Opioids now kill more people than breast cancer

[Cyber Liberty]

@truth_seeker

That link is material from Memorial Hermann Hospital and they copied it from the CDC.  Each page has CDC on it.  The stats presented were not done by the Texas Government - was done by CDC.

Dittos to the  AZ one he posted.

[Victoria33]

Very informative presentation from Texas. (TBR has over 2,000 members and if any of this stuff on opioids saves or helps a single soul, it is worth it, ergo NOT worthless)None of what I have been posting is aimed towards elderly pain-suffering people.

@truth_seeker
@Cyber Liberty

Truth seeker, none of what you have posted for any state means anything, because the rule for the nation changes everywhere in the country next Tuesday, when the 7 day allowance and Medicare not paying for any pain medicine becomes set.  It takes effect January 1, 2019.  No doctor who wants to keep his license is going to prescribe any pain medication to anyone in case the feds check on him.  If he prescribes none, he's safe and he's not going to buck the rule and prescribe 7 day pills over and over for a single person.  No doctor is going to go to the mat to insist one person has severe chronic pain and needs more than 7 days of pills.

I will  try what roamer_1 suggested and have already ordered those items to see if they work for me.
For you to suggest the government will be nice to chronic pain sufferers and give them all the pills they need, is ridiculous and I don't think you know what chronic pain is or you would not be blessing the government doing this.

Wait until prescriptions dry up next year.  Trump will say he "won" the drug war because few prescriptions are being written.  I guarantee the suicide rate of older people will go up.  If I can't figure out a way to stop the pain, I may be one of them and I'm not kidding.

[truth_seeker]

https://www.circa.com/story/2018/03/28/nation/medicare-and-medicaid-plan-to-restrict-opioid-prescriptions-but-doctors-advocate-for-chronic-pain-patients

March 28, 2018 07:38 AM EDT

"The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced plans to restrict opioid prescriptions to a maximum dose equal to 90 milligrams of morphine a day. For a popular opioid like hydrocodone, that would be about nine pills."

snip

"“The CDC guideline does make note that if somebody is already taking opioids that those rules don’t really apply because they already are taking opiates, and therefore they are already opiate dependent, and you can’t just cut them off if you wouldn’t have given them opiates in the first place,” Dr. Ballantyne said."

"She said the CDC recommendations are meant for patients just starting to take opioids, not patients who have already been prescribed high doses of the pain killer."
 
“If we just tried to reduce everyone who is already on high doses of opiates to the dose level that the CDC is recommending, you would have an awful lot of people who are either suffering a lot or going to the street to get heroin, neither of which is a very good result," Dr. Ballantyne said."

[truth_seeker]

@truth_seeker

That link is material from Memorial Hermann Hospital and they copied it from the CDC.  Each page has CDC on it.  The stats presented were not done by the Texas Government - was done by CDC.

What difference does it make?  I found the presentation to be informative, and well done.

Did you identify factual errors, by the way?

[GtHawk]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/02/prostate-cancer-now-kills-more-people-than-breast-cancer-uk-figures-reveal

Testicular Cancer Statistics and Risk Factors — Testicular Cancer ...
https://www.testicularcancerawarenessfoundation.org/statistics-risk-factors/
In this age group, more men will die of testicular cancer than women of breast cancer

OH MY GOD! Prostate cancer and Testicular cancer each kill more people than breast cancer! Quick someone do something to disrupt the health and well being of others............because it's an epidemic!!!! (See I can do it too) Hey where's the concern?

Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths, that's almost three times the deaths due to breast cancer! In 2015, 10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Quick put strict limitations on alcohol purchases.

While I know I'm over the top on my rhetoric, well a little maybe, I am not disputing there is a problem, what I am disputing is the panic over PRESCRIPTION OPIOIDS,  we have serious areas and causes of mortality just as serious or worse than opioids and when it comes to the government, especially when an agencies budget is dependent on crises I'm not so sure that I buy that doctor prescribed pain meds are the biggest cause. I am willing to bet all overdoses and deaths related to opioids are recorded as prescription opioid deaths. Until someone proves otherwise I don't buy it, I believe the majority are from ilicit street drugs and we all know the history of just how effective  the war on drugs has been.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I don't talk to Mom's doctor.  I don't get between her and her Doctor.

I took the time to read all that, and, like any Lamar Alexander work product, it's crap that doesn't address the "problem," but instead continues to place burdens on patients, Doctors and manufacturers.  It doesn't address chronic pain sufferers, it still assumes everybody on Opioids are on them short term.

Why isn't getting government the eff out of the Doctor-Patient relationship the go-to solution?  Do you understand that dispensing painkillers in one-week quantities is unacceptable, no matter how you wrap the package?   

This may all be true @Cyber Liberty ---- but why not let your opinions be heard by groups that just may be able to change the proposal?  Why not talk to your mom about it, doctors, the dreadful AARP?  If what's being posted about suicide rates increasing and people living in agony are true ....  why not use your words mobilize an opposition to the proposal?  You may find others trying to do the same.

[Victoria33]

@truth_seeker 

The link you posted is "opinion", not the law.  The very end of the article says, "The policy is set to be finalized in early April, and Dr. Manhapra said if the changes he is advocating for are not made, he will continue to speak out against the policies."

He can speak out all he wants, but the law to be set next Tuesday, states Medicare will not longer pay for the meds, and will restrict the med to 7 days.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@truth_seeker
@Cyber Liberty

Truth seeker, none of what you have posted for any state means anything, because the rule for the nation changes everywhere in the country next Tuesday, when the 7 day allowance and Medicare not paying for any pain medicine becomes set.  It takes effect January 1, 2019.  ....

Technical corrections to policy happen all the time.

I would think this is one issue that is worth the fight @Victoria33

[Victoria33]

Technical corrections to policy happen all the time.
I would think this is one issue that is worth the fight @Victoria33

@Right_in_Virginia

Not paying for the med and restricting to 7 days is not technical; it is the backbone of the rule - the reason for the rule.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Right_in_Virginia

Not paying for the med and restricting to 7 days is not technical; it is the backbone of the rule - the reason for the rule.

I'm not sure what your point is @Victoria33 ... I'm just trying to keep hope alive --- that no matter what happens in this moment, it doesn't have to remain forever. 

Changes have and do occur.  But it takes mobilizing a vocal group, members of a voting bloc for these changes to happen.

I pinged you earlier to this thread ... http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,310289.0.html   as a possible option to discuss with your doctor.  Is he willing to help fight this?  AARP is another option in this fight. 

I do wish you the best outcome and if there's some effort I can help with, let me know and I will.

[Cyber Liberty]

This may all be true @Cyber Liberty ---- but why not let your opinions be heard by groups that just may be able to change the proposal?  Why not talk to your mom about it, doctors, the dreadful AARP?  If what's being posted about suicide rates increasing and people living in agony are true ....  why not use your words mobilize an opposition to the proposal?  You may find others trying to do the same.

I am not a member of the media, I am just a poster on a forum.  The most I can do is talk to my Congresscritter and Senators, which I have done.  First time I did any of that.  Fortunately, they all haaaate Trump, and will do anything to throw sand in his gears. :nometalk:  But one is an 87-year-old too sick to be in DeeCee, dying from brain cancer.  The one in the bunch who would be sympathetic.