Archives for May 2016

New CDC Opioid Guidelines: Increasing Risk of Pain Suicides?

The New CDC Opioid Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control meant well when it issued the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in March of 2016.

On its website, the CDC asserts that it created the guideline on “the basis of a systematic review of the scientific evidence while considering benefits and harms, values and preferences, and resource allocation.” I’d argue with that statement, but I’d never suggest that the CDC meant to hurt anyone.

Instead, I’d say only that the CDC was mistaken and misguided in its approach to creating its Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. And now, unsurprisingly (but horribly), we’re dealing with the consequences.

The Science of Connection: How It Helps People in Pain

Connection Can Make People Feel Better

Hugs and friendship … the combination of that connection can make people feel better. Science has proven it, and that’s the type of news I want to share.

First, a disclaimer. I don’t mean to trivialize pain or turn the discussion into a Shirley Temple film.

I have dedicated more than three decades to becoming an expert in the field of pain management. My mission is to help people in pain receive safe and effective treatments. I actively work within the industry to bring about innovations for chronic pain and addiction.

CNN Opioid Crisis Town Meeting with Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper

Opioid Crisis Town Hall Meeting

On May 12, CNN broadcast a town hall meeting about the American opioid crisis with Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper. The show’s audience included people who had used opioids for pain, and some who had become addicted to opioids. It has caused a considerable stir among people in pain.

Much of what Dr. Gupta had to say on the show and in a follow up article that appeared on CNN.com was about the opioid crisis, and little was mentioned about the pain crisis. The focus was on how opioids have contributed to a major public health issue spurred on by an inappropriate use of opioids to treat pain. Gupta and Cooper said physicians need to take the lead in reversing this problem.

Why AMA President Dr. Steven J. Stack Doesn’t Go Far Enough in Plan to End Opioid Crisis

In a recent well-conceived and reasonable Huffington Post blog, Dr. Steven J. Stack presents his seven ways that American physicians can reverse the opioid crisis. However, the blog’s opening line — “The medical profession must play a lead role in reversing the opioid epidemic that, far too often, has started from a prescription pad” — is the one that caught my attention.

Dr. Stack’s position that physicians can do something to solve the opioid epidemic, unfortunately, is putting the cart before the horse. Today, physicians are increasingly refusing to treat people in pain. There are probably many reasons for this, including the twin fears of causing harm from prescribing opioids and of being subjected to regulatory scrutiny for prescribing opioids.

Open Letter to Prince’s Supporters and Devoted Fans

Fans and Supporters Saddened by Loss of Prince

When the news broke about the death of Prince, and reporters began to link his death to a possible opioid addiction, I empathized with his fan base and supporters who were deeply saddened by the loss. All the facts weren’t in — they’re still not — but I could already see the outline of a grim story beginning to unfold. And I felt empathy for the man who was the focal point of that story.

Reasons Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler Misses Point of the Opioid Crisis

Dr. David A. Kessler was interviewed by Jim Axelrod of CBS News about the opioid crisis. Specifically, Axelrod asked Kessler about the increased use of opioids over the past twenty years, and how we might get the opioid epidemic “back in the bottle.”

Always controversial, since the days between 1990 and 1997 when he served as the Commissioner of the FDA, Kessler calls the handling of opioids “one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine.”

He blames the opioid epidemic on his former agency, the FDA; pharmaceutical companies; and physicians. “They didn’t see these drugs for what they truly are,” Kessler asserts.

Medical Mistakes Happen Because of Poor Communication

Medical Mistakes in Hospitals are Rampant

Mistakes in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities are rampant. Medical errors may now be third leading cause of death in United States, according to a Washington Post article.

That means about a quarter of a million Americans are dying annually — not from the diseases that are bringing them to the healthcare system, but from bad doctors, miscommunication between doctors, medical errors, or other problems.

Clearly, something must be done. But the answer, surely, will not be found in decreasing the communication between patients and clinicians.

This is the Reason Karl Marx Was Wrong, According to 90% of Americans

Karl Marx called religion the “opium of the people.” He meant that religion creates an illusory happiness that prevents people from seeking real happiness, which he believed would come through communism.

Marx underestimated the continuing role that spirituality plays in human well-being.

Americans Pray For Healing

One CNN report claims that 90% of Americans pray for healing when they are sick or injured. That number is surprising because previous reports suggested that about 50% of the population uses spirituality to connect the mind, body, and soul. If in fact 90% of the population uses religious beliefs or spirituality to heal, that’s more than the reported percentage of the population who claim to be religious.