The over-prescription of opioid drugs is resulting in enormous problems nationally and locally. In this blog, I will reference an article written by Dr. Joe Mercola (www.mercola.com), “How Pharma Sabotaged the Drug Enforcement Agency and Caused Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths” along with a few pieces local to Fayetteville and North Carolina overall.
Some highlights from the Mercola article:
*The Manchester, New Hampshire Fire Department responds to more calls for drug overdoses than fires these days. In 2015, 33,091 Americans died from an opioid-related overdose; 15,281 were by prescription.
*In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, DEA Whistleblower Joe Rannazzisi lays the blame for the opioid crisis squarely on the shoulders of the drug industry–especially the drug distributors and Congress.
*Rather than taking proactive steps to curtail the opioid epidemic, industry lobbyists and Congress made it virtually impossible for the DEA to take action against the top offenders and promoters of the epidemic by enacting the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016.
*President Trump has reconfirmed his intention to declare opioid addiction a national emergency, thereby securing much-needed funds and policy initiatives to address the burgeoning epidemic.
*As of February 1, 2018, CVS Pharmacy will limit opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply for certain health conditions. By doing so, CVS becomes the first pharmacy chain to restrict doctors’ ability to overprescribe the drugs.
The article also details a list of non-drug solutions to pain relief. And it’s extremely important to be fully aware of the addictive potential of opioid drugs and to seriously weigh your need for them. There are many other ways to address pain. Clearly, there are times when pain is so severe that a narcotic pain reliever may be warranted. But even in those instances, there are options that allow you to at least reduce the amount you take or the frequency at which you need to take them.
These options include:
Chiropractic – Many studies have confirmed that chiropractic management is much safer and less expensive than allopathic medical treatments, especially for pain. This includes headaches, spinal pain, and extremity pain (shoulders, knees, hips, feet, TMJ etc).
Acupuncture – Research has discovered the positive effect of acupuncture in the treatment of back, neck and shoulder pain, osteoarthritis, and headaches.
Physical Therapy – Studies have shown it to be as good as surgery for painful conditions such as torn cartilage and arthritis.
Supplements – Astaxanthin, ginger, curcumin, boswellia, bromelain, evening primrose oil, black currant oil, and borage oil and cayenne cream are effective in reducing inflammation.
So how did we arrive the level of national crisis created by opioid addiction and overdose deaths?
An editorial appearing in The Asheville Citizen states Buncombe County has filed a federal lawsuit naming 23 firms, including five of the largest manufacturers of prescription opioids, the three largest wholesale drug distributors in the U.S., and their related companies. No specific amount of damages is asked. The lawsuit claims the distributors and manufacturers engaged in “false, deceptive and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioid.” Opioids have important legitimate uses as pain-killers, but they are being misused widely with catastrophic results. Opioids were responsible for 33,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2015 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016 the number rose to 64,000. Buncombe County’s death toll in 2016 was 42. In 2017 there were 200 opioid overdoses in the first eight months. That is more than twice the number reported for the same period in 2016.
Why sue the manufacturers and distributors of opioids?
The industry is producing far more than possibly be used legally. We must hold responsible those physicians who prescribe too freely, pharmacists who fill questionable prescriptions, and those manufacturers who turn out far too many pills than are needed for legitimate pain control.
The Fayetteville Observer article of November 19, 2017 entitled “Oxycontin Maker Approaches States with Settlement Deal” states Purdue Pharma is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic. Opioid makers are accused of creating a public-health crisis through their marketing of the painkillers. More than a dozen states and 100 counties and cities already sued Purdue, and other opioid makers and drug distributors. A group of 41 state attorneys is also investigating how companies like Purdue and other opioid makers marketed and sold prescription opioids.
An editorial in The Fayetteville Observer entitled “Lawsuits May Aid Addiction Battle,” states New Hanover County has sued opioid manufacturers and distributors, attempting to recover some of the exorbitant costs that the opioid epidemic has imposed. According to one study, the county has what may be the worst opioid addiction problem in the country. The suit filed in U.S. District Court, asks that drug companies pay for past and future costs of dealing with the epidemic. The county wants the manufacturers and distributors to create an “Abatement Fund” to cover medical care, addiction treatment, law enforcement, and caring for children often left homeless by addicted parents. The suit states, “The distributors and manufacturers intentionally and/or unlawfully breached their legal duties under federal and state law to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse and report suspicious orders of prescriptions opiates.” The suit continues that drug makers, “aggressively pushed highly addictive opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction.” Extensive marketing campaigns that downplayed the serious dangers of opioids have been widely documented in the past few years. We are seeing that stronger law enforcement is not the answer after a person becomes addicted. Treatment is absolutely necessary and must be expanded.
