We welcome Dr. Sachy’s insight on this important topic of rescheduling hydrocodone. Because it has become such a hot topic, there will be a series of blog position statements from various expert opinion leaders that have experience with patients receiving hydrocodone.
Dr. Thomas Sachy (Comprehensive biosketh appears beneath blog post) is a Neuropsychiatrist in Gray, GA – Georgia Pain and Behavioral Medicine practicing Neuropsychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Pain Management.
Dr. Sachy writes…
Just days ago, Dr. Fudin posted a blog here, Media and Politics May Influence Opioid Panic which critiqued a People Magazine article published in the January 28, 2013 early edition. Then we saw Effect of Rescheduling Hydrocodone is Unknown. Today, I address an LA Times article which actually appeared a few days later on January 25, 2013.
From: LA Times – “Federal panel advises tighter controls on painkiller Vicodin”
“By a 19-to-10 vote, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended Friday that the agency reclassify hydrocodone, the active ingredient in Vicodin, as a Schedule II narcotic, placing it in the same category as other widely abused medications, including OxyContin and fentanyl.”
I know that these meds are abused, but wildely? One thing I am certain of is that these medications can be “widely” effective for treating all forms of pain.
“The United States consumes 99% of the hydrocodone produced worldwide, and doctors write more prescriptions for it than for the leading antibiotic and hypertension medications.”
Hmmm. I wonder why? I guess that I am just a drug pusher…But wait! I looked up the Pain Policy web site – Pain Policy – and I found some interesting statistics. For instance, the consumption in milligrams per capita [which is calculated by dividing the total amount of opioid consumed in kilograms by the population of the countryfor that particular year] of most opioids in Western Europe, Australia and Canada is similar to the United States.
So we consume 99% of the world’s hydrocodone? Well from this site it would appear that Canadians consume per capita more Dilaudid® [hydromorphone] than their “drug abusing” neighbors to their south.
The point is, if you are an industrialized and thus supposedly civilized nation, you are going to treat pain aggressively – with opioids.
“Prescription drugs — primarily narcotic painkillers such as hydrocodone — cause or contribute to more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. As a result, drug fatalities have surpassed deaths from motor vehicle crashes, long the leading cause of accidental death in this country.”
Wait, I will leave this to Dr. Fudin to fill in the details but let’s get something straight. Opioids are NOT causing MORE deaths than motor vehicle crashes. Drugs of all kinds are; cocaine, heroin, non-opioid medication overdoses are all adding to this number. This is obviously misleading.
“Doctors have prescribed hydrocodone with few restrictions since it was introduced four decades ago. Because of the perception that it is less risky than other narcotic painkillers, it is widely prescribed by general practitioners and dentists.”
40 years is a long time. That was 40 years of being able to have 10 to 20 hydrocodone called in by a caring dentist when that abscessed tooth of yours acted up again, driving you nuts; 40 years of obtaining relief from a surgeon after you had your liposuction, or your blepharoplasty, or your fractured collar bone set etc. Yes it is a potentially fatal medication when abused…But do we want to restrict access to it on an emergency basis? By the way – who would call in huge amounts anyway? Called in hydrocodone is for emergencies and for the interim relief of pain when a visit to the physician or dentist is simply not practical. Do we really want to go without the ability to obtain by telephone, at least one potent opioid analgesic for emergencies and traumatically painful situations? THINK LONG AND HARD FDA….
“In seeking to stem the increase in fatal drug overdoses, authorities have focused on how addicts and drug dealers obtain prescription narcotics illegally, such as by stealing from pharmacies or relatives’ medicine cabinets. Recent articles in The Times, however, reported that many overdoses stem from drugs prescribed for the deceased by a doctor. In nearly half of the prescription drug fatalities in four Southern California counties, medications prescribed by physicians caused or contributed to the death, according to a Times analysis of coroners’ records.”
This sounds bad. Bad numbers. Bad doctors. Bad medicine….But, but…
You know what! In a review of 600 cancer patients in Britain who died within 30 days of treatment, it was found that one in four of the deaths was either caused or hastened by the chemotherapy itself. (See National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (2008) For Better, for Worse?)
And we know that the above situation is the same here in America too.
And so we can see that in the desperate fight for survival, humans will roll the dice and subject themselves to poisoning and all manner of pain and degradation in order to buy time, one more day, one more hour…
And human beings will also take great risks to ameliorate and/or extinguish pain. On one hand they will make grave choices like whether to hang on to the outside of an office tower window in order to avoid burning alive, or whether or not they might accept a prescription for an opioid analgesic if they are indeed in pain.
