Dougherty Arts Center
Drug Demonization Hurts Pain Patients
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 6, 2012
Dear Editor,
Prescription drugs are in the news a lot these days. We hear of overdoses becoming a top cause of death and easy-to-get narcotics. I wish it were so. Intractable pain patients who benefit from medical treatment using powerful opioids have no rights that need be respected by anyone. I have a friend who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. If she gets adequate medication, she can live some sort of life with reduced activity. Since her pain specialist died, she has been unable to find a long-term solution to continue the successful treatment regime. The disease is incurable, but the symptoms can be managed by a variety of methods, all of which my friend has tried. OxyContin works well for her. Since OxyContin is now demonized, as are those who need it, she has found pain specialists refuse to take her as a patient. I cannot think of another situation where a well-tolerated, effective treatment has to pass other tests, unrelated to providing pain relief for the patient. Even though my friend is middle-aged, well-dressed, and polite, she is treated as if she's a dope fiend. The condition includes pain as intense as cancer or, as one chart showed, equivalent to amputation without anesthesia. This is not your aches and pains. This disease gets worse with its dystrophy aspects if untreated, causing permanent damage to limbs, in particular. Why is it OK for my friend to be collateral damage in the war on drugs? This person is at extremely high risk for heart attack and stroke if untreated. Why is this OK? Because other people have problems with it? Who else has to live to that standard?
Prescription drugs are in the news a lot these days. We hear of overdoses becoming a top cause of death and easy-to-get narcotics. I wish it were so. Intractable pain patients who benefit from medical treatment using powerful opioids have no rights that need be respected by anyone. I have a friend who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. If she gets adequate medication, she can live some sort of life with reduced activity. Since her pain specialist died, she has been unable to find a long-term solution to continue the successful treatment regime. The disease is incurable, but the symptoms can be managed by a variety of methods, all of which my friend has tried. OxyContin works well for her. Since OxyContin is now demonized, as are those who need it, she has found pain specialists refuse to take her as a patient. I cannot think of another situation where a well-tolerated, effective treatment has to pass other tests, unrelated to providing pain relief for the patient. Even though my friend is middle-aged, well-dressed, and polite, she is treated as if she's a dope fiend. The condition includes pain as intense as cancer or, as one chart showed, equivalent to amputation without anesthesia. This is not your aches and pains. This disease gets worse with its dystrophy aspects if untreated, causing permanent damage to limbs, in particular. Why is it OK for my friend to be collateral damage in the war on drugs? This person is at extremely high risk for heart attack and stroke if untreated. Why is this OK? Because other people have problems with it? Who else has to live to that standard?
Tom Cuddy
