"Pharmageddon": America's New Drug Crisis
A new drug problem is emerging in the United States: an alarming national epidemic of pill popping and prescription drug abuse so bad it's being called "Pharmageddon."
The latest issue of Time magazine has numbers painting a disturbing picture: Over the last two decades, deaths from accidental drug overdoses have increased five-fold. And, for the first time, unintentional overdoses have replaced car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
It's a problem Dr. Barbra Krantz describes as "the perfect storm."
Krantz, medical director of the Hanley Center, a drug treatment center in West Palm Beach, Fla., explained to "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvisthat, "It definitely is a pandemic in the United States today, and we got there, essentially, in the late 1990s, there was a paradigm shift for treating chronic pain. And at the same time there was direct consumer advertising. So, it made the perfect storm. People now were going to their physicians, and they have arthritis, the weekend warriors, the baby boomers, and they're saying, 'I have this pain,' and doctors are over-prescribing.
"The most at risk are not the street junkies, the typical stereotype that you would think of, but the people that are working, that are educated, that have had professions that are now looking for that better living through better chemistry."
Ron Dash, a former Hanley patient and a recovering prescription drug addict, told Jarvis, "For me, it started at a very young age, at the age of 10. I had some anxiety problems and I was given a prescription for Phenobarbital. I believe that set me off in the direction of not dealing with things that bothered me and going to doctors and asking for a quick fix, something to help me feel better. Over the course of my youth, growing up in the '60s, the culture was encouraging towards social drug use. As I got into my professional career, as a professional businessman, I went to doctors and I got prescriptions for stress, and it just mushroomed and progressed from there. At the age of -- my first surgery, I was given a prescription medication for pain, Vicodin. And as I grew older, I just became slowly more and more dependent on taking medications to help me cope, get up for work and get through my day."
Krantz said there are definite signs someone could be addicted to prescription drugs:
Activities abandoned or reduced: "There's a progressive isolation that occurs in their life. Where they get to is that the drug is the only thing that's important to them, obtaining the drug."
Dependence on the drug: "Dependence, tolerance, withdrawal is another sign," Krantz said.
Duration or amount greater than intended, intra-personal consequences -- that they can't cut down or control it. And when it becomes time-consuming: "What happens," Krantz said, "is that the person finds themselves needing to take more of the prescription drug than intended or prescribed, and then they're taking friends, or they're asking friends for their drugs. We saw a serious increase in the baby boomer drug addict. About 70 percent of our patients at Hanley are baby boomers. We have special program for them now."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. The latest issue of Time magazine has numbers painting a disturbing picture: Over the last two decades, deaths from accidental drug overdoses have increased five-fold. And, for the first time, unintentional overdoses have replaced car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
It's a problem Dr. Barbra Krantz describes as "the perfect storm."
Krantz, medical director of the Hanley Center, a drug treatment center in West Palm Beach, Fla., explained to "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvisthat, "It definitely is a pandemic in the United States today, and we got there, essentially, in the late 1990s, there was a paradigm shift for treating chronic pain. And at the same time there was direct consumer advertising. So, it made the perfect storm. People now were going to their physicians, and they have arthritis, the weekend warriors, the baby boomers, and they're saying, 'I have this pain,' and doctors are over-prescribing.
"The most at risk are not the street junkies, the typical stereotype that you would think of, but the people that are working, that are educated, that have had professions that are now looking for that better living through better chemistry."
Ron Dash, a former Hanley patient and a recovering prescription drug addict, told Jarvis, "For me, it started at a very young age, at the age of 10. I had some anxiety problems and I was given a prescription for Phenobarbital. I believe that set me off in the direction of not dealing with things that bothered me and going to doctors and asking for a quick fix, something to help me feel better. Over the course of my youth, growing up in the '60s, the culture was encouraging towards social drug use. As I got into my professional career, as a professional businessman, I went to doctors and I got prescriptions for stress, and it just mushroomed and progressed from there. At the age of -- my first surgery, I was given a prescription medication for pain, Vicodin. And as I grew older, I just became slowly more and more dependent on taking medications to help me cope, get up for work and get through my day."
