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There is little doubt that the biggest problem in the war on opioids are illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. But as the net is being cast widely, people suffering from chronic pain who legitimately need prescription opioid-based painkillers are finding themselves in despair or driven to suicide.
They are unable to get effective medications because physician’s hands are increasingly tied by legislation, insurance companies and even pharmacies.
Fentanyl has recently been declared by the CDC as the deadliest drug in America. It is responsible for more overdoses than any other substance. Clearly, more people are dying from the use of illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, than they are from prescription opioids.
The CDC also found that most drug overdoses that result in fatalities are the result of a combination of drugs, and by far the majority of these included either fentanyl or heroin – or mixing one of the former two drugs with cocaine or methamphetamine.
Unfortunately, legitimate prescription opioid-based medications are caught in the crosshairs of this opioid war. Even relatively minor opioid-based medications as Hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Lorcet, Lortab, Norco, Vicodin) are being doled out sparingly, or one could even say miserly.
Anyone suffering from chronic pain can tell you that prescription based analgesics or NSAIDS aren’t anywhere near as effective in reducing severe or chronic pain as opioid-based options are.
Ever since the government decided to declare war on opioids, physicians have been dialing back their prescriptions for opioid-based medications.
It’s put many doctors in a quandary, as they try to help alleviate the pain and suffering from their patients who deal with chronic pain, while trying to monitor those who may be developing an addiction to the medications.
A big problem physicians are dealing with are the new prescribing rules which severely limits their options.
In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued opioid guidelines. Unfortunately, the CDC recommendations on the limits of prescription duration and dosage were turned into laws by many states. As a result, physicians are only able to write a few days’ worth of opioid prescriptions.
Only a few states allow some flexibility for physicians in treating chronic pain patients who need opioids over a longer duration of time.
In Minnesota, Florida, and Kentucky doctors can only prescribe 3-4 days of opioid medications. North Carolina, New Jersey and Arizona are limited to 5 days. Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Louisiana, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine limit prescriptions to 7 days. Nevada has a 14 day limit.
To further exacerbate the situation, many insurance companies are limiting opioid prescriptions or going as far as denying payment for opioid-based drugs.
Pharmacies have also jumped into the act, enacting their own restrictions, while also reducing the amount of opioids they keep in stock. Some physicians say many pharmacies are no longer stocking sufficient quantities of these medications, so even when they do prescribe them, it can take patients a while to get the prescriptions filled – and in the meantime, those patients suffer.
Many, including doctors, are calling the war on opioids “mass hysteria” or a “witch hunt,” in terms of how wide a net is being cast, which is taking away medications where there is legitimate need and less of a threat overdose or abuse.
Some chronic pain sufferers are committing suicide because they have been forced to stop or cut back opioid pain medications under these new rules, because the pain is simply too severe to live with.