Limit the number of tablets called in etc. But please do not let physicians, dentists, and other caring healthcare providers, that are currently privileged to call in prescriptions, lose the ability to put out a fire via a telephone call…before it turns into a firestorm…
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Dr. Thomas Hewitt Sachy hales from Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he attended the University of Calgary, obtaining a Bachelor of Science Degree in General Studies in 1985, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1988. In 1988, he immigrated to the U.S. and obtained his Master of Science in Biology from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA in 1994, and then he attended The Medical College of Georgia where he received his Doctor of Medicine in 1995. Dr. Sachy’s residency training in General Psychiatry was completed in 1999 at The Medical University of South Carolina, where he also completed a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology. Dr. Sachy then went on to complete a fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at Emory University’s School of Medicine in 2000. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Sachy is now in solo practice as a Neuropsychiatrist in Gray, GA – Georgia Pain and Behavioral Medicine. There he specializes in Neuropsychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Pain Management.
Dr. Sachy has been published in the journal Practical Pain Management, where he authored a ground breaking article entitled “Use of Opioids in Pain Patients with Psychiatric Disorders”. He has also appeared in several television documentaries including: the Discovery Channel’s “Exorcists- the True Story”, CBS News’ 48 Hours “Murder on His Mind”, and the SyFy Channel’s “The Haunted Boy”.
One can only deduce, given the amount of opiophobic hysteria in our country today, that the good doctor will end up seeing the inside of a prison cell. It’s all part of the plan to strong arm good doctor’s, like Dr. Sachy, into no longer providing pain relief to those of us that genuinely need it. Those of us with no problematic histories, like abuse or diversion. Because apparently the erroneous belief that the current methods of combating addiction are effective in any way, shape or form, wins out over actual statistics, actual facts and sound logic. Because THEY said it works, even though the vast majority of addicts are merely moving from pain medications to illicit fentanyl laced heroin which is causing a sharp increase in overdose deaths. So tell me again how they’re saving anyone? I mean, even if they were saving addicts lives, who gets to decide why it’s more important to save someone that made the concious decision to abuse a drug vs. a chronic pain patient that did not choose, nor desires to have, chronic pain that is often so severe that narcotic pain medications provide any trace of relief? And why, why has it been determined that chronic pain patients are in any way, disposable citizens? Because they are effective at one thing for certain. That is further disabling, crippling and even killing us. We are being exterminated quite effectively. Proof of thus is largely being ignored by those championing the inaptly named “War on addiction”. More correctly, it should be called the “War on chronic pain patients and compassionate doctors” or perhaps “The megalomaniacal, egotistically driven systematic genocide of persons suffering physically painful afflictions and character assassination of physicians that would dare to go against mandates with compassion based prescribing of medications that do what they have been designed to do”. Either one would be far more accurate and appropriate. In short, they’re killing us and you cannot tell me that THEY do not know that they are. They ignore the facts about chronically ill patients suicides, transitioning to street drugs in search of RELIEF or suffering as they are confined to their places of residency waiting for further health issues like heart attacks or strokes brought on by the development of blood clots due to extended and perpetual periods of physical inactivity. Which in turn is due to the absence of any type of viable and acceptable control of physical pain, which I might add is VERY REAL and requires absolutely no embellishment or exaggeration of severity to be at levels that would require medication assisted therapy. I may also add that medication assisted therapy is generally a “last resort” attempt at providing any measure of relief and thus provides the patient with the ability to attain some semblance of the life that they enjoyed prior to chronic pain or in the case of those born with physical affliction, any semblance of the lives that they can see other citizens of our country enjoying. The recommended therapies contained within their “guidelines” for treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain would be laughable if the current situation for said patients was not so dire, seeing as how the majority of chronic, non-cancer pain patients have either already tried and failed these recommendations or were using those therapies in CONJUNCTION with medication assisted therapy, including NSAIDS, although it should be commonly known that many patients are not good candidates for NSAID medication regimens due to a variety of reasons. All in all, they know what they are doing to us. They know their recommendations are nothing more than a sick facade. They know what is and what will happen to us, as chronic pain patients. Because to claim any differently is a bid in the blatant and willful attempt to conceal the truth. We have facts. They have manufactured claims. So what does that make their “experts”?
