CDC Guide when prescribing meds

Insurance companies reimburse narcotic pain meds but not alternative safe wellness solutions such as herbs, supplements, yoga and others.

One third of pharma drugs are paid for by the US government.

Narcotic pain meds shrink the brain causing other neuro-degenerative disease such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Most US doctors when coaxed by patients about prescribing narcotic pain med will do so to appease the patient who might only have a bruise or pain score of less than 5.

Most pain in the elderly are caused by nerve pain with root causes in Diabetes, lack of Vitamin B12, anxiety, stress and lack of care.

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The US has a serious opioid problem.

An estimated 2.1 million Americans suffers from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers.

To combat that, the CDC has put together a draft of guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain.

The guidelines are designed to help family doctors and general practitioners who prescribe opioid painkillers, a category of medications that includes drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The number of deaths related to overdosing on opioid pain relievers has been on the rise over the past decade, eclipsing deaths related to heroin overdoses.

The CDC’s guidelines, which will be open for public comment through January 13, give suggestions for how opioid painkillers should be prescribed. Importantly, the guidelines aren’t binding; they’re also not intended for doctors who treat people with chronic pain linked with diseases like advanced-stage cancer.

Here are some of the main takeaways for doctors:

• Physicians should only prescribe opioid painkillers if and when the benefits, such as relief from painful surgical operations or injuries, outweigh the costs, such as potential physical dependence and addiction. Doctors and patients should re-evaluate pain-management plans every 3 months.
• Physicians should set up goals for pain management with their patients to prevent extended treatment. 
• For patients just going on treatment, short-acting opioid painkillers should be used instead of long lasting or extended-release versions, and doctors should aim to start patients on the lowest-possible dosage.
• Physicians should review the patient’s history of controlled substance prescriptions and use urine drug tests to look for the prescribed medications as well as other not-so-prescribed drugs.

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Call 408-854-1883 motherhealth@gmail.com , caring Motherhealth caregivers for homebound bay area seniors for holistic caregiving.

Comments:

My senior client with Parkinson who is addicted to Tramadol is in her doctor’s office asking for pain meds due to a small bruise on her knee. And her doctor prescribed Vicodin. As her caregiver, I discussed this prescription to her family and we ended up not giving the pain med for a small bruise.

Most patients will lie for the severity of pain just to get a pain med prescription. Most doctors have only pain meds to relieve the client’s minor health issue that is metabolic and anxiety related disorder.