Doctors beginning to speak out about pain patients denied opioids | Globalnews.ca – June 18, 2017 – By Roy Green Host, Corus Radio Network Global News

I just noticed that this article is from a year ago, so it seems Canadian doctors have more spine and have been pushing back against the unreasonable opioid restrictions, while most U.S. doctors have lamely acquiesced.

It’s a trickle at present, but the conversation around chronic pain between doctors and patients is no longer one way only. Over the past few months, the constant messaging suggesting chronic pain patients are dying in dramatically increasing numbers because of opioid overdoses has been questioned. Understand, the messaging was indeed clever. Chronic pain patients weren’t directly and specifically named, but the messaging caused listeners and readers to believe it was pain patients whose lives were being shattered, or even ended, due to opioids.

I was shocked to discover that my own mother, who has suffered from the chronic pain of EDS for the last third of her almost 90 years, believed that all the overdose deaths she had been hearing about were of pain patients taking prescribed medication.

She had no idea that when the media says “opioid overdoses” they are counting deaths from street drugs, like heroin and illicit fentanyl, not the 2 low-dose hydrocodone tablets she takes for her pain.

She had no idea that the “dangers of opioids” were limited to high-risk street drugs and the extreme behaviors of people with addiction, not the prescription medication she takes only twice a day.

The general public, doctors, lawyers, and even law enforcement have been misled by the relentlessly sloppy media reporting about this “opioid crisis”.

Then a few of us in media began to ask questions, and immediately the anti-opioid medication messaging began to falter. Patients suffering hideously from non-stop pain willingly spoke about the horrific conditions of their lives. longtime doctors who had prescribed opioid medication which made their lives at least livable were under pressure to cut dosages dramatically, with the objective to end prescribing altogether. the elderly on fixed incomes, battling constant vicious pain, are required to pay for their not inexpensive medications out of pocket. I interviewed the Federal Minister of Health [in Canada] at her request. Dr. Jane Philpott was ineffective in making the case against opioids for pain patients. In fact, she repeatedly told me my questions were “fantastic” and “excellent.” The only reason I asked the questions is because they reflected the need for relief from pain that can destroy quality of life. Back with me today as well is Dawn Rae Downton, a national journalist and chronic pain patient who has a euthanasia plan in place in the event her opioid medication is arbitrarily stopped. Downton recently wrote a Globe and Mail column about her Fentanyl use. Marvin Ross, who writes on health matters for Huffington Post Canada, has been challenging politicians and their anti-opioid agenda for some time. Pain patients should not be reduced to pleading for help and meeting arrogance and indifference as a reply. Author: You can contact me directly at roy@roygreenshow.com.