I have been driven to the conclusion that after 7 months of not having pain relief I am no longer able to function, I been told that they cannot ,replace you entire spine and all we can do is provide you with meds to achieve a better quality of life .which now have been taken away buy the FDA.I have been treated for 20 years by the same doctor.have a box of papers from and treatment. now they want someone who cannot move to do phys therapy.I am wishing I could make it to some of these prop or FDA meeting. this topic may require a Boston approach in large after all people are living to long for America systems. as many will not go out alone in there agony. so if you think your child died do to abused meds I think you parents of tragic child deaths for abuse of pain meds , you should take a look at your parenting skills. I am the parent of 5 children and Vicodin has been in my household for 17 years to treat my suffering and allow myself to work to support mt family.
I saw red when the FDA started their most recent attack on pain meds. The hysteria is totally without merit. I decided to do some research on the annual death rates comparable to the annual death rate due to overdoses on pain meds. This is what I found:
Causes of 16K Deaths Annually
⁃ Overdoses from narcotics
⁃ Deaths from NSAID use
⁃ Deaths resulting from texting while driving
⁃ Suicides with guns
⁃ Deaths from untreated or undiagnosed appendicitis
⁃ Deaths from bowel cancer
⁃ Gang-related deaths in the UK
⁃ Deaths resulting from cardiothoracic trauma
⁃ Teen suicides
⁃ Deaths from common slips and falls in the home
⁃ Flu deaths around the world
⁃ Deaths from food poisoning
Of course what is never mentioned is that we experience more than 75,000 deaths annually from alcohol abuse. I guess that is so commonplace that it has become just background noise the the masses.
As a person who requires opioids to be able to walk, I take offense to automatically being branded an addict. Yet I see people in the medical community take one glance at my daily medication list and come to that conclusion without talking to me, reading my medical history, or even examining me. I only wish that my pain were visible as people would shrink from me in horror when they see how badly I hurt. Those same people would happily give me a miracle drug could make me look better. For me, that miracle drug happens to be opioid-based. Therefore, I am branded a monster.
And If I may add that heroin deaths are up 70% due to people looking for alternative and illegal releif from there conic pain .just information i heard on cspan government channel
Well it has begun. I was just informed by my pharmacist that starting Feb 25 any refills my doctor gave me are void. I must now get a new script from my doctor every 30 days. My doctor is a good man and understands chronic pain but I must travel far to see him which often is not possible because I can’t drive. So much for not hurting those who suffer chronic pain. I am sick and tired of others deciding my medical needs. This use to be a free country!
PROPaganda: Wikipedia
“Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed towards influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes.
As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political, religious or commercial agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of ideological or commercial warfare.”
PERFECT!
Is anyone SANE attending this one?
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/NewsEvents/ucm326450.htm
Hope so…
I will be there and so will many others from various geographic locations.
Great to know! Please keep us posted, as our LIVES are at stake! I assume PROP will not be in attendance, since they are looking for SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE at the meeting?
Thanks!
Nancy, you can be sure PROP-aganda will be there.
I counted at least 17 people who will be there speaking out against the use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. I wish we had more staunch defenders of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain use. And 5 of those 17 are people who had relatives or children who abused pain medicines and died. The amount of people testifying is definitely not a fair sampling of the people who are or were effected both positively and negatively by these medicines.
If I could speak there, my two questions to the FDA and opposition groups like PROP would be this:
1) Can the human brain/central nervous system distinguish between chronic pain caused by cancer and chronic pain caused by diseases like fibromyalgia and CRPS?
2) If opioids are effective for cancer pain for years on end, then why do groups like PROP claim they will not work for non-cancer pain for years on end? Why would opioids work on excruciating cancer pain for years, but for some magical reason not on excruciating non-cancer pain?
If the answer to question one is “no,” then PROP’s mission and groups similar to it really have no medical/scientific basis for their claims.
This is a very cruel to say the least. I live in Kentucky moved back here in April of 2012 and as Of this date I can Not find a Doctor to treat me. I have to keep going back to the state I lived in formerly. When I can not afford the trip my Dr there of 7 years would call me in this very medication. Now I am going to be made to suffer with NOTHING at all? My niece just had a double lung Transplant at UK hospital ( Due to CF) on the 18 of Jan she was discharged with 3 THREE days of hydrocodone. What is it going to take to get these people to wake up and understand the ramifications of doing this ? I know that since they have passed HB 1 law here also known as the “Pill Mill Bill” the suicide rate has risen 11% in Ky that came right from the Attorney General, however they will NOT acknowledge that people in Chronic Pain are not being treated period, they want to blame it on the economy. I have to Agree with Dr. Fudin and Mark Maginn. If they think there are deaths from people taking this medication, just wait for those who will no longer be able to deal with the pain any more and see how much more the suicide rate rises. This is a shame !