Krantz said there are definite signs someone could be addicted to prescription drugs:
Activities abandoned or reduced: "There's a progressive isolation that occurs in their life. Where they get to is that the drug is the only thing that's important to them, obtaining the drug."
Dependence on the drug: "Dependence, tolerance, withdrawal is another sign," Krantz said.
Duration or amount greater than intended, intra-personal consequences -- that they can't cut down or control it. And when it becomes time-consuming: "What happens," Krantz said, "is that the person finds themselves needing to take more of the prescription drug than intended or prescribed, and then they're taking friends, or they're asking friends for their drugs. We saw a serious increase in the baby boomer drug addict. About 70 percent of our patients at Hanley are baby boomers. We have special program for them now."
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I suffer from IC (interstitial cystitis) which is a chronic debilitating disease causing pain that has been compared to cancer pain or people who are suffering from end stage renal failure.
Before anyone could figure out what I actually had I was treated horribly by the medical community. Even today, diagnosis in hand I am still mistreated. Because I suffer from chronic pain I am frequently labeled an addict or "drug seeker" because surprise...I developed a tolerance to pain medication after using it as prescribed. This is NORMAL and NOT A SIGN OF ADDICTION, which your article fails to distinguish.
Before my diagnosis I could find no one who would treat my pain without having a hard and fast diagnosis in hand....so while they were twiddling their thumbs I was forced to suffer because they thought I was faking the whole damn thing....and because the assumption that you will become an addict if you take this medication.
Essentially articles like this espousing the whole "war or drugs" party line feed the very stigma chronic pain sufferers encounter from the people who are supposed to help. Because doctors are so freaked out by all the laws espousing this inaccurate viewpoint, I was forced to take a leave both school and my dream job because doctors were hesitant to treat my pain. After leaving school and work I became depressed and suicidal because of the way I was treated.
Chronic pain is a serious issue that is a REAL issue and devastating to those who suffer from it. Yeah there are some people who ruin it for the real patients but they are far and few between according to statistics. Next time, instead of feeding into the hype why don't you check your facts and give real journalism a chance.
I suffer from IC (interstitial cystitis) which is a chronic debilitating disease causing pain that has been compared to cancer pain or people who are suffering from end stage renal failure.
Before anyone could figure out what I actually had I was treated horribly by the medical community. Even today, diagnosis in hand I am still mistreated. Because I suffer from chronic pain I am frequently labeled an addict or "drug seeker" because surprise...I developed a tolerance to pain medication after using it as prescribed. This is NORMAL and NOT A SIGN OF ADDICTION, which your article fails to distinguish.
Before my diagnosis I could find no one who would treat my pain without having a hard and fast diagnosis in hand....so while they were twiddling their thumbs I was forced to suffer because they thought I was faking the whole damn thing....and because the assumption that you will become an addict if you take this medication.
Essentially articles like this espousing the whole "war or drugs" party line feed the very stigma chronic pain sufferers encounter from the people who are supposed to help. Because doctors are so freaked out by all the laws espousing this inaccurate viewpoint, I was forced to take a leave both school and my dream job because doctors were hesitant to treat my pain. After leaving school and work I became depressed and suicidal because of the way I was treated.
Chronic pain is a serious issue that is a REAL issue and devastating to those who suffer from it. Yeah there are some people who ruin it for the real patients but they are far and few between according to statistics. Next time, instead of feeding into the hype why don't you check your facts and give real journalism a chance.
In fact... isn't that the responsibility of ANY "News" reporting agency? To provide a balanced unbiased view of the issues?
Intractable Pain Patient?s Handbook for Survival by Forest Tennant, MD, DrPH
http://foresttennant.com/pdfs/IntractablePainSurvival.pdf
Ah... if only the media were as well informed!
