.

I agree with you on some level because I am averse to drugs as well and prefer to ride it out or live with it, but again I've only had temporary pain and general getting old achiness. By making that public declaration you're just asking for the gods to smite you with a painful condition to make you eat crow.

I'm referring to those who've either found alternate ways or got away from the pills (both long and short term).

 

[RoseRed]

I begged off morphine when I had surgery...thought I was gonna' die!

I don’t remember what they gave me. I hope thought I was going to die!

 

[glhs837]

I've been prescribed a "lot" of them over the years for variations of back stuff, once for kidney stones, once for diverterculitis. Taken some, tossed some, always keep a few on hand in case the back puts me in crippling pain. I see where some folks might enjoy it, it sorta fogs your brain, or at least mine. Does to your brain what a boxing gloves does for your hand. Wasn't so much a "high" as adding a layer of dont give an eff to your thought process.

Longest I ever took them was about three days after coming home from back surgery, twice a day. Without them couldnt even move and the doc insisted that I move.

 

[warneckutz]

I don’t remember what they gave me. I hope thought I was going to die!

Only thing I've ever had was morphine, fixed everything I had hurting that brought me in... lawd.

 

[Auntie Biache']

I'm referring to those who've either found alternate ways or got away from the pills (both long and short term).

I consider 4 yrs pretty long term. I've done a lot of stuff to try and ease the pain without meds. Sadly, I've had no luck. It just gets worse. The first couple of years weren't too bad. The pain would come and go. Now, not so much. I've done the physical therapy, tried CBD and other natural remedies, walking, swimming, heating pad, exercise. I've done it until I can no longer do it. It hurts to do it, and it hurts not to do it, so I'm done. I just live with it the best I can. There's a lot that goes undone, and a lot of things I no longer enjoy. But I'll tell ya' what. I'm tired of people who have good health and strong bodies telling me that I can fix it without pain meds if I want to bad enough, and I mean that in the nicest way. I've tried. I've done pretty much everything that has been suggested. Now, I'm going to bow out of this conversation, because my neck is starting to hurt from looking up at your ivory tower.

 

[gemma_rae]

I have a cracked tooth that abscessed and I have to take antibiotics for two weeks for the swelling to go down before they can pull it. Last Sunday night I could take my pulse by the throbbing, and I swear I could see my eyeball bulging out of my head.

800 mg of Motrin wasn't doing the job so Thank God for Vicodin.

 

[GWguy]

I learned morphine doesn't work on me. After 2 doses, they had to give me something else.

Only thing I've ever had was morphine, fixed everything I had hurting that brought me in... lawd.

I've had a number of diverticulitis attacks and the morphine was great. It completely removed the pain and didn't affect my head in any way. Other than the pain being gone, I had no idea I was on a narcotic. On one trip, I was given Dilaudid via IV. Knocked me for a loop. My head was clear, but my eyes were crossed, couldn't focus, couldn't walk.... didn't like that at all.

 

[GWguy]

Now, I'm going to bow out of this conversation, because my neck is starting to hurt from looking up at your ivory tower.

Sorry you're so uncomfortable. And I don't mean that sarcastically.

 

[Monello]

I've been given 'pain medication' post surgery. I don't think I even got a buzz off of any of it. I also recall that it didn't actually dull the pain any either. I don't see the attraction to it. Maybe if I had doubled the dosage perhaps some euphoria could have been experienced.

I feel for those in pain. I hope the get the relief they seek. I abhor people who abuse the system. I'm on the fence about narcan. Not sure why they provide this because I'm sure most of the people getting narcan are hard core abusers, not the occasional patient that is taking it short term.

 

[Auntie Biache']

Sorry you're so uncomfortable. And I don't mean that sarcastically.

Thanks. Some of my pain has been self inflicted. I was a wild child, pushed myself hard when I was in the Navy, and that's where the damage began (knees). Then, you'd think I'd know not to do certain things, but some of us have a harder time "growing up" than others. I stopped pushing the boundaries in my early 40's, but the damage was already done, not to mention hereditary ailments. If you could see my MRI's, you'd know what I'm up against.

 

[GWguy]

If you could see my MRI's, you'd know what I'm up against.

I'll show you mine and we can compare notes. I've had arthroscopy on both knees, probably looking at a replacement in the future, there's no cartilage left in the right knee. Had 3 surgeries on the L5-S1 back joint over the past 20 years. An acromioplasty of the shoulder. And my hands are starting to pain a lot.

So, yeah.... I get it.

 

[vraiblonde]

Now, I'm going to bow out of this conversation, because my neck is starting to hurt from looking up at your ivory tower.

 

[glhs837]

I don’t remember what they gave me. I hope thought I was going to die!

Got morphine in the ER when divertculitis and a kidney stone and when a sneeze screwed up four day old back surgery. I'm not a weak person by any means, but those three conditions had me whimpering in agony. Felt like someone had a flaming hook in my guts and /or spine the level seven to eight pain was resting state, handled with panting like an animal, with regular twists of the hook that went past nine that had me sobbing. Both times took about an hour and a half in the ER before they got to the morphine level and I got some mitigation.

 

[stgislander]

These descriptions of what works and what doesn't goes back to everyone's brain being wired slightly different.

 

[vicos]

I had 2 different surgeries a year apart and was prescribed an opioid both times for pain. In neither case did any doctor or nurse provide counsel about the dangers of opioids. The first time I had to ask for a consult with the pharmacist. He said I probably had little to worry about since they were just for a week, He indicated that addiction typically occurs with extended use. An HBO documentary I saw recently said many (most?) addictions are the result of being given pain meds after some medical procedure.

After the 2nd surgery, I was in excruciating pain for days and couldn't even get out of bed. The opioids took the edge off, but it was no where close to removing the pain. Days after I just had a kind of vacant burned out feeling. Not something I would seek out for recreational use. I imagine people with different body chemistries are affected differently.