The Pandemic of Prescription Drugs

reply to post by Asktheanimals

Important information; When out of the house and carrying medications (especially class II narcotics) make sure they are in the bottle the pharmacy gave you otherwise you will be considered to be in Illegal posession of drugs. No joke.

This is EXTREMELY good advice!! Make sure the prescription isn't expired, make sure the person named on the prescription is in the car.

I've seen people get felony violations because a bottle of legitimate pills was left in a vehicle and someone else took the car out and got pulled over.

The police do not play around at all, they through the book at you each and every time, no matter how plausible your story is. Best case scenario, $10k in legal fees and you get exononerated. Worst case scenario is serious jail time!

Every drug is dangerous if it's not taken correctly. That's why people like me spend 5 years of their lives learning about them in order to try and keep people safe. Hey, you missed paracetamol off your list. You know if you take one extra tablet a day for a prolonged period of time (that actually could be as short as weeks or months rather than years) that your liver will pack up? Probably not.

It's called a staggered overdose but people think that just because it's sold in supermarkets and petrol stations it doesn't matter. My own mother did it not long ago with Beechams flu powders, and when I told her to stop taking them like she'd drink tea she told me to "stop doing the pharmacy face" and that it wouldn't kill her. (She later found out from a friend someone got rushed to hospital for it, and now seems to have changed her mind).

People need to seek medical advice (c'mon guys, who's better than a pharmacist? No appointment needed, and we've done 4 years specifically on drug action and metabolism and all that shiz) and take things they actually need not things they think they need. You can't blame the drugs when someone die, but the people generally don't have the education on what they're taking (again, another area where, at least in the UK, they're shining the light on pharmacists). People need to stop grabbing at something to help them in the short term, and start thinking about the problem and what they can do to help in the long term before doctor's throw out drugs willy-nilly.

Prescription drugs aren't a bad thing. People like me are actually trying to prolong lives. People just don't seem to be able to see that when things go wrong.

reply to post by Patriotsrevenge

Well wouldn't you know it but thanks to OBAMACARE, Regular doctors can not write scripts for narcotics anymore. Only pain management doctors can and they will accuse you of doctor shopping for trying to go see another one.

This part isn't true. Any Doctor can write a prescription, unless they have had their privileges suspended for some type of violation. The law that recently changed in July of 2011, was Doctors can no longer Dispense the narcotics they write the script for. Now, a patient has to go to a pharmacy to get the drug, they won't just dispense it on site. This is only a Florida law though, other states still have dispensing doctors.

In fact, in Florida, the regulations against "Pain Management" doctors are so restrictive now, that most Docs have stopped identifying their self in that manner. Pain Management Clinics are under extreme scrutiny, and even outlawed completely in many counties and towns.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Dear GetReadyAlready,
First off I want to thank you for this forum and you pressing the knowledge of prescription drugs, it needs to be known and made clear to everyone just how dangerous they are, and I thank you for pressing that and being a part of that.
The reason this thread is a soft spot to me is because of my personal experience..I am a 20 year old female who has experienced first hand the numbing horror or being drugged beyond belief by my doctor. I since I was barely 15 years old have been a lab rat of nasty concauctions of meds that did nothing but hurt me. Starting at Cmybalta at 13, I hated it so they tried Wellbutrin at 14, which was only meant for 18+ adults..then off to the prescriptions they had me set on for almost 4 years straight. A deadly concauction at 150mgs Celexa when I woke up, next my Xanax Xr 2mg, then my Riserpdone to fall asleep, with ambien as well, the strongest dose. Along with the instant dissolvable abilify they put me on during the day for my 'panic attacks'. What makes me mad is I was a teenage female, hormonal yes, but more so spoiled, who was doped up instead of treated properly. I was throwing what you would call a temper tantrum, there was nothing wrong with me. After years of life I have long forgotten to those drugs, I am old enough that I regularly attend an OBGYN. My doctor , having a daughter the age as me realized how medicated I was, and questioned it with knowing me as a person so she investigated. She did a simple blood test to realize I was severely vitamin D deficient and that was what was causing the symptoms they were medicating me for with that bullcrap. She immediately pulled me off those meds and put me on 2000 units of D a day only! That is all I've taken now for almost 2 years and I am thankfully she helped me see what they were doing to me, killing me slowly pill by pill. My kidneys and livers still do not function properly and I have never felt better in my life, than I do , without man made medication. Yoga, green tea, and vitamin D makes me the healthiest I've ever been! Stay away from unneeded prescriptions and always get a second opinion before someone insanely dopes you up! Thank you for your post and your knowledge! I am happy you helped your wife before it was too late!

reply to post by Ayana


Ayana, I believe this is an area for HUGE IMPROVEMENTS in Healthcare, and hopefully it will come to fruition soon. Why do Doctors write prescriptions for drugs in the first place? Pharmacists are the experts on Drugs. Doctors should be making diagnoses, and Pharmacists should be deciding what drugs are appropriate, and monitoring the dosages and interactions.