I feel bad for the people making the end decisions on who needs or doesn’t need opioids for their chronic pain. Problem is they know not what they do. For those that leave people that suffer from chronic pain day after day to suffer even more is thoughtless to the point of disbelief. If this happens and chronic pain patients go back to suffering there will be public outcry from all that suffer. Then and only then these people changing the laws will realize they have made a huge mistake.
Imagine Dr. Kolodny a loved one of yours having a car accident leaving them in never ending chronic pain, after all it was you that started most of this.
What will you say to your wife or child when they say to you why cant I get the pain relief I deserve and it will be you to blame for their suffering .
And when your little petition is passed I hope you get full enjoyment out of the suffering it will cause all that never asked for a life full of never ending chronic pain.
Mark S. Barletta
I just don’t get it. We don’t let rapists write laws about rape. We don’t let murderes write laws about murder. We don’t let thieves write laws about theft and burglarly. Yet, people seem fine with letting drug abusing criminals write or influence laws about drugs. This is crazy. Why isn’t this point made more? Instead people cheer on and encourage these criminals. We need to stop using the euphemism “abuser.” They need to be called criminals to remind society about who they are. They are not victims. Chronic pain patients are victims.
I do believe that if these criminals and their enablers succeed in their goals, then there will be significant and catastrophic unintended consequences. The U.S. economy loses over 600 billion dollars a year because of people unable to work due to.pain. Now imagine what would happen if those pain patients who can work because of opioids can longer get their medicines. We will have less people working and more people using welfare. I am able to work and contribute to society because of pain medicines.
Without pain medicines, I can’t work and I will just lay on the couch all day and watch TV. I will also be getting welfare and not paying taxes.
PROP and other anti-pain medicine groups are playing a game of chicken and they have no idea how many serious unintended consequences they will cause. PROP’s proposals are so extreme they could possibly unintentionally cause something magnitudes worse than the great depression.
Dr. Sachy,
Thanks for your insight into some of these WIDELY abused “statistics” that the media uses to tell the world how evil ALL opioids are. It’s great to see you guest blogging here, and I’m a big fan of your “Tales from the Trenches” and other writings.
Two friends (and fellow Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome sufferers) testified at the FDA hearing regarding the re-scheduling of Hydrocodone. From the sound of things, PROP, and their supporters, who were primarily family members who had tragically lost loved ones to overdose deaths, took up most of the discussion time. My two friends, who suffer from severe chronic pain, who both rely on Hydrocodone containing medication, and whom this policy change will effect, were given a shared ten minute time slot. As usual, the voices of chronic pain patients were mostly absent from the discussion. Perhaps that’s because chronic pain patients are being referred to as pathetically “unaware” drug addicts, who “think” they need opioids for pain relief. Apparently, having your spine, rib, and hip dislocate (in the same day) just requires an SSRI and an NSAID. Maybe some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will do the trick? I know!….. Pray the pain away?
I am becoming increasingly BAFFLED by the fact that feelings, emotions, and speculation are driving these policy changes, in the absence of scientific evidence. Well, guess what? We’ve got stories too. Stories of excruciating pain caused by genetic defects in collagen, that will make your hair stand on end! That’s just ONE condition that causes agonizing pain & there are hundreds! Stories about people with serious medical conditions, that cause SEVERE pain, being belittled, talked down to, abandoned, and accused of “drug seeking” because they need relief. How we call this a civilized society, when that is how we treat suffering people, is BEYOND comprehension. What is going to happen to all of us? Treating a powerful disease, like addiction, by making it even HARDER for legitimate patients to get relief, is INSANE! It’s like the wife who tries to hide her husband’s GIN, and thinks that will cure his alcoholism.
It is VERY appreciated, to see professionals like Dr. Sachy, Dr. Leavitt, Dr. Fudin, Dr. Webster, and others, call out some of the media, who (even unknowingly at times), are sensationalizing opioids & their “statistics”. There is another side to this story, that you are keeping alive in this discussion. It’s the people who DO benefit from opioids. You don’t have to have cancer to have the kind of pain that requires treatment with opioids. Some of the stories of chronic pain patients having their lives ruined by lack of treatment, are devastating. Forcing people who are already suffering, to jump through more hoops to get medical treatment that should be a human right, is cruel. Thanks, Dr. Sachy, for continuing to advocate for people that are becoming VERY unpopular to advocate for.
