Published by Pain News Network
Next month will mark the one year anniversary of opioid guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – guidelines that discourage primary care physicians from prescribing opioids for chronic non-cancer pain.
At the time of their release, the CDC estimated that as many as 11.5 million Americans were using opioid medication daily for pain relief. Many of those patients now say their doses have been abruptly lowered or they are unable to obtain opioids at all.
That could be a good thing, depending on your point of view about the nation’s so-called “opioid epidemic.” Former CDC director Thomas Frieden, MD, has called the guidelines an “excellent starting point” to stop an epidemic fueled by “decades of prescribing too many opioids for too many conditions where they provide minimal benefit.”
Many pain patients disagree, saying they’ve used opioids safely and effectively for years. They say the guidelines have had a chilling effect on many of their doctors and are being implemented in ways that go far beyond what the CDC intended.
The CDC guidelines have already seen clinics imposing mandatory pill counts and urine testing for patients. These measures, although intrusive, may actually help, and personally I have no problem with them. But things have gone too far.
There is disturbing news that the CDC “guidelines” are now being implemented by insurance companies and CMS, and that a ceiling on dosages of opioids will be enforced. This will create horrible issues for chronic pain patients who have successfully taken opioid medications for years to remain productive and independent, or at least have some quality of life. These rules will effectively make it impossible for many to live their lives as they have been; some will likely commit suicide or turn to street drugs in an attempt to control their pain. Let doctors and other practitioners do their jobs, and tell the government we will not stand for this. I am sure rights are being violated. If Medicare stops paying for these meds, or they impose these ridiculous and useless limits, they are impacting me personally by taking away a benefit I worked many years to pay for in case I ever needed it. This new plan is discriminatory. Opioid use is not the same thing as heroin use; do not buy into the media feeding frenzy backed by little to no accurate information, often fed to them by the CDC. These unfair and inhumane measures will not stop the disease of addiction. They will serve only to create more victims in the “war on drugs”.
You cannot apply a broad brush treatment to all patients! I would like to know who is interested in getting together to contact others and inform them of this threat to our well-being, and find a way to stop it. There is a subversive quality to all of this; and I for one would love to know where it originated, and how it got by millions of people.
We must fight back! All of our rights are being violated, from doctors and other caregivers to patients. If you agree, and have any ideas or names of contacts, anything, please speak up.