Accountability must be assigned to the drug manufacturers and distributors. The production of opioids far exceeds the needs for legitimate pain management. Reduce the supply of the drugs from the drug manufacturers and establish limits on the prescription of opioids by medical practitioners will help to prevent new incidents of addiction.
What are your thoughts? What do you think needs to be done to help in this crisis?
Interference with this two-way communication system results in dysfunction. The brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) control every function of the body in both healing and regulation. Interference caused by subluxations in the central nervous system will affect healing and regulation. Chiropractic care optimizes healing and regulation by reducing the interference caused by subluxations. And regular chiropractic care minimizes reliance upon symptoms to seek care. This is the wellness concept. Choices are made that contribute to health. People choose to exercise, follow a nutritional protocol, receive regular chiropractic adjustments, and avoid toxins such as alcohol or tobacco, because these choices improve health.
During the first adjustment, I have seen a difference of as much as 2 inches. During the initial care plan, I look for that difference in length to decrease. Over time that difference will reduce to 1/2 inch or less. This shows a decrease in the tension of the body and an improvement in balance and functions of the body. The tension occurs in the central nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. This tension is the result of misalignments in the spinal column and pelvis. When the patient’s body begins to hold an adjustment I can decrease the frequency of the visits. I will reduce to 1 adjustment/week and monitor their response.
Corrective care after pain relief allows the joints and their supporting tissues to strengthen and stabilize. This is particularly helpful in establishing balance and symmetry in the spine. Corrective care reduces the tilts and rotations resulting from subluxations (vertebra that are out of position or not moving properly). Maintenance care will preserve the progress made avoiding a relapse. Preventative care through periodic check-ups identifies new problems before they can become an issue. This will minimize flare ups.
Heat Stroke is a medical emergency. The temperature regulating mechanism of the body fails and the internal temperature rises above 105 degrees F. The person no longer perspires as their temperature continues to rise. Without emergency treatment, they will lapse into a coma and die. Heat stroke begins as heat exhaustion showing the same symptoms. The progression to heat stroke occurs as perspiration stops and body temperature continues to rise. Anyone suffering heat exhaustion can develop heat stroke if untreated.
Dr. Allan has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of the Pacific. He has performed research on the chemistry of minerals, biochemistry and nutrition at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lutz has studied low-carbohydrate nutrition on thousands of patients in his clinical practice. His first book was written and published in Germany in 1967. The German title Leben Ohne Brot, translates into Life Without Bread. The nutritional guidelines allow bread as one of the sources of carbohydrate. The primary constraint is to limit carbohydrate intake to a maximum of 72 grams/day. Life Without Bread, published in 2000 includes over 40 years of Dr. Lutz’ clinical experience with low carbohydrate nutrition and Dr. Allan’s research into the medical and biochemical relevance of low carbohydrate nutrition. The book clearly defines for the reader the difference between fact, theory, and opinion. Observations of the benefit of low carbohydrate nutrition are explored in chapter 2 of the book. Herodotus records a meeting in the 5th century B.C. between an Ethiopian king and Persian king. The Persians ate bread. The Ethiopians ate mostly boiled meat and drank milk. The Persians lived into their 80’s, the Ethiopians into their 120’s. There were references in the 1700’s and 1800’s to abstaining from starch and sugar as a means of reducing body weight. In the 1920’s and 1930’s Weston A. Price and his wife, Florence, traveled around the world to study primitive populations. Dr. Price, a dentist, was convinced that changing from what he termed “primitive foods”, foods to which humans had adapted to over thousands of years–to modern processed foods was a key to degenerative diseases of modern civilization.
However, they support the theory that saturated fat is unhealthy in large amounts. The truth is the exact opposite. Saturated animal fat and protein are the cure for much of the degenerative diseases rampant in our society. I remember being in a Physiology class in 1997. The professor made the statement that saturated fat was the preferred energy source for cardiac muscle. He was quoting from our text Guyton, Textbook of Medical Physiology. This contradicted the accepted theory that fat, and particularly saturated fat, was bad for the human heart. How could the heart muscle prefer saturated fat as the energy source without resulting in damage or disease? A physiology textbook presents facts not opinions. I knew I had to reexamine the basis of low-fat nutrition being healthy. This also included a reexamination of evidence linking cholesterol with heart disease. I found that the major studies were flawed. They were based upon a bias toward fat and cholesterol. The studies were conducted to support the low-fat theory not to discover the truth. Life Without Bread devotes chapter 6 to examining and evaluating the original studies designed to prove that animal fats in the diet are a promoting factor for heart disease.
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