Please take the time to read my article. Thanks.

@GuyKeith

What article are you talking about?

@LiterateHiker [ruthlessreviews.com] I wrote this earlier this year.

@GuyKeith

Thank you, Keith. A clear, well written and extremely informative article. Well done.

I feel lucky that I am allergic to all opioids. I get an itchy, full-body rash.

"It's a side effect," my shoulder surgeon said in 2009. "I don't care what you call it," I replied. "It's unacceptable."

Ice was my friend. Icing reduced pain and swelling. Took ibuprofen for the first week after surgery.

Through incremental weight lifting and stretching, I regained my strength, muscles and flexibility. Best of all, I am PAIN FREE.

Here I am 18 months after shoulder surgery in 2011.

@LiterateHiker Thanks for reading the article. The bottom line is that individuals are different and can have a different tolerance to pain and pain medications. Some, unfortunately, are almost instantly "hooked' by either the blessed relief -or- the "darker" side of addiction and/or physical dependance. Life is not fair. I'm glad that you were able to deal with the pain without opioids. So many people cannot. Their future is grim. They face pain that drives them to the cliff, or embracing drugs that lead down the path to a horrible outcome. It is the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea for so many, an it is, in so many cases, not their fault.

@irascible Thanks so much for reading. I appreciate your comments.

@GuyKeith

I have to laugh. For three years, ice packs took up more freezer space than food.

My daughter and I share a high tolerance for pain. It took me four days to go to the doctor after a bad fall broke a bone in my right wrist and pointer finger, and resulted in a painful SLAP tear in my right shoulder.

I did my usual "wait and see" approach: rest, ice, compression, ibuprofen and elevation. After four days, it didn't get better. I made an appointment to see the doctor.

"My hand hurts," I said, holding it out.

"It's BROKEN!" she exclaimed. "Your wrist is broken, too! Go to the hospital right now. "

@GuyKeith VERY ACCURATE . I see that almost daily at ED and at neurosurgery or Ortho . Thank u for providing link . We r going to see a lot of people in a lot of pain pretty soon . Especially folks w multiple back surgeries and fusions . They already made neurontin a control substance in Virginia and good luck telling post op folks or car accident folks " here is neurontin for u ". ?
Dilaudid is cut back to 0.5 mg (!) for fresh post op folks , and we avoid basal on pca pumps too . U know , there are people w chronic issues and then new acute injuries for grandma and such, and nurses we fear that we won't be able to comfort r patients ?
and u are 100% accurate about mso4. Only for the near dead , and mostly oncology cases . I avoid oncology when possible but if I have to help out on oicu I feel it's a crime to watch , we are afraid to manage pain ? 2 mg of mso4 for a patient w pancreatic or lung or bone CA is really for the birds , but we ve been told lately that if not " comfort care only ", this is appropriate .

@ProudMary I've lost people very close to me to various types of addictions. I currently have someone I love dearly who can't get it together. I'm waiting on "the call". I hope this person can get sober, and stay that way, but I know better than to expect it. This person has been in and out of rehab, and in and out of jail. Unless and until they decide to get clean, and stay clean, they are beyond my reach. Sometimes, you just have to accept that some people cannot be helped. They continue to make choices that may take them from this life, and those who love them. We can't "fix" anyone.
We can be there if they're willing to accept help.
However, oftentimes, they say they are ready to get straight, but they really are not. We just get used, hurt (sometimes, physically), robbed, and assorted other painful things. I won't put myself in that position anymore.

While death effects different people in different ways, I no longer have the level of sympathy that I used to. I don't know whether addiction is a disease, or not. I do know that some people are predisposed to becoming addicts, and some aren't. This is yet another example of life being a total crapshoot.

People make choices. Some of those choices end up killing them.
The older I get, the less I am moved by death. The time I spend "mourning" anyone has become considerably less than it was when I was younger.
I don't know if it's age, or acceptance of the inevitable. Life is finite.
We're all going to die. Some of us sooner than others.

@ProudMary I don't remember if you read this or not, but I wrote it earlier this year.

[ruthlessreviews.com]

@ProudMary Like I said, life is a crapshoot. There are very few ways to know who is more likely to become addicted to anything, whether it's opioids, meth, alcohol, nicotine, sugar, or anything else. However, there ARE legitimate factors people ought to be taking into consideration BEFORE they agree to ANY legally prescribed drug. If someone has addiction in their family, it's incumbent on them to take the proper precautions.
If you (general "you" ) have kids, or other responsibilities, those need to be taken into consideration before you decide to take that risk. If you die and leave your kids without a parent, that was a choice you made, and I'm not going to feel sorry for you. Your kids, definitely, but on the other hand, I'm also thinking they're better off without an addict for a parent.

Being legitimately prescribed any medication always carries an inherent risk.
Particularly with the more addictive meds. People have an obligation to understand the risks they're taking. If they aren't smart enough to understand that if they aren't careful they could end up with a problem, maybe that's just another form of natural selection, and they need to be culled from the herd.

Addiction is a hard fight for everyone, some more than others. I'm done crying for all of them. If that makes me a horrible person, so be it. We are all responsible for the choices WE make.

@ProudMary Thank you for not judging me. I've had my share of dealing with alcoholics, as well as drug addicts, too. At some point, you just can't bleed for them anymore. You have to let them go. If you don't, you'll become another casualty yourself.

@ProudMary This is a subject that I know a lot about. I worked for 24 years with Oncologists, Oncology Nurses, Hospice, Surgeons, Burn Centers and Pain Clinic. This is not a simple issue of Bad Pharma, Bad Drugs and Weak People. The most effective drugs we have for severe pain unfortunately carry the burden of physical dependence. There is no way around this and we just do not have any drugs that can treat pain effectively without this dependence. The present approach to the problem is reckless and could lead to disastrous consequences, just like the failed War on Drugs. People that have chronic, persistent pain need help, not judgment or criticism. Both patients and doctors are being persecuted for trying to treat pain. Well, I won't preach here, it is all in my article. Thanks fo reading.

@KKGator Please read my article. It is not so simple.

@GuyKeith I did read it, it was good. You cover a big part of it, but not all of it.

@KKGator Of course. It was a long piece as it is, so I have to think of my reading audience. What would you have liked for me to have addressed?

@GuyKeith I wouldn't have you change anything. It was a good piece, very balanced. The thing for me is not so much the "how", or "why" of it, but the dealing with it. I also think there's a significant contribution that legal marijuana could make in dealing with pain-management, and dealing with addiction, in the first place. A BIG part of the reason we have an "opioid epidemic" is because marijuana isn't a legally available option for people.
I'm tired of that.

I have a 50 years old stepson(my late wife's Son),a total waste of a life,started drugs about the age of 10,weed first, then speed,uppers,downers,and "Designer Drugs" When Kathy died last year,I moved away after having him evicted from my home(I'm renting it out). He has been in and out of rehabs so many time I've lost count,the call of the drugs is too strong for him, and he has an addictive personality, I expect one day a phone call will come in saying he's died.....

@ProudMary I am sorry. It is difficult.