Ok, you can tell me if I'm paranoid or not...
From: cathy:- (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Thu Nov 29 21:52:29 2001
I read through both of the recent links that Helen Dynda about addiction
and chronic pain. (Yes, I read them all, Helen -- you are one of my
personal heros for tracking down all of this fabulous info!) I must say
that both of them raised the hair on the back of my neck.
"Risk Of Addiction To Pain Relief Is Small, Expert Says" Then the
article goes on to simply repeat this as a bald-faced assertion over and
over. It gave NO explanations, NO reasons, simply stated that it is
true. Well, you know, I'm not believing doctors simply because they
ascend their thrones and proclaim things to be true! (ESPECIALLY things
that they so sincerely WANT to be true!)
I can think of several plausible scientific explanations for why it
might be true that people who are in pain and take narcotics are
unlikely to become addicted. For example we know that pain is a
chemical reaction in the brain, and we know that drugs work by causing
chemical reactions in the brain. It would be completely plausible if
the brain scientists find out that pain chemicals interfere with the
chemical process of addiction. Or maybe there is only a tiny fraction
of the human population whose brains are wired up to become addicted and
so among chronic pain sufferers there is only a tiny fraction who are at
a risk for addiction. Or maybe it is some other reason. Or maybe in
that study of pain patients and addiction they manipulated the data and
said that anyone who needed the pain relief wasn't addicted when many of
them actually were.
But the point is that these Lords of Medicine do not deign to actually
give us stupid little patients any information like that. Instead they
pat us on the head and chuck us under the chin and tell us not to worry
our pretty little heads about addiction and if we are in pain we DESERVE
those narcotics. There are just so many things wrong with that
attitude. First of all, I've heard enough "don't worry your little
head" statements to know that I SHOULD worry. Don't worry nothing bad
could happen from this c-section or tubal and that hysterectomy is a
triviality and adhesions don't hurt. Secondly, I don't give a horse's
patooie what anybody else thinks I DESERVE in the way of pain relief.
It's not just that I have the right to pain relief, I have ALL the
rights. I have the right to decide how much pain I can stand. I have
the right to decide whether or not the benefits that any particular drug
gives to me are worth the side effects that the particular drug has on
me. Those are MY rights. MINE! MINE! MINE!
Ok, I finished ranting, I'll stop now. If ya'all think I'm out of my
mind, well, alright you wouldn't be the first ones!
--
cathy :-)
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