I think you've really touched upon an important aspect of Healthcare, but the Medical Lobby will be very stingy with letting it change.

I am a legal junky and have been since i was 14 but i do have a legitimate need for the drugs and will be on them till i die ..
I'm on the fentanyl patch and id like to also add with this drug to stay out of the sun light ,heating pads and hottubs any kind of heat makes the body heat up and releases the drug faster into the body and its very dangerous also this drug eats your teeth ive put thousands of dollars into dental care because of this drug..
I also take vicoden at least 3 times a day plus zolpidem for sleep every night (ambiem) i also take up to 60 Pancreatic Enzymes per day (Creon) just to digest my food plus 40mg 2 times a day of prednisone id like to add prednisone is horrible and mood altering stay off it unless you have to be on it also caused me to be diabetic..
All i can add to this thread is please don't do drugs unless you only need them for a few days for pain id love to not ever take another drug.. Any of the mixtures i take can kill and its something i think about every day of my life but on the other hand if i didn't have these pills id not be alive The best bet anyone can do is just say NO..peace,sugarcookie1

Originally posted by sugarcookie1
40mg 2 times a day of prednisone id like to add prednisone is horrible and mood altering stay off it unless you have to be on it also caused me to be diabetic..

I so know what you are saying about prednisone. When I take it I become severely diabetic, when I am able to ween off of it my blood glucose goes back to normal.

I would like to caution you if you have been on it for some time or will be, ask your doctor to do a bone density scan on you and insure you aren't developing osteoporosis from it. I was on it pretty steadily from FEb 2008 to Apr 2010 due to allergic reactions, and by Nov 2008 I had developed osteoporosis so bad that my hip broke, no accident, no fall, no jolts I just stood up and it wouldn't support me. I had to have emergency surgery and they pinned it but because I remained on prednisone it didn't heal and I had to have a total hip replacement in June 2010. Make sure you are covered and if you develop hip pain have it checked. Besides the osteoporisis it can cause avascular necrosis of the hip bone requiring a total hip replacement.

reply to post by Pixiefyre


I've been on prednisone since i was 2 years old im now 39 ive got cystic fibrosis (CF) they do take me off it some times and my blood glucose goes back to normal but as soon as im put back on it im right back to insulin shots..
I've had many bone density scans done over the years because of low weight and bone disease and i do have osteoporosisits in my hips like you have and its very painful the cf is eating all my bones and the prednisone doesn't help matters but the prednisone helps me to put on weight im proud to say im 98 pounds right now the most ive weighed in a long time also id like to add prednisone also causes nerve damage its a nasty drug ..
I hope your doing better and your hip replacement is holding up Just rember there is always hope..peace,sugarcookie1

reply to post by sugarcookie1


My hip is doing good, thank you. I have to say that was such a shock for me because although I had pain there was no trauma so ....when it wouldn't support my weight I thought I might have gotten it in a bad position and I didn't go to the ER for over 24 hours. Yes I'm tough LOL

reply to post by Ayana


Have you been taught about how people need to safely taper off Benzo's and Z-drugs? That they should never be used for long term use. What their half lives are and equivalency doses for crossovers to Diazepam for tapering, in other words... Do you know about Heather Ashton's Taper Manual?

I've found that my Pharmacist knew more about this then my GP and Psychiatrist who prescribed me these drugs and the keyworkers who are supposed to support me at my local substance misuse team.

Weird that. The prescribers need to be more edumacated methinks.

*Is gonna give my pharmacist a big hug when this is all over for me, he's been fantastic*

My mother works nights, I take perscription sleep aids. Let this be a cautionary tale to anybody:

She was complaining of an inability to sleep, after hours of laying awake. She asked me for a sleeping pill. I gave her a single (1) 7.5mg zopiclone (immovane) and one half of a single .5 mg clonazepam (klonopin). This is considerably less than I take on average to sleep.. but put her into a complete blacked-out state. Like, out of your mind, don't remember a thing blacked out state. She was terrified of my dog, who she's known for a decade. Wasn't able to tell me my name or where she was, was just completely out of it

I had never been so frightened in my life, knowing that I made the ill-advised choice to give her those pills.

Scripts effect each individual differently, as my mother only has one kidney (and the other is near failure itself) it could have turned into a very bad situation indeed.

reply to post by Monger


Eeep, that was a close call. Yes it's definitely not good to give others your meds as everyone reacts differently. They may have a medical condition which can be affected, or are already taking medications that can interact badly with other meds.

Also, you have probably been taking them for a while and have become tolerant to the dose that you gave your Mum. It wouldn't of hit the sides for you, but would have been really quite strong for her. A 7.5mg Zopiclone and 0.25mg of Clonazepam is the equivalent of 10mg's of Diazepam. If i have my math right.