I agree 100% . It does not make sense. Why should the people who have relatives or family members who are drug addicts be in charge of U.S. policy on pain medicines? I don’t see the government handing over laws about drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco when those substances ruin innumerable lives and cause cancer.I am so sick of drug addicts/abusers being coddled and treated like victims while pain patients are treated poorly and criminals. This is so damn backwards. I can’t make sense of it. The people making these laws are suppose to be using medical science not sob stories. I guess our opponents are well aware that medical science supports chronic pain patients. Opioids work for chronic pain. There is no debate about it. This is sad that our leaders and scientists at the health department are accepting sob stories as evidence.
It sure is looking bad for Americans futures, for some no future. I just don’t get it. There needs to be a Huge press conference based on people suffering with pain, along with doctors, nurses and all who treat pain and also see the suffering on a daily basis. Something so BIG that opens the eyes of the government and brings common sense back into the picture here. Not “People” magazine either. Does FDA really pay attention to that kind bologne?
I know of 3 people in the past month that have had major surgeries in Kentucky (open heart, double lung transplant, and vaginal mesh removal) and they were only handed 3 days of pain medicine(Hydrocodone) to take home with them after being hosptialized for only 5 days. None of them have well. What is going to take for the government to see what kind of hell they’re causing people? This getting very serious now and not civilized. This needs to be stopped before many people die. Unless that is what they are trying to create. It’s sickening… This is a huge mistake, just look at KY. That is what 72 hours of medicine looks like.
The media makes me sick. They always demonize pain patients, pain doctors, and pain medicines without any thoughts about the negative repercussions. I swear opioid pain medicine opponents and the media must spend all night and day trying to think up of headlines that will generate hysteria and fear which in turn increases the amount of papers sold. After all, people need to be informed about every epidemic, even if it is fake or a bunch of smoke and mirrors.
Maybe, in the near future, there will be some reporters with integrity. Although, I remain doubtful. At least a large portion of the American public distrusts the media. It is still not enough though.
Leave hydrocodone prescribing the way it is, C-III. Dentists and doctors do need something to call-in. This policy will hurt the poor, the uninsured, people with disabilities and housebound patients. Good point about measuring mg / per capita as nonsensical since not all meds take the same dosages.
This is the problem no one is thinking in a rational manner on this subject of opioids and things are getting further and further out of control. This will cause more harm than good if a doctor or dentist can not pick up the phone to call in a 2 or 3 day supply of hydrocodone for emergency purposes.
There is no easy fix to this, seems this thing on opioids is being made worse by reporters and the media blowing things out of proportion.
Things need to be left as they are with hydrocodone and somehow we need to get the people who abuse opioids out of the picture, their ruining it for all the true chronic pain sufferers. There will always be this group of people that make things worse, there should be stricter laws if someone is caught with opioids that does not have a prescription for them and they pay the price ,not the innocent victims of chronic pain. But the laws are to lax on people who abuse the very medications that give chronic pain sufferers their life back.
I certainly agree with what is said by both writers above. There is a facet of this that I find quite disturbing, though not surprising. Limiting patients released from a hospital or emergency room to 3 days supply of pain medicine will create hardships for many pain patients, particularly the disabled, residents of care facilities and the uninsured and the poor. How often has anyone been able to get into see their provider within 3 days? I’m sure that many can, but what of the hardship for nursing home patients to see their doctors or for those with no insurance to pay for monthly appointments or for poor patients who may have to rely on subsidized clinics. Those with money and good insurance will be inconvenienced, but the the disadvantaged will suffer. This is bad policy.
I can’t help but think how Illogical it is to gather data on “consumption in milligrams per capita” and then use that to say opioid prescriptions have increased. No doubt, opioid prescriptions have increased…regulatory agencies just need to say that; not sensationalize bad statistics so the media can run with it! Consider that a single fentanyl transdermal patch that delivers 100 micrograms per hour is approximately equivalent to oral morphine 360 milligrams per day (or 15mg per hour). But 100 micrograms of anything equals 0.1 milligrams. Pooling all these drugs together is incongruous. It’s worse than counting calories and not considering the source (protein, fat, or carbohydrates). What are these people thinking?
