New CDC recommendation: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1er.htm
News articles and commentary:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/860452
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/03/15/cdc-issues-new-guidelines-opiate-prescribing-reduce-abuse-overdoses/81809704/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2016/03/15/cdc-issues-new-guidelines-to-combat-opioid-epidemic/#5928ce7569fa
And yet I am filling out multiple pages of paperwork and paying the state over $100 to get a plant (which has never caused an overdose, which is impossible- or at least near impossible- to get chemically addicted to, etc) to control my pain.
Seems legit.
^move to Oregon --we will host you 
You can even have your own grow room.
I and everyone in my family has taken Percocet or Vicodan at some point. Both DH and I have had morphine after surgery. Those drugs have been around for decades. The problem seems to be with oxycodone.
This is about chronic pain, using 3+ months as a starting measure. It’s partly an encouragement to explore other methods. Notice they state, “…intended for primary care clinicians… who are treating patients with chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting >3 months or past the time of normal tissue healing) in outpatient settings.”
The problem is people visiting multiple physicians and filling multiple prescriptions.
Hence the uptick in heroin . . . 
There was a documentary aired on HBO back in December that was filmed where I grew up. Many of my childhood friends from Cape Cod watched it, as I did and recognized some of the people featured, some of whom were parents of heroin addicts.
One of the things that was so shocking about this documentary was how " normal " these young addicts looked…a couple of the young women reminded me of my own daughters. Some of the people didn’t survive before it aired and succumbed to their addiction…and a common thread they shared was that they began with prescribed opioids.
Heroin has truly changed the landscape of my hometown….the place known for it’s beauty and a destination for vacationers and many famous people.
I am very bothered by how readily some health care providers hand out scripts for meds that are highly addictive.
I can’t find stats separating drug addicts overdose, intentional vs non-intentional overdose, and chronic pain user.
Cocaine is listed but I’m pretty sure you won’t find your family physician writing a script for that.
Don’t know if chronic pain user becomes an addict who is likely to overdose. Can’t find those stats. Probably because the number is so low.
Here is what I do know. The proverbial “war on drugs” has led to severe curtailing of pain medication for patients in need of it. This isn’t the first time that restrictive guidelines have been issued. The circle just gets smaller. The neighborhood drug pusher makes it harder for grandma to get her cancer pain meds. I vote in favor of grandma getting pain meds and if you care go grab the drug pusher. Getting rid of the pain medication and restricting it’s use is not the way to go.
If you have chronic debilitating pain or cancer pain you need pain medication to handle daily life. And while ibuprofen or aspirin may work for a few I think we can safely say that it usually doesn’t cut it in severe cases.
And you want your doctor to be able to prescribe it for you without him/her worrying that the state is going to crack down or that you happen to be patient 51 and he only gets to write 50 pain scripts a month.
Or the insurance company saying “according to our guidelines you should be out of pain or dead by now so no more for you!”
Don’t laugh.
“I’m dying here, Doc”
“Well, then that puts you in another tier…but in the mean time go home and think good thoughts…”
Most people who use pain medication for short periods do NOT become addicts–say hospital surgical pain–when the pain eases-they stop the meds. And it’s needed for healing–the body often heals faster if you can get up and move around–which won’t happen if you’re in a lot of pain.
And chronic unrelieved pain leads to other complications such as severe depression which requires treatment. The constant pain leads to brain chemicals being depleted causing depression which then requires other medication and therapy–it can be a vicious circle.
My mother-in-law suffers from chronic pain. It’s legit (she’s 88 with stenosis and osteoporosis). She rations her pain pills and cuts them in half because she’s afraid she’ll run out. And she doesn’t get the relief that she needs. I really think they could relax a little when dealing with elders. MIL is not going to be peddling this stuff on the street.
VeryHappy–Percocet has oxycodone in it and Vicodin has hydrocodone.
lje62- "-and a common thread they shared was that they began with prescribed opioids "
But were the original prescriptions FOR THEM? Or did they get them from somewhere else? Stolen from the medicine cabinet? A drug dealer who visits doctors for a living? Did they make the distinction?
I know drug addiction is a real and serious problem so it needs to be addressed but I hate to see it done at the expense of legitimate patients who are in need of pain relief (which is just about everybody at some point).
True case which happened to a local newspaper reporter a few years back-
He went to ER about 2 am for a severe case of kidney stones with intense excruciating pain And left waiting for HOURS although it wasn’t busy. He couldn’t figure it out–WHY would they do this? Because drug addicts pull those tactics all the time and the staff just figured he was just wanting drugs.So they let him sit. Maybe he’ll go away.
