I think you know the answer…
Off topic, know any Soldiers of Fortune? I have, uh, some landscaping I need done.
2 Likes
Excellent article! For more on the important role medication-assisted treatment should play in treatment of people with opioid addiction, please read this valuable post from Kelly Pfeifer, MD, of the California Health Care Foundation: If Addiction Had No Stigma, and Treatment Were Widely Available, Would the Outcome for Prince Have Been Different?
2 Likes
Funny story. I almost never use Apple News on my iPhone but I pulled it up yesterday and read this article and said to myself, “that’s a damn good article, I wonder if BB has posted a link to it” only to scroll to the very bottom and see I was already reading the BB article.
I felt like a dumbass.
It seems as if this article has got some pretty wide exposure (and deservedly so!) and like the other site regulars I’m quite happily surprised this thread hasn’t turned into a shit show… so, yeah. Welcome, newbies and thanks for contributing!
10 Likes
landscaping, or… _man_scaping? !!!
3 Likes
Great post. However it is incorrect to assume that everyone who takes opioids becomes addicted to them. I have taken several opiod drugs for years, including Fentanyl and never become physically dependent on them. I know many people who have experienced no physical depency despite years of treatment with opiods. It this belief that makes it difficult for many to get the pain relief needed because even doctors believe everyone given opiods will become addicted. This is just not true.
2 Likes
The autopsy report lists a scar on one hip only, so it is extremely unlikely that he had a double hip replacement.
2 Likes
Good. Finally, someone with some insight into the Prince universe. I really cannot understand the terrible, disrespectful manner in which his death is being handled. The comments are nothing compared to the so-called tributes by has-beens and wannabes trying to use Prince’s celebrity to revive and start their faultering careers. The “law enforcement” personnel trapesing through his house - finding nothing illegal. The overwhelming disrespect hurts many of us greatly. Prince was a man whose work was respected. His music included a lot more than “Purple Rain” or whatever could be found (or stolen) from his vault. Prince was a philanthropist who has kept schools from closing and communities from deteriorating. Prince was a spiritual man who initiated spiritual thought but didn’t impose his religion on anyone. He spoke up for himself and others. We should speak up for him now.
I just want Prince and anyone else to be respected.
7 Likes
Not really sober and not understanding Tradition 11either
This article is very thoughtful and respectful. And it confirms a lot of what I’ve always believed about the little guy. At my house the line has been that we don’t care how he died; it can in no way diminish his greatness or the joy he brought so many of us for so long. But it sure would be nice if he were still around. Thanks for posing the question in such a non-judgmental way.
1 Like
Best article I’ve read so far R.I.P Prince
2 Likes
Due to the illicit fentanyl crisis that’s been ongoing throughout Alberta, we’ve taken steps to make Naloxone kits available at pharmacies without a prescription. While there is still work to be done to combat stigma and provide education regarding the kits throughout Alberta, I feel like a similar approach on a larger scale could prevent many similar cases of accidental overdose.
4 Likes
I want to say that your article is amazing. As a chronic pain sufferer who has been stigmatized by family and some friends for years, I agree with probably 99% of what you said.
I do have a problem with the following paragraph, however:
“It’s not like some people get addicted to these drugs and others don’t. Anyone taking them for longer than a few days becomes physically dependent on these drugs. That, right now, is the best the medical community has to offer for chronic pain management.”
First of all, the first sentence is wrong. Many people, myself included, do NOT become addicted to their pain medicine. I have been on the same dosage of Norco for over 15 years, and have even gone months without it due to insurance faux pas and lack of income while attempting to get Social Security Disability.
Also, when you put the first two sentences of that paragraph together, it appears you are equating addiction and dependence, which in the above paragraph you quote the NIH definitions, which are absolutely different.
Other than that paragraph, I feel you did a stellar job and I applaud your effort and courage for speaking out for all of us with chronic pain and truly warranted narcotic usage.
3 Likes
It isn’t a euphemism, it’s code.
My plan is to take over Brazil.
3 Likes
Waxing?
#OUCH!!!
4 Likes
An excellent article! I agree that destigmatizing dependency and treatment are very necessary.