Just for what it is worth, at the Ad Comm meeting, it was pointed out that the vast majority of hydrocodone use in other countries is not as an analgesic, but as an antitussive. In other countries, they use other medications for pain, perhaps (although I’m no expert on foreign drug laws) because they already have similar restrictions on hydrocodone and medications we have in C-II?
Agree with Bob Twillman on the “fuzzy math” about hydrocodone use in other countries.
To my knowledge no other country uses Hydrocodone containing products to manage pain therefore, I think the 99% number is accurate (maybe closer to 99.9%), because we are the only ones producing/consuming it!
Finally, the rescheduling of hydrocodone wont do anything to reduce drug abuse in the US…its an attempt to “do something to fight drug abuse” when the real solutions are much harder and more costly to pursue. I hope the FDA dismisses the Advisory Panels recommendations because I don’t think it this is a very helpful strategy. In many states oxycodone is the #1 abused opioid not hydrocodone!
Good reply
I very much doubt 3 out of 5 OPIATE DEATH’S in the U.S. are the result of prescribed OPIATES! Did the FDA Forget All the IV HEROIN, FENTANYL Deaths occurring daily? A LOT of our young people are dropping like flies. I believe frankly the FDA and/or BIG GOVERNMENT PAID FOR THIS 1 SIDED STUDY! HAS ANYONE NOT SEEN THE SPECIALS ON TV? ESPECIALLY AROUND BOSTON! NEW YORK ACTUALLY GIVES METHADONE FREE THERE. I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BELIEVE IN THIS DRUG. YET IT SAVED MY SON FROM HEROUN AND DANGEROUS NEEDLES! TO INCLUDE HYDROCODONE IN THE SAME CLASS AS FENTANYL OR HEROIN IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE! I WAS A NURSE FOR MANY MANY YEARS. GETTING MY B SN, WE WERE THEN TOLD, “PAIN IS WHATEVER THE PATIENT SAYS IT IS.” YES, IT WAS EASY TO SPOT “FREQUENT FLYERS TO E.Rs! Big Govt TELLS ALL OUR DOCTORS NOW AS OF JULY 1,2018 EXACTLY WHAT THEY CAN N CANNOT WRITE IS ABSURD! DR. SACHY WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE, KNEW MORE ABOUT NUEROLOGY and PAIN MGT THAN 99.9 DOCS ONE COULD HAVE. NO RUSH JOBS THERE. HE LISTENED WELL AT TIMES OVER AN HOUR! I HAVE NOT BEEN A PATIENT THERE IN OVER 5 YEARS, DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES OUT OF MY CONTROL, YET FORTUNATELY I FOUND YET ANOTHER GOOD DOC. I FOUND OUT I AM NO ADDICT ALSO. I TOOK NO MEDS AT ALL FOR 3 YEARS. DIDN’T WANT OR NEED. BUT, I WAS IN A STATE OF DEPRESSION. I DID HARDLY ANYTHING. SOON AS I PUSHED THROUGH THIS DEPRESSION N STARTED WORKING AGAIN I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO FIND MY NEW DOC N BEGIN TAKING HYDROCODONE AGAIN. IF I WANT TO BE ACTIVE, LIVE A FULL LIFE AND ENJOY IT, FOR MANY OF US THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE!
Dr Jeffery Fudin, As an RN, I agree it is illogical to say 100 micrograms of ANYTHING equals 1mg! Big Government IS giving the media n therefore our citizens a one sided story. I WILL NOT EVER BELIEVE 3 OUT OF 5 DEATHS COME FROM LEGALLY PRESCRIBED OPIODS ! WHAT DID THEY DO? NOT INCLUDE DEATH’S OF OUR NATION’S YOUNG ADULTS DYING LIKE FLIES FROM SHOOTING UP HEROIN N MUCH OF IT LACED WITH FENTANYL? MAYBE THEY OMITTED THEIR GIGANTIC DEATH TOTALS? MAYBE THEY DO NOT CONSIDER THOSE AS HUMAN BEINGS?! GA DID NOT DO THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE RIGHT! THE HORRID THINGS THEY R SAYING ARE JUST NOT TRUE! ONLY WAS SEEING A SMALL AMOUNT OF PTS TOO! DO YOU THINK IT APPROPRIATE IF I AND HIS CURRENT PATIENTS GET AN ADDRESS TO SEND HIM CARDS OR WRITE UPLIFTING MESSAGES?
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Why did my REPLY to Dr Fudin POST????