According to the Centers for Disease Control, painkiller abuse has reached epidemic proportions. More people than ever before are dying of painkiller overdoses. Each year at this point there are over 15,000 Americans who have a fatal overdose. The CDC has reported that approximately 5% of those in America over the age of 12 have admitted to the nonmedical use of narcotic medications as of 2010. Pain management doctors in Arizona deal with the responsibility of prescribing appropriately every day.
What typically occurs is that a substantial amount of opiate medications are actually prescribed for appropriate medical necessity reasons, but then these narcotics find their way into the wrong hands. It is an extremely significant problem and as one can see too often a fatal outcome.
Narcotics that are commonly abused in America include:
- Hydrocodone-commonly known as Vicodin, Lortab and other names. Hydrocodone is actually the most commonly prescribed medication in the world.
- Oxycodone-this is the generic name for OxyContin and it is also known by Oxifast and Percodone.
- Additional ones include morphine, codeine, and fentanyl.
All of these narcotic medications are prescribed commonly in order to treat either acute or chronic pain at Arizona pain clinics. When handled appropriately, drug abuse or addiction problems did not become apparent. This means that the Arizona pain doctors prescribe them appropriately and the patient is actually using the medication as prescribed and not diverting.
Due to the fact that pain is so much of a subjective issue, deciding whether or not addiction and abuse are present can be extremely difficult and falls into a gray area. The crux of the problem is that pain doctors have to decide whether the opiates medications have simply failed to adequately controlling individuals pain, or the patient is just lying so they can get more medications to divert.
The signs of narcotic abuse and addiction include the following:
- Patient says they lost their prescription
- The person needs to refill the prescription early
- Multiple doctors are being used as doctor shopping to get extra narcotic medication-is a very strong sign of addiction and abuse.
- When patients ask for an opiate by name, that is often a red flag. They will tell the doctor that only one specific medication works and a specific dose and that the others make them throw up or are not tolerated, that is truly a sign of addiction use.
- When a patient borrows narcotic medication from friends or other family members, that is a sign as well.
- When a person go to the emergency room in between regular doctor visits to get more medication that is also a warning sign.
Patients who have legitimate chronic pain issues may actually need long-term narcotic medications function to control their pain. It might be the only treatment that allows that person to get out of bed and go to work every day and not live a life of depression and disability.
When an individual is using pain medication inappropriately, they continue to ask for it and fake symptoms at the doctor’s office when in actuality they do not have true significant pain to substantiate the continued prescriptions.
The subjective nature of pain is the main issue at stake. There are some questionnaires that can be given to patients to try and delineate between legitimate and faking patients, such as the McGill pain questionnaire. The problem is that even these can be manipulated as well. Pain doctors often use screening methods such as urine drug testing or of saliva drug screening, along with pain management agreements and prescription monitoring systems in order to regulate patient compliance.
These may work very well for figuring out who is trying to circumvent the system. If you live in Arizona and need effective and expert pain management, Arizona Pain Specialists can help you. They have several pain clinics in Arizona around the valley, take most major medical insurances and AHCCCS plans along with self-pay options.
For instance, they accept Mercy Care and APIPA along with Worker’s Compensation and Personal Injury liens. Options for treatment include medication management along with interventional treatments, physical rehabilitation, Phoenix chiropractor treatment, spinal decompression therapy, acupuncture and more.
Call 602-507-6550 today for scheduling and to get your life back!
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