I wonder if we oughtn’t also be addressing the issue of how opioids are prescribed? I understand there are some who need them, but I have been offered prescriptions for much stronger medications than I knew were necessary. In one case, morphine when a heating pad was actually taking care of the post-surgical pain (and was not contra-indicated). This was not at some kind of pill mill, either - it was a major research and teaching hospital in a major U.S. city.
While I also understand that pain management medicine believes it to be more effective to prevent the pain, rather than to reduce it after it appears, I can’t help but think there are other avenues to consider. For instance, physical therapy or various types of therapeutic massage and tissue manipulation (orthobionomy, Chapman reflex points, myofascial release and many others) can be prescribed to help reduce the amount of pain medication needed. However, American doctors are very quick to prescribe a pill, in my experience. It took me almost a year to convince a doctor to write a script for physical therapy evaluation, but I could’ve gotten muscle relaxants immediately.
Another issue that has been on my mind since Prince’s death is dosing based on body size and type. As someone standing 5’ 3" and weighing 10 pounds more than Prince did at his death, I have frequently experienced the feeling that I’d been given a higher dose of medication than necessary. The first time I took an opioid pain reliever, I fell asleep for 8 hours straight in the middle of the day. Fortunately, a relative who was an emergency room nurse was with me, and knew to keep an eye on my breathing. There is a much smaller tolerance for such errors with the heavy-hitting opioids than with other medications.
Lastly, I posted this in a reply elsewhere, but it seems unlikely that Prince had a double hip replacement since the autopsy results report a scar on only one hip.
2 Likes
I used the term clean and sober because that’s the language used in Na/aa here in Scotland. With the greatest of respect to you my experience is many people become addicted for many reasons, not just to get high. My journey into addiction was as a way of coping with physical and emotional pain. I know I am extremely lucky to have found a daily reprieve and I just wish Prince had also been able to get that that chance
1 Like
I have had chronic pain for fourth years pain pills don’t work for me so I suffer marijuana helps. Hurry Maureen for sharing a big problem in our world of people in pain verses ignorance of people also I also new Prince I went to school with him junior high and senior high he was my friend very saddened by his death
1 Like
I believe that much written here is true except to say that most who uses pain meds after a few days are addicted. I have had to use pain meds several times in my life and I have never had the urge to continue them after treatment. I know for fact, some people can be predisposed to be addicted more easily than others. I feel that Prince died because he wasn’t getting the proper medical treatment in his quest for pain management. Prince is dead because he made bad choices for his healthcare. What is a shame is he didn’t apply his life skills in researching what kind of dangerous drugs he was putting in his body. Most all Narcotic’s s are to be respected and they are regulated for a reason. The drug Fentanyl was originally created for end of life pain back in 1959. Clearly his treating physician is under investigation now. Lastly, it surely was Prince’s ignorance and fear that lead to his demise. I will always love Prince. However, I realize he was a human who made mistakes and paid with his life.
I cannot express how much this piece means to me today. I’ve been living in a bubble, and I hadn’t known the official cause of Prince’s death until I heard it by word of mouth. I’d been waiting to hear because this is very personal to me for many reasons. I expected when I Googled “Prince’s cause of death,” that I’d instantly be shown a slew of articles written by those who know nothing about chronic pain, opioid treatment, or common decency. This, however, was the first link I clicked on. I don’t think I feel the need to investigate this further. When they call him names because of his opioid use for his severe pain, they are calling me those same names. Their judgement of him is their judgment of me. I’ve lived within minutes of Paisley Park my entire adult life, yet I couldn’t go to the memorial there and pay my respects. I’m unable to walk the distance I would have had to walk due to all the mourners parking there because I have severe, early-onset osteoarthritis in many joints, just like he did. Thank you for nailing this issue and showing respect for those who suffer daily and turn, legally or not, to the only thing that will give them any quality of life.
3 Likes
I disagree that chronic pain always leads to opioid addiction. Treatment with opioids will always lead to habituation or physical dependency, but addiction is a completely different condition, as stated very clearly in the original article.
2 Likes
