For the past 5 months, I have been working in a pharmacy, where I spend hours listening to patients whine about not getting their medication or why its so expensive. It gets pretty ridiculous, espcially when you have one or more customers calling about his/her medication four times a day just for vicodin or oxycodone. Honestly, I think its an addiction issue.
Recently, I came across an article talking about how the sales of painkillers have sky rocketed. In the article, it stated that "more than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased at retail stores during 2005, the most recent year represented." I was definitely in shock, and when I think about how much my pharmacy goes through a stock of painkillers its about 70% at the least. From my observation its about 1 out of every 5 people that comes in and drops off a script for Percocet, Norco, Darvocet, Vicodin, or Morphine. How many people are really in pain?
When it comes to pain I understand everyone deals with it, whether emotional, mentally or physically. Sometimes I believe people who have been on painkillers only do it because they like the feeling of what it can do to the body. So. they go back to the doctor asking for more refills. I know this sounds bizarre but after seeing a customer repetively come in and dropping off at least 4 prescriptions and 3 are for pain relief, its hard to believe that people are not abusing the use of it. Of course, this will be benefiting the manufactureres and the pharmacy but drugs and meds. were not created to be exploited in such manner.
There is no cure to world pain but to ask for higher doses of pain meds and having it prescribed more and more each day is not the way to solve even the sickest individual from suffering internal or external pain.
I have a couple of views that relate to everyone's input on the subject.
For sarcozona, I deal with chronic pain every single day. Some days, I can't function or get out of bed without literally dragging my legs to the bathroom in the hopes that a hot shower will help my muscles feel better. I know what it is to be in constant pain daily and feel like there is no hope out there. I have tried to use other forms of pain relief. That includes using prescription strength lidocaine patches on the areas of pain. But, when the pain is down to the bone and the patch is applied topically, then there is only limited relief. I'm glad that you have been able to find alternative methods to help you deal and cope with chronic pain.
For whitterbug , to add to your last few statements starting with "Some times painkillers are necessary for people to have an every day life, not just to get high!" Honestly, after continued use of narcotic pain killers the high goes away. I have taken a high powered pain killer that is mostly used in hospital settings everyday for the past 3 months and to tell you the truth, I don't get that dizzy feeling in my head anymore.
Truly, for those of us in chronic pain, I think that pain killers should be treated like any other medication that helps people function day to day. That's just my thoughts and I realize that there is the addiction issue, but in reality, aren't people that take medication for arthritis 'addicted' to non-inflammatory drugs since they can't function without them? Or, perhaps those with high blood pressure, aren't people that take blood pressure medication 'addicted' in a way to those medications since without them they run the risk of having a heart attack? While I realize that it's all relative, but if I am willing to accept the risk of being addicted to pain killers, can't I sign a release form for the possibility of addiction just so I can function everyday? What risks are there if I continue to take pain killers to function that are so much more dangerous than if a high blood pressure patient stops taking their BP meds? Hypothetically speaking that is.
As someone who worked in a mail order pharmacy for over a year, I understand...
some people really need meds, but I think most of them don't...
How do you go through a 30 day prescription in 5 days?
Hail The PitGoddess!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/the-pitgoddess
This is not the case for all people though.
My dad can hardly walk if he does not have painkillers (he was hit in the back, by a bullet in Vietnam). Painkillers allow him to go to his job and continue with life.
When I got hit by a semi the pain was so great even with pain killers, some days I wished I hadn’t survived just so I wouldn't have to feel the ever constant pain. I could only wish for something that made my body numb. In the morning, I literally could not get out of bed until I had taken painkillers and waited for them to kick in.
My cousin fell through a sky light and landed on his face, with out something to numb the pain I probably would have never talked to him again. He has to take painkillers still every single day, probably for the rest of his life.
Some times painkillers are necessary for people to have an every day life, not just to get high! Honestly, with these kinds of pains it is no wonder someone would call endlessly just to get something to make the pain stop. And, why would someone complain about the cost, hmm maybe for the same reason we complain about gas prices or any thing else. I do not have insurance and medication is not always cheap.
I had a serious illness for several years and was in a great deal of pain. Narcotics made it possible to think about things other than being in pain. On the other hand, my doctors tried to solve my problems solely with drugs, rather than taking a more holistic approach to my treatment. I found that when I used certain biofeedback techniques and made some lifestyle changes, I was able to function with fewer narcotics.
I think that most people who are prescribed narcotics do need something to help with quite serious pain. However, I think that the use of these drugs (which do create dependence) could be somewhat curtailed in some cases by taking a more holistic approach to the treatment of chronic pain.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
-Voltaire
I understand what you're saying, but I think the majority of people who call have valid concern, and to assume that the majority are calling because of some sort of addiction isn't right.
My husband is one of those people you would probably look at his prescriptions and assume "addict". He's on so many medications it's absolutely ridiculous. And he hates taking them. But he literally cannot function without them.
If you have concerns as a pharmacist, I completely understand. My father worked as a pharmacist for close to twenty years before moving up to administration; and he sometimes expressed concerns similar to this. But he also always emphasized that 98% of the people who go through a pharmacy are valid cases. Very rarely do people go through a pharmacy just to get high on some pain medication.
Also, unless you have access to the patient's diagnosis, I think it's unfair to assume that someone who needs a lot pain medication is just trying to get a good feeling. Have you ever dealt with someone who has Fibromyalgia, for example? It is not pretty, and the pain never goes away. TO make things worse, besides the chronic pain there is also phantom pains. This pain leads to high blood pressure because of a constant elevated heart rate and chronic fatigue because it's nearly impossible to get a good night's rest in that much pain. TO top it off, the medications for these cause anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome, and a few of the more commonly prescribed anti-inflammatories, such as Peroxycam(sp?), have been known to cause blood disorders.
My only point is, you simply don't know what someone is going through, or what their family members are going through. Usually, pharmacists only know what's been prescribed and are there to answer questions about the medications (i.e., describing side effects if asked). This lack of further knowledge used to annoy my father to no end - but it also kept him from making assumptions about his clients. Yes, some pains should be tolerable; but when it gets to certain points not treating the pain can lead to much more serious problems.
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