My father was given a prescription to an opioid for a scratch on his eye that didn't hurt at all. That was maybe a year ago while the problem with opioids had been obvious for years at that point. If it had been a little painful and he hadn't known better, he might have taken them just because the doctor prescribed them!
I have a condition that meant that until my late teens, I was in incredible pain daily. My parents asked about painkillers, but my doctor at the time strongly cautioned against them, citing dependence and eventual ineffectiveness. His decision and my parents bravery to listen, when all signs pointed toward the need for relief, is likely why I am a fully functional adult today. That was an insight he had over two decades ago, which is why I find the opioid crisis so damning toward the prescribers.
Anecdotal, but I've been taking opioids for over a year now, to treat pain caused by suspected nerve damage (I couldn't tolerate gabapentin and a slew of other non-opioid medications), and they still work just fine. I'm also not an addict and feel no compulsion to take them other than for reducing otherwise unbearable pain.
I think it depends on your location and situation.
A couple months ago, I had minor (in absolute terms) surgery which resulted in a good deal of pain; the doctor asked if I wanted a prescription for opioids, I said yes, it was sent in, no further questions.
Am I saying people in chronic pain don't now have issues? No, I have no direct experience with that situation.
But it's still quite possible for people to get opioids sometimes.
Having had several short term prescriptions for opioids in the past, it certainly makes sense to me to be quite thoughtful about whether they are necessary. But that's still quite a ways from absolute refusal to consider using them.
It certainly isn’t my experience or anyone in my family. The only time I ever was prescribed pain killers was after surgery for severely impacted wisdom teeth. They gave me 2. I’ve had broken bones where I was put to sleep, nasty dog bite where I still have a dent in my calf, multiple stitches from random accidents, and a somewhat major car accident.
Pain killers were not even an option and the doctors said deal with it. Here’s some Ibuprofen.
It could be anecdotal, the doctors in my area are good and they are very aware of opioid issues. I know of people driving to Florida to find favorable doctors.
Well, for opiates specifically all one really needs to do is visit a doctor. It's gotten better, but in the past 5 years I've been offered a prescription for painkillers after nearly every doctors visit where I could have conceivably used them. I needed 5 stitches on my leg, and was offered 4 weeks worth of drugs. Ridiculous, considering the stitches weren't even in a month, and after 3 days I wasn't even taking acetaminophen.
My anecdotal data says the opposite. I've been prescribed opioid pain killers (Codeine/acetaminophen and Tramadol) a few different times (post regular and oral surgery, after a particularly nasty wrist and ankle sprain, and most recently after getting some second degree burns from a cooking accident). The first couple of times I was prescribed them I remember thinking how bad the pain must have been to have still felt so intense after taking opioids- but eventually I realized that the prescribed opioid pain killers were just not doing much to help at all, and Ibuprofen was far more effective for me. These days I don't even bother filling the prescription and just go straight to advil to manage pain.
I'm certainly not well educated in medicine, so it's hard to say whether my experiences can be generalized to the broader population, but if my experiences are at all common it does make me wonder why the are so broadly prescribed, and why I was never advised to even try NSAIDs before escalating to opioids with their associated side effects and addiction risk.
I've been given opioid prescriptions a few times in my life, and I've never found myself wanting to take them for their own sake or suffering from withdrawal afterward.
It's probably some variable physiological response - hopefully one day we'll have a good way of profiling a priori which people may have difficulty with using opioids in a controlled fashion so people don't have to suffer to find out they're among the unlucky ones. (Or maybe we'll come up with either a new class of drugs to replace opioids entirely, or a cocktail to block the adverse effects...)
Knowing what I know about pain and how well that opiod painkillers combat that pain, and knowing that what I've experienced isn't anywhere close to what some people have experienced, I'd absolutely accept a script for opiod painkillers if I needed one.
One thing to keep in mind is that opioid drugs are not effective in the long term treatment of chronic pain. I don't know why these drugs are prescribed for that purpose to be honest.
Today a first taste can be doctor's prescription for pain. Pain killers are often potent, addictive, opioids. There is also some evidence that some pharmaceuticals mislead doctors about their potential for abuse.
It is even worse for the people who have bleeding disorders and can't take things like aspirin.
I've found Vicodin helped with the pain from my teeth (pulling) but didn't do anything (except make me drowsy) when I scratched my cornea.
I know it's an anecdote but it always left me confused as to whether it was the pain being so much worse with the eye or myself reacting differently the medication.
With how subjective pain is it's amazing that we find stuff that works for so many people really.
It's crazy how eager American doctors are to prescribe opioids. Over the last few years, Ive gotten narcotic painkillers for serious stuff like surgery, but also for more minor stuff like dental work or joint injections. In most of those circumstances I would take one or two of these pills and then be just fine with non-narcotic over the counter pain medicine. But every time, I am highly encouraged to take the narcotics "just in case" the pain gets bad.
about 5-6 years ago, my wife had a small eye problem and we went to a local urgent care clinic. resolved the problem, but it was still inflamed and had some discomfort. the physician offered to write a prescription for either oxy or hydrocodone. (I can't remember which). "No, I'll be OK" my wife said. "Well, here, take this anyway", and she gave us a prescription for... 7 days of the stuff (IIRC).
2 years ago, both urgent care clinics in our town had signs out front saying "no prescriptions for oxycontin or similar painkillers will be given here". So... more legitimate use cases are now shut out from measured uses because there was such a rash of unneeded prescriptions years before.
i've had doctors surprised that i refused to take opiates to treat some pain. and what do you know, there was an alternative medication that was way less harmful, and only required a $25 shot.
it's fucking ridiculous how hard they push expensive pills.
I’ve had opiates for wisdom tooth extraction and a couple of relatively minor but very painful injuries. I was very glad to have them. They made the experiences much more bearable. I did not experience any addiction issues, and I’m glad that my access to these medications was not limited due to some people’s inability to handle them.
I really don’t think forcing needless suffering on everyone is the answer to this problem.
An oral surgeon gave me an opioid prescription several years ago after a tooth extraction. The pain was minor so I never filled the script, but in retrospect just giving me the prescription seems like malpractice. I can totally see how other patients would end up addicted in that situation.
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