Opioid Treatment 10-year Longevity Survey Final Report
From the article:
Patients in this study were found to be functioning quite well after 10 or more years on generally stable opioid dosages—with the vast majority able to care for themselves and even drive.
Results and Findings
Patients in this study appeared typical of most chronic pain patients in that they are primarily middle age or older and have degenerative diseases of the spine, joints, or peripheral nerves (see Tables 1 and 2). Most have maintained on one opioid, although some patients required two or three. The majority have been on stable dosages for many years (see Table 3). Despite the longevity of treatment, most function quite well. The vast majority of patients report good function in that they can dress, read, attend social functions, drive, and ambulate without assistance (see Table 4). Almost half (45%) reported they had been on a stable opioid dosage for at least 3 years.
How many people.. suffering from chronic pain .. whose quality of life and their ability to be a fully functional person within our society… gainfully employed, a good spouse and parent… because of our obsession with this war on drugs and the estimated six million people.. who will be abusing some substance… and trying to prevent them from heading down the path of substance abuse… as opposed to being on Medicare/SS disability and Medicaid and having to deal with a compromised quality of life.
For every single person abusing some substance.. there are 14 dealing with chronic pain.. we spend $8,500 on each of those substance abuser trying to keep them to stop.. whereas we spend abt $900/person on all healthcare expenditures… and in the last ONE HUNDRED YEARS.. the per-cent of the population that is abusing some substance has remained virtually UNCHANGED.
The Medicare/SS disability fund is going to be BROKE in the next couple of years… and we are spending 51 BILLION on fighting this war on drugs.. maybe if we committed this money to better treatment of those in chronic pain and on Medicare/SS disability… maybe many could go back to work and off of disability …
Filed under: General Problems
We in Tennessee are scared and I expect to see a suicide increase thanks to our heartless uneducated governor. Didn’t even bother to respond to my email. Sadly other states are thinking about following his discrimination.
This should give pain patients a boost in the butt to keep fighting for their rights to have the pain care they so deserve. Still so many sit in silence and are not speaking out to the news stations on regular basis or go see their lawmakers on these important issues. Personally I would like to see us use our pissed attitudes in a more positive way, and burn the ADA or who ever we NEED to get our situation noticed here. Baby boomers are turning 65 at the rate of 10,000 a day and more people are going to start experience pain more frequently. Doing only procedures in doctor settings is not an answer for us. WE need to get more attention to the problems that are growing into this HUGE monster! Please? Everyone? Start looking for more advocates to help us beat this inhumanity! The reports and papers done on these facts don’t lie and we the pain patients aren’t lying when we say our medications give more quality of life. I hope reading this information Pharm Steve has put here will inspire more of us to reach out further and continue to look for ways to beat the DEA and all civil rights that are being broken. We can’t give up now! Keep fighting for your life and for those lives that are heading towards chronic pain each day. We need to solve these issues.
I know it’s really hard but if we don’t fight back in a huge way, it’s going to disappear.
We can’t give up.. Not now..
File those complaints folks! Do whatever it takes in your state or area to be heard!
I do fear for TN, that state is going extreme !
The survey highlights what many of us know. A chronic pain patient can go for years on one opioid and take it just as prescibed. The DEA’s war on prescription drugs is turning healthcare upside down. Instead of focusing their attention on the bad doc’s, they are focusing on wholesalers and pharmacies. The older people get the more chronic problems they have, and pain is often associated with those problems. As the baby boomers age, they are going to need lots of pain meds. The DEA has entered this arena at the wrong time and the wrong place. I suppose, since they cannot stop the criminals from trafficking drugs, they will go after the weakest folks, the elderly and the sick. The one thing that people are going to have to do is contact their congressional representatives and put pressue on them to curtail the activity of the DEA.
Quality of life is a big issue for the disabled and especially the ones with chronic painful diseases. The pain that requires scheduled medication is not asked for,
forced to go to doctor every 30 days, give degrading drug tests in bathroom where you can’t flush or wash hands, then pray DEA hasn’t implanted more restrictions plus DO the pharmacy crawl hoping one will have mercy to fill the prescription. Only this past year has almost been unbearable. I spend more each month because I can’t get a 90 day supply since my insurance has the same co-pay for 90 as 30. In 10 years have never been short or had bad screen. Because of criminals I must do without more of my disability or should I say DEA. Now we have the governor of Tennessee in the act with his plan on Tennessee.gov under news. No need for Tennessee residents to need narcotics, tranquilizers or sleeping aides? He seems to forget about what suffering he will cause with DEA blessing. Watch the suicide rate go up as more can’t find compassionate treatment or pharmacies willing to fill legal prescriptions. I can barely move with morphine. Can no longer sit at computer because of back, pheriphral neurapathy and sciatica. Posting from Kindle from bed with 30 year old wallpaper that I chose that many years ago. A good life. But take this away and I promise I see no need to suffer worse to make the government happy? THIS is not how I planned to spend my life. Thanks for bringing this important issue up. For those not from Tennessee watch since he was bragging other states want to follow.
Seems I fit this category very well little over middle aged 58, have had chronic pain for the past 15 years due to degenerative disc disease and have been on one long lasting medication for the past 12 years. I’m able to dress myself ,keep a nice clean apartment ,pay bills ,keep food in my apartment, not married and do not work due to no one wanting to hire me claiming I’m a high risk. So I’m on Medicare/SS disability for the past 16 years. This tends to piss off people but they don’t have chronic pain in their body so I care less what they think of me. If Medicare/SS disability fund is going to be broke in the next couple of years I will figure out how to survive from then on. But for now this is my life and I didn’t ask for things to be this way. Besides in 4 years I will be 62 and will draw normal social security ,disabled or not.