Without Prejudice. The posts in this blog are only my opinion, and should not replace or be considered that of a qualified physician. Brand names that are commented on are not meant to disrespect of be defamatory in any sense. The posts in this blog are only based on my personal experience under a doctor monitored and regulated use of opiates as an effective treatment for chronic pain.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Bad Rep O

If you take a look on the left, you'll see a number of articles form Google News. Chances are that a few of them are about the sale and/or tabuse of opiates.

A friend of mine who has three ruptured discs said to me that he felt opiates, especially Oxycontin has received such negative press that a stigma is now attached to it and anyone that uses it.

Like most things newsworthy, the public does not want to hear about nice and happy things. They like staraing at accidents as they drive by hoping to see a body in a stretcher; they want to see guns and missles in the east; they want to hear about the actor that overdosed. Sure we like the good will story once in a while, but not at the frequency that we like to hear about the bad.

So it is not surprising that we hear very little about how oxycontin has helped thousands, maybe tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of people who suffer from chronic pain, return to and once again enjoy a quality of life.

It is important to balance a socially conscious awareness of the abuse opiates with the benefits of a doctor monitored and regulated treamenet program.

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