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA 'S GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF OPIOIDS IN THE
MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC NON-CANCER PAIN
For the purposes of this document the following terms shall have the following
definitions:
Addiction is a disease process involving use of opioid(s) wherein there is a loss of
control, compulsive use, and continued use despite adverse social, physical,
psychological, occupational, or economic consequences.
Substance abuse is the use of any substance(s) for non-therapeutic purposes; or use of
medication for purposes other than those for which it is prescribed.
Physical dependence is a physiologic state of adaptation to a specific opioid(s)
characterized by the emergence of a withdrawal syndrome during abstinence, which may be
relieved in total or in part by
re-administration of the substance. Physical dependence is a predictable sequelae of
regular, legitimate opioid or benzodiazepine use, and does not equate with addiction.
Tolerance is a state resulting from regular use of opioid(s) in which an increased dose of
the substance is needed to produce the desired effect. Tolerance may be a predictable
sequelae of opiate use and does not imply addiction.
Withdrawal syndrome is a specific constellation of signs and symptoms due to the abrupt
cessation of, or reduction in, a regularly administered dose of opioid(s).
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/asap/virginia1.htm
They have trivialized Chronic Pain conditions, making it sound as though someone who is diagnosed with, or is treated for chronic pain is simply an up-town addict looking for their next fix.
Dr. Krantz stated that the the pharmageddon is due the the shift in treatment on chronic pain, and direct advertising.
What she neglected to say--and should have been made obvious by the choice of "Recovering Addict" guest--is that for many of the "professions that are now looking for that better living through better chemistry" their Prescription Drug habits began with anti-anxiety & depression drugs, NOT pain medication.
According to Mr. Dash's statement, the primary complaints he received prescription drugs for were "Anxiety" and "Stress" NOT not the treatment of chronic pain.
This segment was filled with misinformation.
Statements:
1. "Krantz said there are definite signs someone COULD be addicted to prescription drugs:
2. Activities abandoned or reduced: "There's a progressive isolation that occurs in their life. Where they get to is that the drug is the only thing that's important to them, obtaining the drug."
3. Dependence on the drug: "Dependence, tolerance, withdrawal is another sign," Krantz said. "
Response to Statements:
1. "Could" means that its possible, NOT that it is a FACT.
2. "Activities abandoned or reduce & progressive isolation in their lives".... For people with conditions that require treatment for chronic pain: Cancer, CRPS/RSD, Fibromyalgia, Lupus the extreme discomfort resulting from the pain is the reason for not engaging in the activities at the previous levels. In many cases, it's a combination of the pain level and social stigma of having a chronic pain condition that results in the progressive isolation in their lives.
3. Addiction and Dependence are NOT the same.
People who have High Blood Pressure or are Diabetic are "Dependent" upon the medications that ensure their systems function normally (maintain a safe blood pressure or glucose level). But they are not "Addicted" to the medications.
There is always two sides to a story, you should have gone to several pain management clinics and spent time there with the staff and the patients.
Why don't you go back and perform a complete research on the topic, so that you can render an accurate and unbiased report that doesn't insult or undermine the intelligence of the American public.
The impact you have on the general public is amazing and to sell us Chronic Pain Patients as junkies is one of the most irresponsible things you can do.
I need medication to take care of my children, move, type this comment and so on and so on. I spend a significant amount of my care trying to find Dr.s that will take me on as a patient because of the prejudiced attitude about drugs. I just told a Dr. that I did not want more drugs, but he passed me along to another Dr. because he didn't want to take the time to help find a solution.
Medication is not the only treatment for pain, but I want you to imagine this. Your whole right side of your body, burning like acid has been poured on it, then having your foot and hand asleep at the same time, while not being able to talk for long periods of time or write for an extended period of time because it feels like your joints don't work. That is my life 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that is with medication. Some days it hurts to brush my hair, some days the wind blowing on my skin is like sandpaper. Sometimes I feel like my back is going to splinter in 1,000 pieces. Reporting like yours, means patients like me get labeled before we even get in the door.
