Is society too dependent on pain killers? Should people be able to take certain pain medicines if they feel they need to? Should doctors consider more whenever they perscribe a pain medicine? Keep in mind how addictive they can be and how some abuse pain killers to get high, skinny, etc. How do pain killers affect their lives and the rest of society? What can be done to prevent these problems?
Thank you for you time and responses!
Jamie
13 comments:
I think society is way too dependent on pain killers. I don't think they should be able to take pain medicine if they feel like it thats when they become dependent on them when they think they need them when they really don't. I defintiatly think doctors should consider more when they prescribe anything to patients. I think if a patient comes in regularly to get pain meds the doctor should maybe consider if the patient is just there to get pain meds and doesn't actually need them. Pain medicines make a person moody, skinny, and could affect certain organs, and are very dangerous just because the are legal doesn't mean they can't hurt you.
Pain killers are important medications and can mean the difference between someone being unable to function and being able to live a somewhat normal life. Doctors should perscribe them carefully and with more follow up than other meds due to their addictive potential. A huge problem right now, that is much worse than doctors overperscribing, is the availability of pain killers over the internet with no perscription at all required! This makes it possible for addicts to continue to abuse their drug of choice and even possibly die with no monitoring at all by a medical proffesional.
I think pain killers are important, but I think they are too easily accessed. It just takes one person who is recovering from a surgery to go to his doctor and say the pain meds were lost, or were taken and the patient is in need of more. That person could turn around and sell those meds on the street to make a quick buck. I am not saying all people on pain meds are going to do this, but let's face it there are some shady people out there today. I think docotrs should be able to realized when a patient is in pain, and when the patient is getting addicted or using them for other purposes.
~!~cassandra griffith~!~
I think society is way too dependent on pain killers. I don't feel it should be up to the person. Of course, people should, and are able to, regulate how much over the counter pain medication they take. I don't think that's the type of pain medication you are talking about. I think that sometimes it's way too easy for a doctor to write a script and get the person out of the office so they can move on to the next person. I also know that you don't have to go to the doctor to get these drugs. If you have the money, you can buy just about anything. If a person is addicted to a drug, they'll do just about anything to get it. I don't know what the answer is to prevent pain killer abuse. One solution on the legal way of getting them is for the doctor to take more time and get to know their patient
I think there are people who become too dependent on pain killers, but I wouldn't say that's the norm. As for the doctors being more cautious about prescribing pain killers, it's a good idea, but how exactly should they be able to tell what a patient's intentions are? People who actually need pain medication shouldn't be punished because some people abuse it. Some people don't obey the speed limit, but does that mean no one should be allowed to drive? For cases where a patient becomes addicted to the medication and continues using it after they need it, I think more help should be provided by the health care provider. Doctors should anticipate the effects addictive pain killers will have on patients and maybe schedule therapy or something before a the medication is even started. After that, it's up to the patient.
I think society is way too dependent on pain killers. No, people should not take pain medications if they are not perscribed to it. Yes, doctors should keep an open mind about who they give it too, and realize what effect it has on them.
Katherine Schluter
We definitely need to cut back on pain killers; just look at what happened to Heath Ledger. If you are taking three or more different medications, talk to your doctor about health risks of overdose. No matter how healthy of a lifestyle you may live, anybody could die of accidental drug overdose.
The use of pain killers today is almost what one might call a "nessesary evil". This is because there is a clear harm and wrong that they are used for, but on the other hand, they are for some the only means of life.
For many Americans, pain killers dull physical pain that will never go away or help negate the painfull effects of a terminal desease. And for these individuals if thier medicines were taken from them, then it would be sentencing them to a life of constant, preventable, suffering.
On the other hand, pain killers are as addictive and sought after as any illegal drug. There is no difference between pain killers and cocaine when the wrong people want it. There is little stopping a child from stealing medications and becoming addicted, or selling left over pain killers, enabling others to fall under addiction.
Unfortunately there is no way to permenitly put an end to this problem because the problem is the the pain killers, it is the intentions of the people who have them. Sure there many be people who accidently become addicted, but most make a choice not to move on to a world where they have to deal with there pain, not after being able to have a pill do the work for them.
-Matt
I think we need pain killers.
In some cases pain killer can become to addictive and should be better regulated by doctor and distributed with more caution.As far as wieght loss it should be prescribed only to those that have general health problems like obesity. To prevent the problem Doctors should take a more agressive step in slowly decrease the doses to there patients, instead of cold turkey.
I believe that if people have conditions which requires them to take pain killers so they can function on an everyday basis, bring on the drugs. I personally have a severe bone disease which warrants me to pop those pills or else i couldn't post this comment. Doctors should do a complete screening of a person's medical history to find out if in fact the patient actually needs the medicine before prescribing heavy pain killers. if pain killers were taken away, how would you suggest a person with severe arthritis move around on a daily basis?
Pain killers is a " touchy" subject for me. My mother has been ill for years and doctors weren't sure what was causing her so much pain in her joints. It was wasnt arthritis so they were stuck. One doctor came a long and had recently learned about the disease Fibromyalgia, the sad part is that not every doctor knew about it and there hadn't been a medication for it so they put my mom on vicodin. Its been years and I would have to say that she is addicted but honestly wouldnt be able to live without it even though they now have a medication for it called Lyrica. I think that society is dependent but, whose to say they dont really need it. The problem I see with pain killers is that as easy as it is to get them, it should be just as easy to get rehab care to slowly get off of them... but it's not! Another problem I have is that people who have been sick for a long time tend to become depressed about there well-being and this is when they abuse the pain killers and then they then find themselves in my mothers current state ( as of 7/28) unable to walk, talk, and being fed through an iv. My motto as far as street drugs and perscription drugs is that "your mind has to be strong enough otherwise, you'll never recover" then you'll end up like my dad...dead!
I would also like to add one more thing... I think the Pharmacists in champaign- Urbana should comminicate and make it so that a person can only fill a perscription for pain killers at one pharmacy. I know people addcted to the point where they have four doctors giving them perscriptions for the same pain medication and then they go to Meijer, Walmart, Sams Club, and Walgreens to fill them. SAD, BUT TRUE!
I think that pain killers should, without question, be provided to people after surgery or accidents because that can be soo painful. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who try to manipulate doctors into prescribing them pain killers to sell or abuse. My mom is a doctor, and she has relayed to me countless bullshit stories from people who "drop all of their pills down the sink" or "lose the whole bottle" and need full refills. Good natured doctors who care about their practice put a lot of effort into seeing through these lies. It is a hard thing to do, because you can't physically tell whether or not someone is feeling pain, and to deny a hurting patient the medicine they need wouldn't be a good thing either. Doctors who just worry about the money and will prescribe anything if they get a few bucks out of it, however, shouldn't even be doctors. At the very least they would need to put more care into prescribing them, and keep updated on the needs of their patient. You can't blame some people addicted to pain killers because they often start out really needing them, then become addicted and convince themselves that it is okay because the doctor told them to. I think that if someone is on pain killers for a long time, their doctor should do frequent evaluations to make sure they still need them and aren't abusing them.
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