#Opioid alternatives

[thedisablednaturalist]

Hey, popping in for education if you’re willing: saw your post about supporting all different types of meds and med relationships disabled people might have/supporting all, and was surprised by meds that could hurt your body but be worth it overall. Are you willing to give an example or two—I wanna be clear this isn’t a fight, I just didn’t know that could happen

Right off the bat I am taking two medications that help me so much but can cause harm over time if not properly monitored (and have a risk of harming me no matter what)

Tramadol and Pantoprazole Sodium dr

tramadol is an opioid, which is pretty obvious, it can cause liver damage and addiction. Tramadol is one of the more "safer" opioids, but it still carries that risk. However I still take it because nothing else has helped my back pain other than my cervical injections (which can cause spinal degradation over time).

The pantoprazole is like a stronger Omeprazole that you can get over the counter. I have a halatial hernia in my esophagus that causes chronic acid reflux which is very painful and can lead to the hernia getting bigger. I used to have to carry around tums with me everywhere and constantly be eating them. I would wake up periodically with my throat full of acid. I had to literally sleep sitting up. Now when I take my pantoprazole regularly I rarely ever have to eat a tums unless its for normal heartburn reasons. Unfortunately, long term use of pantoprazole can cause bones to weaken, leading to a higher risk of bone fractures.

These are just two examples off the top of my head. I choose to take these to improve my quality of life now, even if it leads to problems later on. I want to enjoy life while I can. That is my choice and doctor's should respect that. That's why informed consent is so important. Give people the facts and let them make their own decisions. Don't try to force a medication that's helping them away from them. That just leads to medical distrust, especially if you don't have any alternatives to replace it with.

There's also medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancers, or having to have organs or limbs removed due to disease or injury. These may hurt you in the short term, but overall they can also be the thing that saves your life, if not improve your quality of life as well. Even vaccines make you feel like crap for a couple of days but they are still good for you overall. Surgical procedures can have horrible recovery times and symptoms, but are also usually positive overall.

Choosing to undergo a medical procedure or intervention can be a complicated and difficult choice, and people, including doctors, need to respect that.

[floridakilo]

how go script? how close to becoming the fem cormac mccarthy of 21st century?

hopefully i will have an excerpt ready for junk vol iii

[octahyde]

obviously he’s on coke 24/7 he’s Sherlock Holmes but the time bomb dance of deduction was one of his most coked out ones. He did a quickie in the wax museum before rushing to drebbers hideout and it fucking shows.

[shmingleping]

So I'm supposed to be sober. Or at least really making an attempt. I can't get high off opiates anymore - though I haven't felt high from any for 6mnths anyways, I was just not sick. But now I feel like I'm just getting myself into something else that I love but shouldn't. I don't and never really have liked any sort of stimulants like meth coke and whatnot. But I kinda wish someone told me way earlier in my addiction that shooting coke is fucking unreal. Why did i have to experience this now? Worst. Timing. Ever. But so on brand for me. Hate it

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

When Painkillers Cause More Pain Than Relief: Lessons from the Gosport Tragedy

How Misused Opioids Dull Minds, Shorten Lives, and Rob Patients of Dignity I’ve seen the delicate balance of pain management firsthand throughout my career. It’s no easy task. But when I read the findings from the Gosport War Memorial scandal, my heart sank and I started to share my thoughts and feelings concisely.  This wasn’t about relieving pain — it was about the consequences of misuse,…

[paintreatmentdirectory]

AdvertD a new genetic test that assesses opioid addiction risk. Salvation or sham?

[strinak]

oklahoma is fucking with the state version of medicaid (soonercare) and making it a managed care system (??) and it's stressing me out bc only one of the three choices has "we cover this but not this" brochure and re: the brochure they don't cover shit? but also all three are "contracted to provide the same level of care"

[theforesteldritch]

I’m getting my wisdom teeth out sometimes in the next few months and I’m not going under general anaesthesia for it because last time I had surgery it took more than twice the expected time for the anaesthesia drugs to work their way out of my system enough to be discharged (it was supposed to be like 2 hours and ended up being almost 6) and also no opioids for the pain because I had hydromorphone after my last surgery and it made me breath super slow and my oxygen levels drop a bunch and they gave me the nose oxygen thingies

[legalherbalshop]

What is #Tianeptine and Which Tianeptine Brands are the Best!

