The Patient Speaks!

Just when I’m thinking my “headache life” has been fairly good for the past couple of weeks, I decided to clean my desk and came upon newspaper articles I had clipped and that dark cloud reappeared. Not a “pain” cloud, but an “annoyance” one. Examples:

November 03, 2006 Wall Street Journal
Front page, column #1 no less – Narcotic ‘Lollipop’ Becomes Big Seller Despite FDA Curbs by John Carreyrou. The article discusses how Cephalon Inc.’s Fentanyl containing lozenge Actiq® (oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate), originally developed to address cancer pain, is being used “off topic” more and more to address non-cancer pain. The first two paragraphs describe a pregnant woman who claimed “the strongest high she has ever experienced”. When her son was born, he was “cranky and wouldn’t sleep” and said “doctors told her he had become addicted to the drug and was in withdrawal”. Eventually, the woman ended up in jail for forging prescriptions as she was addicted to Actiq®. You can tell where this is going, right?

May 07, 2007 Newsweek Health
Lollipops & Lawsuits by Mary Carmichael & Samantha Henig. Words that jump out include “”…does not have cancer…” and “…in an average month he may suck on as many as 300… that its sugar content has corroded away all his teeth”. Now, here’s the biggie: “California Democrat Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is looking into marketing at Cephalon and other companies.” To repeat, you can tell where this is going.

May 15, 2007 Wall Street Journal
Op/Ed page, Oxy Morons by Sally Satel. Ms. Satel is actually Dr. Satel, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction. The Opinion piece related the saga of charges brought by the attorney general of West Virginia for “misbranding”. The company, Purdue Frederick, paid $635 million to settle the charges. “Scores died as a result of OxyContin abuse and an even greater number of people became addicted” said Attorney General John Brownlee. However, in reading the piece, Dr. Satel believes (GASP!) that the people who abused the drug chose to do so. They, the abuser, had the responsibility. And who gets the short shrift? The legitimate pain patient, of course. Can you tell where this is going?

June 9, 2007 Chicago Tribune
Maddening movie migraines give experts real headache by Alexa Aguilar. While you don’t have to read the article to figure out that “movie migraines” do not reflect real life, I found the piece excellent. It has some interesting stats at the end. I highly recommend you read the article.

June 17, 2007 The New York Times
When Is a Pain Doctor a Drug Pusher? By Tina Rosenberg. Another good article that talks about addicts/abusers verses those of us with a medical need for responsible pain relief.

It seems that the “War On Drugs” is ever more targeting and restricting, in my opinion, the very people for whom the drugs can do the most good. As I’ve stated before in a previous posting, if a drug is developed for a specific use and later is found to address other issues, then amend the use and let people get relief. The classic example is anti-depression meds, widely used to treat consistent headaches. While I fully realize it is “not that simple”, I fail to understand why abusers and ner-do-wells can have an effect on available treatments for my ailments. Go after them, not us!

There, now my desk is momentarily clear. Makes me think something is terribly wrong as I can actually see the wood instead of stacks of paper. Wait! What’s that peeking out from under the keyboard? Drat! It’s a notice from my insurance company it’s denying payment for my last pain doctor visit. Everything is normal….