If you have never suffered pain, chronic unbearable pain, you have no idea what you are talking about. This is Pain Awareness Month and if you want to really understand our point of view, please go to my blog http://chronicpainjournal.wordpress.com. and go to the Dear Dr. letter. Read a few articles, talk to a few patients and then maybe you can give an accurate point of view. You should be ashamed of yourselves and that Dr. should be ashamed of herself. You have no idea what impact this has on our lives.
While you have made money for your big corporation by presenting this garbage, you have instilled a dangerous prejudice in the minds of the public. Which makes it harder and harder for us to get treatment. Any kind of treatment, like physio, acupuncture, massage therapy.....but because of that type of reporting, immediately the medical establishment doesn't want us, simply because of the stigma of drugs. An unbalanced, inaccurate and uneducated point of view presented by television personalities who are not experts in anything. Shame on you CBS, shame on you.
OR POSSIBLY EVEN SELF BESTOWED DOCTORS that make more people suffer than the upcoming OBAMACARE scam and disaster will do.
Why don't you ever have real people that have been through the God awfull mess that these self rightous twits have forced decent real pain sufferers to go through. The biggest health care crisis isn't the monetary one it is the fact that doctors today are spineless lazy milktoasts as far as getting the job of pain managment taken care of.
I have in my life so far had 23 surgeries and my wife has had 16.From open heart surgery to amputations and spinal surgeries.Due to the fact I was always self employee'd and had to use the only insurance I could afford (because I had to have it by law for my work)which is workmans compensation insurance.Later on after my 6 bypass heart and spinal surgeries I continued to work even after being declared 178% disabled by the workers comp courts and their doctors.
I finally had to go on SSI disability, which it's self is a tremendous scam,and I ended up on Medicaid(another joke on the american people). Try to find a doctor with an IQ,any IQ would do,that takes their job seriously. Ihave been called a welfare n****r leech,my wife and I have been told on at least 5 occasions to divorce and she could get all kinds of help. This from DHS, Social Security and hospitals we had turned to for help.
After more than 60 doctors, no we didn't pick them we were forced to see all of them, we found 3 total that actually had the knowledge and desire to help someone suffering from pain.
This doctor needs to check the studies done at Johns Hopkins,the Mayo Clinic,New England Journal of Medicene, the British medical version of it even the JAMA publications and studies proving that less than 1% of the people taking Opiod medications actually get addicted to them.
I would love to get in a face to face debate with her in front of a camera TO MAKE A LIAR OUT OF HER. This SO-CALLED doctor and others like her screaming that Americans are nothing but full time drug addicts should be tar and feathered for their ignorance of the real world. She,Dr. Barbra Krantz only see's the people that are the abusers, not real pain patients. They are criminals that will go to any length to get high and that is their sole purpose in life to get that buzz.
I take enough pain medications that would probably kill them and most other people but I haven't gotten a buzz in years only some relief at times. I am not addicted nor is my wife who takes almost the same medications as I do. We often due to financial reasons go without our pain medications some times for a month or two but neither of us have any thing resembling withdrawls. We simply have to suffer because the totally IDIOT laws in Oklahoma concerning pain management are so strict because of media paranoia that most pain management doctors have either changed to another specialty or have left the state out of disgust and frustration that they can not help their patients the way they need it. In the entire state of Oklahoma there are probably less than 50 real painmanagement doctors. Mopst are nothing but peddelers of those $25,000 to $75,000 implant devices that may or may not work as we have been told by at least 12 of those peddelers. They make a tremendous profit for those devices. It's much more profitable to sell them than if they charged $50 a pill for pain medications, which by the way they might presribe very lightly to you if the implants don't do as advertized.
Please you media people stop hanging around your rich doctor friends getting free botox injections long enough to report the truth.
Thank you my rant is over I am now going to go GET HIGH so I can sleep maybe 2 hours tonight if I'm lucky. God Bless