http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/09/o...s-experts-say/

Take care.

I think we would all agree that anyone who is able to function without opiates is well advised to do so. Also, anyone whose condition can be treated, that is to say actually improved, through diet, supplements, exercise, physical therapy, surgery, or any other means ought to pursue those means as far as possible. A very long discussion on this list about the efficacy of marijuana for neuropathic pain holds out hope that greater access to this will provide more pain relief with fewer side effects in the future. I am anxious for this myself.

However, it does not follow from an article like this that no one is appropriately treated with long term opiate therapy. Most of those deaths are from people stealing or buying drugs prescribed for others, or people deliberately misusing their medication. As for accidental overdose by legitimate patients, that occurs with other medication as well, like the tranquilizers overly prescribed to the elderly.

This is an emotional issue and the press, which is just as likely to run another article tomorrow about the specter of undertreated pain, loves to use indefinites like many and some to alarm the public. I would not want anyone who is using their medication as prescribed and deriving the benefit of a more normal, active life from it to feel ashamed or to deny themselves necessary rest and relief.

I couldn't have said it better.

For those of us who have exhausted all other options, the opiates improve quality of life. Just as you said, they look (and focus) on statistics from those who abuse the medications and never really look at the other side in any depth to see what this option gives people who really need it in order to function and have a fulfilling life.

As long as the medication is used responsibly, it is a perfectly viable option. My only regret...is that I suffered needlessly for a long time and didn't choose this option sooner.

The big push these days seems to be rivaling the tabloids for sensationalized articles. Consumer Reports recently ran a lengthy piece about the dangers of opiates and how studies show that exercise works better than pain killers for chronic pain. It is true in many cases and is easy enough to try. I walk every day, or did until I sprained my ankle. I would not be able to walk without my medication.

Articles like this tend to concentrate on back pain and fibromyalgia which do not correspond to test results and are elusive of diagnosis. They never mention progressive diseases like neuropathy, diagnosable through concrete tests such as skin biopsy and EMG, which are difficult to treat by any means and extremely painful. Nor do they mention the many patients who have been maintained on long term opiate therapy without significant escalation or side effects, "success stories" if you will. It was a notably contentless article, repeating much the same information as countless others.

The most disappointing example of this descent into tabloid journalism was a recent issue of The Economist, a magazine I would have thought too dignified to enter the newsstand sleaze competition. Their issue glorifying the "sex trade" as a viable economic arena, ignoring the drugs, kidnapping, disease, and intimidation involved was reprehensible, and obviously designed to sell what is normally a niche magazine with a highly educated readership to a wider public. The letters to the editor the following week were overwhelmingly condemning.