Moral of the story: could’ve been you.
Clearly, discretion is needed. Last year a young man ODed on heroin in the town next to us. According to the local paper, he had an athletic, injury in HS, and his doctor apparently gave him an open-ended prescription for oxy or one of the other similar meds for several months. He became addicted. For a while he acquired prescription drugs from other people. Eventually he switched to heroin because it was much, much cheaper. I think his death was one of the classic type where either the heroin turned out to have a lot of fentanyl in it, or he had been through rehab, relapsed, and used the amount he would have used before, to which his body was no longer habituated.
The cause, if the info was correct, was the initial over-prescribing. (I find it kind of amazing, because I took Percodan after a particularly difficult wisdom tooth removal back in the late 70s, and the dentist was very careful to just give me enough for a few days, at most. It’s not like this stuff wasn’t known. Believe me, Percodan was INCREDIBLY addictive. I would have stayed on it as long as I could, but luckily I couldn’t.)
Completely agree with @gouf78, @mamaedefamilia, @Consolation.
The pharma industry and doctors helped to create this problem, and now the rug is being pulled out from under people with serious and chronic pain/health issues. That is an over-reaction the other direction. But I don’t blame physicians because the state is cracking down on doctor shopping, narcotics RX, etc. There are liability concerns.
If you have family or friends who have ever dealt with chronic health problems you have more sympathy/empathy.
This is why I dislike pain pills unless I have had surgery or am in an emergency situation. I have seen personally what they do to people. But the answer is NOT to pretend like the problem doesn’t exist. That just pushes people to heroin.
I have taken both Percocet and Vicodin for pain before. I can’t stand the way it makes me feel. DS13 took Vicodin once and he hated it too. He said he would rather deal with the pain than take it. However DH has taken Percocet a couple times over the years… He thinks it’s the best thing for severe pain and says it not only takes away the pain but makes him feel really really good. And he hates taking medication. So I can see how people could get addicted to it. Better to limit it than risk people becoming addicted.
One of my mom’s caregivers stole a whole bottle of oxycodone, something we only figured out later that night when she was in severe pain and the bottle was missing, so not even the elderly are safe recipients, sadly.
Personally, we found the fentanyl patches to be the best for controlling mom’s severe pain, but I understand they can still be abused even after they are used.
On an acute basis after major oral surgery or other kinds of surgery, I’ve never finished an opioid prescription. Usually a day or two and I’ve transitioned to OTC products like Aleve. Yet the quantity dispensed is often a 5 or 7 day amount.
Perhaps that is one of the problems that moves some patients into dependency?
For wisdom teeth removal, I was given a prescription for opioids. I did not fill it, and did not need it (cold packs were enough).
A person I know who had wisdom teeth removed was given such a prescription, filled it, and used it as directed. After stopping, he had some unpleasant symptoms. Later, he figured out that it was withdrawal symptoms from the beginnings of addiction. (No, he did not become an addict.)
Note that the new guidelines are for “outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.”
@arabarab, I had a pinched nerve-like pain issue in 2010 that caused me to take hydrocodone for about two months at least at night, and often during the day, too. (Eventually the problem was solved by one session of accupuncture, after lack of success with targeting stretching and other things.) I still have the last bottle with three or four pills in it. When the pain went away, I just had no desire to take any more. It would appear that some drugs are more addictive than others, and of course the dose is important, too. I would say that I am inclined to have an addictive personality. 
But that wasn’t enough to addict me.
I have issues taking paid meds and with surgery drugs. I was tested for drug metabolism (google Cytochrome P450) and found that my body is slow to metabolize these substrates so it stays in my system longer. (too long actually). I learned that I will prob need adjusted doses or alternative meds if I ever need Warfrin, SSRI’s, heart regulating drugs like Metroprol.
Makes me wonder if some folks are genetically more prone to accidental overdose…
Here is an article about the potential of testing those needing continuous pain relief who may be affected by the way their body metabolizes certain pain meds.
@gouf78 , yes a couple of the people that were the subjects in the documentary were prescribed the drugs after being in motor vehicle accidents and then turned to heroin when drs stopped prescribing the meds
I know of a young man in the area where I live that had the same thing happen to him. He worked for us briefly , but his brother worked for us for years and still keeps in close contact . As far as I know , he is still using and he has stolen items from his family to sell for drug money.
For those who didn’t see the documentary but would like to , here is a link :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjN24lTYTpU
I have old friends who have lost their children to heroin over dose , and other’s who are dealing with it currently , one of whom has custody of her daughter’s two toddler age children . The younger of the two was born addicted