The Patient Speaks!

If you are a chronic pain sufferer who only gets relief by taking opioids, you probably have heard the accusations, or even been accused of being a drug addict.  In another column, I wrote about the difference between drug “addiction” vs. drug “dependence”.  Unless I saw it in a medical profession blurb, read it from chronic pain newsgroups or blogs, I’ve never seen a “non-pain” publication write anything but “addiction”.  I am happy to announce I’ve now seen the correct statement in a non-medical magazine.|

In the July & August 2005 edition of AARP – The Magazine  (http://www.aarpmagazine.org/), page 38 Need to Know, author Kelly Griffin wrote an article entitled Beat Pain Step by Step.  Under Item #6: Opioids, author Griffin writes “Despite their bad reputation, opioids such as codeine are among the safest painkillers available.”  WOW!  Griffin continues “Addiction is extremely rare in those with no history of substance abuse, but long-term use can create physical dependance, …”  Double WOW!  Finally, someone outside the medical journals gets it!!  I read and re-read the paragraph several times just to make sure there was no hook.  Does this mean that what we chronic pain sufferers have known all along is finally becoming accepted?  Or at least noticed?  Only time will tell, but let’s hope so.