Has the war against opiates impacted you?

I have had pain from surgeries/failed surgeries... I was prescribed opiates after each surgery and I went to pain med center in 2014 and I remember it being easy getting them prescribed. I never felt they helped my pain, but that may be because my pain is nerve an related so many surgeries. I do remember leaving the office in 2014 thinking how easy it was to get them... However, if they had helped me I could not imagine them restricting me being able to get them... if I was taking an adequate and responsible dose. Kratom is the only thing that helps me some and when they were trying to ban it here in the city I live in, I wrote to the City Council to voice my opinion and oppose the ban.

According to the AGP, the US opioid epidemic is rooted in decades of over-prescription of addictive painkillers. The crisis is responsible for about 400,000 deaths involving prescription or illicit opioids. In recent months, federal and state authorities have taken on drug giants in court for allegedly bribing doctors to prescribe their medicines or for deceptive marketing that downplayed the risks of addiction.

The overall opioid prescribing rate peaked in 2012 at 81 prescriptions for every 100 Americans and had dropped to 58 by 2017, according to data suggesting that healthcare providers have become more cautious. But the amount of opioids prescribed per person is still around three times higher than it was in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Fatal drug overdoses in the US declined by 5.1 percent in 2018, according to preliminary official data, the first drop in two decades. The trend was driven by a steep decline in deaths linked to prescription painkillers. The total number of estimated deaths dropped to 68,557 in 2018 against 72,224 the year before, according to the figures released by the CDC. But that number is still far higher than the 16,849 overdose deaths in 1999, a figure that rose every year until 2017, with a particularly sharp increase seen from 2014 to 2017.

Deaths attributed to natural and semi-synthetic opioids, such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxymorphone, which are prescribed as painkillers, saw a drop from 14,926 to 12,757, or 14.5 percent. That was the steepest drop for any category of drug, though deaths linked  to synthetic opioids (drugs like tramadol and fentanyl) continued to rise sharply. 

I am no longer taking pain pills after I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. They never helped. I think it may be plausible that they were prescribed to easily.

I’ve had migraines since I was a kid and I am 72 years young. I used to get fiorcet and imitrix to abort them. The last couple of months, my doctor decided that they were rebound migraines and he stopped refilling them. I think it is less that they are rebounds and more that he is reacting to the opiate issues. Thanks for listening. Peace, Dawn 

How long did you get those medications to deal with the migraines? If you had success with them and used them for some time... I would think it would be related to the opiate issue like you said. Wouldn't make sense. Sad to see people that they help get impacted negatively.

i never had any success taking opiates and heard about kratom from a friend... that has helped me more than opiates have. @painman  so i am glad to hear you voiced concern over a ban. we need everyone to do so. 

@nomorenomore am m69 and doctors will not give anything for pain! They say they have to cya

@Lee__R yep, and older people like me in pain because of mostly dopers! Could care care less about addiction at my age! Would like a year or two to have social life!