In quite high doses these meds are quite well known to cause amnesia or black out states where you can't remember anything you've done over the course of several hours. Which i've personally experienced myself. A friend of mine gave me some of her Ativan 2mg thinking she was being helpful whilst i was suffering tolerance withdrawals. Not realising how strong the Ativan was and on top of the other pills i was taking i pretty much lost a whole day in a black out state.

There was evidence that i had cooked a meal, the kitchen was a state and i had left two cooker rings on, the fridge was left open and i had also gone out shopping and brought a load of stuff. I didn't remember any of it, quite frightening really. I could have set my home on fire with me in it. Also it's quite lucky that i don't drive, if i did i could have easilly got behind the wheel and caused an accident.

Originally posted by Patriotsrevenge
reply to post by hypervigilant

 

And if you were not dealing with the VA you would have really had a hard time. I am glad you don't have to deal with the crap most of us do.

I have to go as many as 3 weeks at a time without receiving renewals on my morphine prescriptions because my primary care physician was on vacation or sick and there was not another doctor on duty at the outpatient clinic I am seen at to write the renewal.. I have to drive over 200 miles round trip for appointments and procedures that aren't done at the local clinic... I have driven people that are receiving treatment from private doctors and was amazed at the dosages of medication they were prescribed... Almost all of the people in the waiting rooms were nodding off and sliding out of their chairs... I never saw anything like that at a VA facility except psychiatric patients on psychotropic medications and thorazine... I do feel lucky for the care I receive from the VA because I couldn't get insurance because my preexisting injuries were apparent every time I had to take a physical for employment.. I would have to either sign a waiver to get a job or work as an independent contractor... I had spent enough time on light duty when in boot camp and the 2 months of my enlistment in the Marines to finally get a service connected disability award and get medical care.

reply to post by AlomaRa


I guess I had better clear this up for many not familiar with the slang, around here, Dilaudid is referred to as vitamin "D".

I have seem Dilaudid kill more people unnecessarily than any other RX narcotic.

It is highly addictive, deadly, and the drug of.choice in my area.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Just recently had a police training on this very thing.....it is definitely becoming more of an issue...good thread bringing it to light.

Prescription drug abuse was even worse in the 1950s and 60s ... Most pharmacies were independent small businesses that would deliver prescriptions to the homes of the people that were legitimately in need of medicine and to women that went to doctors to get prescriptions to stay buzzed.and take them with alcohol.... My mother was into doing that and ended up dying early because of it... She would call in an inactive prescription, begging and pleading until the pharmacist would fill it... I couldn't tell if she was dead or alive a lot of times when I would come home from school... She would sleep for days at a time with her eyes open with each of them pointed in a different direction.... I learned to cook when I was 5 or 6 so my younger sister and I could tell my father that she had been awake and had fixed us something good to eat... The most disgusting dope addicts I have ever seen were the ones on legally acquired drugs....The pharmaceutical corporations have killed far more people than all of the illicit sources put together since the beginning of time have.....

People abuse drugs to escape reality. So if life was'nt such a grind for so many people the problem would be solved.

There is to much money in prescription meds for them to stop anytime soon. Hell, if I wanted to I could get a Florida I.D. and start getting 150 percocet 30s a month. Not only do the doctors know people come from out of state to do this, they make a larger profit from it! They charge out of towners around 5 dollars more per pill than local residents.

reply to post by TheIrvy


Get a spinal fusion, have that fail, get major nerve damage and see how well magnesium helps you

Some people are so out of touch with reality on this site

Goodness, I started taking prescription meds in High School around age 16. Some doctors just don't care, they're only trying to write as many prescriptions as possible. They send you off to other specialists and before you know it you're on 8 different prescriptions from different doctors. At one point I was taking antidepressants (tried just about every kind, almost killed myself while on Paxil), anti-anxiety medication (Xanax), sleeping pills (settled on Restoril for a while, tried everything, even GHB, most of it just made me hallucinate and not sleep), stimulants (Adderall) for my exhaustion at school because the sleeping pills weren't working and just left me feeling groggy, Methadone to treat my chronic migraines, as well as other narcotic pain relievers when the Methadone just didn't cut it, at one point I had anti-seizure medication (Neurontin) as a preventative treatment that didn't work for the migraines, and to top it all off, prescription antacids because my stomach was BEYOND jacked up from taking so many pills. I don't think my stomach ever fully recovered and quite frankly I'm surprised I'm not dead. I was seeing about 4 different specialists who were giving me all of these things at the same time for about 5 years.

One day I said screw it and decided to stop seeing my doctors one by one and weened myself off the meds, stopped calling in refills, until I was off of everything, and I honestly feel worlds better without them. I feel like they did more damage to me than they ever helped me in the time I was on them. My memory from those years is mostly shot, I have vague bits of memories that are only brought on by pictures or somebody talking about something that happened, but it's all just a blur. Several years of my young adult life, lost. It kills me when a friend brings up something from that time and is laughing about it and I'm completely clueless as to what they're talking about. I know I was there, I just have no memory because I was such a zombie.

Don't let doctors over-medicate you. A lot of them will try.