Tianeptine is quickly becoming one of the most popular health supplements today, thanks to its powerful mood-enhancing effects. But with so many different tianeptine products available online, it can be challenging to know which ones are legitimate and which aren’t.  To help make your choice easier, we’ve compiled a list of the best tianeptine products for sale online. In this article, you’ll…

[yodasec-expose-news]

Texas Lawmakers Vote To Allow Medical Marijuana As Opioid Alternative While Replacing THC Limit - Marijuana Moment

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/texas-lawmakers-vote-to-allow-medical-marijuana-as-opioid-alternative-while-increasing-thc-limit/

[bethanythebogwitch]

I listened to reading of some askreddit threads (don't judge me, it's a guilty pleasure) about doctors and healthcare and I notices some major division on topics when the answers were from the doctor's POV and patients' POV. I'm of course not qualified to draw conclusions from this, nor is Reddit a good place to get data, but here are some recurring points I found where the doctor and patient position appeared to be different.

Doctor POV: we can always tell when people are faking pain for opioids. It's extremely obvious.

Patient POV: multiple doctors accused me of drug seeking when I was actually in agony from stones, appendicitis, endometriosis, a tumor, etc.

Doctor POV: people who try to diagnose themselves are really annoying and counter productive.

Patient POV: I only figured out what was wrong with me by searching the internet after multiple doctors dismissed or failed to diagnose me. Alternatively: I went in with a good idea of what was wrong based on past experiences/family history/ etc and the doctors didn't take me seriously. Some would even refuse to do tests to check if the self-diagnosis was correct.

Doctor POV: the phrase "I know my body" is usually used by people who don't know what they're talking about. We are the ones who know medicine so we can tell if you're sick or not.

Patient POV: I knew something was wrong with me because I know my body and know when something isn't normal. The doctors wouldn't take me seriously and told me nothing was wrong after only doing basic tests.

Again, Reddit is not a good place to get data as the nature of the website encourages people posting more sensational stories and exaggerating or fabricating stories to get upvotes. In addition, most of these stories are likely far from the average doctor and patient experience. However, it appears that there may (emphasis, may) be a disconnect between doctors and patients that involves doctors not taking patients seriously and thinking they know better than patients about their own bodies. It seems like defaulting to thinking patients exaggerate pain to seek drugs and that patients don't have any way of understanding their own health is really detrimental.

Do not take this post as me saying you shouldn't go to the doctor. If you need medical help, go to the doctor. The medical system isn't perfect, but it's the best we have. And go to an actual doctor, not a naturopath, homeopath, or other quack.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A study conducted by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control has found that prescribing medical-grade opioids dramatically reduced the rates of deaths and overdoses for drug users living in B.C. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, is described as "the first known instance of a North American province or state providing clinical guidance to physicians and nurse practitioners for prescribing pharmaceutical alternatives to patients at risk of death from the toxic drug supply." Researchers looked at anonymized health-care data of 5,882 people between March 2020 and August 2021, all of whom had opioid or stimulant use disorder. Those individuals filled a prescription under the B.C. Risk Mitigation Guide — clinical guidance developed in March 2020 to allow for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to reduce deaths through harm reduction.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[thejewishlink]

Dr. Mindy Boxer - Acupuncture as an Alternative to Opioids

Dr. Mindy Boxer – Acupuncture as an Alternative to Opioids

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, almost 50,000 people die every year from opioid overdoses, more than 10 million misuse opioids in a given year, and opioids are a factor in 72% of overdose deaths. You hear about the opioid crisis on the nightly news frequently but what can be done to help people deal with chronic pain (the reason they are likely taking the opioids in…

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - September 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. A beam of hope for North America’s most endangered sparrow

“Dozens of conservationists, gathered some distance away to avoid spooking the skittish sparrows, celebrated the [release of the 1000th captive-raised sparrow] in an unprecedented recovery program that in only a few years has doubled the bird’s wild population, from a mere 80 five years ago to some 200 today. […] “What we have achieved is the best case scenario.””

