LETTER: Opioid crisis leaving millions of people in pain
My wife is in her 60s and has chronic arthritic pain. It was manageable by taking one hydrocodone tablet, an opioid, in the morning and one in the evening. She would be prescribed 60 tablets a month. She followed the dosage rules and never abused it. She is not a drug addict. She was able to live somewhat pain-free by following this regimen.
Well, that all ended with the opioid crisis.
The current pain management drug is now Tylenol or Ibuprofen, neither of which does much for severe arthritic pain. She is now back to suffering daily with this disease — all because of a crisis the medical establishment created. Doctors are so afraid of prescribing anything opioid-related that patients who actually need the drug are being denied. It’s heartbreaking to see her suffer throughout the day while something that can relieve this pain is being ignored.
A passage from the Hippocratic Oath asks doctors “to treat the ill to the best of one’s ability.” I guess “the best of one’s ability” doesn’t mean much anymore.