2. U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives

“"In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent," said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina. […] According to Donaldson, many people using fentanyl now carry naloxone, a medication that reverses most opioid overdoses. He said his friends also use street drugs with others nearby, ready to offer aid and support when overdoses occur.”

3. Propagated corals reveal increased resistance to bleaching across the Caribbean during the fatal heat wave of 2023

“”[… Y]oung corals bred for restoration are a lot more resistant to bleaching under extreme levels of heat stress than the prevailing corals on the reef." [… Unlike with the previous propagation strategy, fragmentation, e]very time a population reproduces, new offspring receive newly mixed sets of genes through recombination, making them different from their parent colonies and thus enabling adaptation.”

4. Habitat Management Helps At-Risk Butterflies

“For a number of at-risk butterflies in the United States, habitat management can play an important role in keeping them from going extinct. [… “In] places where people are actively engaged with ways to manage the habitat, the butterflies are doing the best,” said Cheryl Schultz, a professor of conservation biology at Washington State University[���.]”

5. Study: Protecting the ocean helps fight malnutrition

“[The study] found that fish catches in coral reefs could increase by up to 20 percent by expanding sustainable-use marine protected areas — that is, areas where some fishing is allowed with restrictions[, … and] that sustainable-use marine protected areas have on average 15 percent more fish biomass than non-protected areas. […] “Allowing regulated fishing in marine protected areas can support healthy fish populations, while also having a positive impact on the quality of life of surrounding communities.””

6. [FWS] Advances Effort to Create Urban Conservation Footprint in Tucson

““We want to continue to work together to create an urban footprint to improve access to nature, conserve habitats, and improve air and water quality.” […] The area provides habitat for several federally listed species, including southwestern willow flycatcher, western yellow-billed cuckoo, and Mexican garter snake. If protected, the area will also help connect critical habitat for jaguar and Chiracahua leopard frog.”

7. ‘Exciting’ solar breakthrough means energy can be kept in sustainable batteries that don’t overheat

“The technology is based on a specially designed molecule of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen that changes shape when it comes into contact with sunlight. These are common elements - providing an alternative to other technologies relying on scarce materials like lithium. […] A unique feature of the system is that the molecules also provide cooling in the photovoltaic cell[, which can store solar energy “for up to 18 years.”]”

8. Sea turtles make big comeback on sandy beaches at 2 British military bases in Cyprus

“[… The] number of nests surpass[ed] last year’s record count by nearly 25%, environmentalists said Tuesday. […] “The steep increase in turtle nests has been the result of a consistent, systematic ‘hands-off’ approach, together with enforcement efforts to minimize illegal, damaging activities on nesting beaches[….” D]aily patrols by volunteers ensure that aluminum cages set atop the nests remain in place to protect the turtles from predators like foxes and dogs.”

9. First ever photograph of rare bird species New Britain Goshawk

“The last documented scientific record of the bird is from 1969[….] Working closely with [“the Indigenous Mengen and Mamusi peoples”], WWF hopes to support local stewardship to safeguard the future of these incredible biodiversity hotspots through community-led conservation.”

10. Hospitals begin offering breakthrough radiation therapy for metastatic cancer tumors

“[First,] a patient is injected with a radioactive glucose (or sugar) tracer. The machine picks up the tracer in real time and in bright colors, [… then] reads a signal from the cancer cells breaking down the tracer. [… “The] machine is automatically and autonomously reacting and responding to those signals by shooting radiation back to their source[….]””

September 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)