Chinese Association of Idaho State University (CAISU)
Are Doctors Overprescribing Gabapentin and Pregabalin (Lyrica) for Pain?
Are Doctors Overprescribing Gabapentin and Pregabalin (Lyrica) for Pain?
Because of the opioid epidemic doctors are prescribing other pain relievers including gabapentin, Pregabalin dosage (Lyrica) and tramadol. How safe are they?
Let’s be perfectly honest. Most doctors have a difficult time with chronic pain patients. One physician described it to us many years ago: “When I see a patient suffering severe chronic pain come in the front door I want to go out the back door.” That’s because there are few good options. Drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone used to be prescribed in huge quantities. Now gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) are on the ascendency and opioids are shunned. At last count, nearly 9 million people filled more than 44 million prescriptions for gabapentin. Another 9 million prescriptions were dispensed for pregabalin.
Doctors are dismayed by the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. Over the last year, the drumbeat of headlines about opioid overdoses and deaths has scared a lot of physicians into cutting back on prescribing drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone.
Many of the overdose deaths are caused by illicit fentanyl. People OD because they have no idea how potent the narcotics are that they are snorting, swallowing or injecting. According to the CDC (Nov. 3, 2017):
“Preliminary estimates of U.S. drug overdose deaths exceeded 60,000 in 2016 and were partially driven by a fivefold increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids (excluding methadone), from 3,105 in 2013 to approximately 20,000 in 2016. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50–100 times more potent than morphine, is primarily responsible for this rapid increase. In addition, fentanyl analogs such as acetylfentanyl, furanylfentanyl, and carfentanil are being detected increasingly in overdose deaths and the illicit opioid drug supply.”
Data released by the CDC on January 6, 2019 suggests that the “provisional number of drug overdose deaths” may be leveling off. That’s a bit of good news, but fentanyl and its derivatives are still causing untold harm.
Fentanyl powder does not come from your local pharmacy. Most of it is illicit and is coming from foreign countries (CBS news; New York Times, Aug. 10, 2017). China and Mexico are major sources of illegal fentanyl. It is being added to heroin or even counterfeit opioid pills that look like Percocet (CNN June 8, 2017) or Oxycontin. The government does not seem to know how to stem the flow of illicit fentanyl that is flooding the country.
Because of the opioid epidemic doctors are prescribing other pain relievers including gabapentin, Pregabalin dosage (Lyrica) and tramadol. How safe are they?
Let’s be perfectly honest. Most doctors have a difficult time with chronic pain patients. One physician described it to us many years ago: “When I see a patient suffering severe chronic pain come in the front door I want to go out the back door.” That’s because there are few good options. Drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone used to be prescribed in huge quantities. Now gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) are on the ascendency and opioids are shunned. At last count, nearly 9 million people filled more than 44 million prescriptions for gabapentin. Another 9 million prescriptions were dispensed for pregabalin.
Doctors are dismayed by the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. Over the last year, the drumbeat of headlines about opioid overdoses and deaths has scared a lot of physicians into cutting back on prescribing drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone.
Many of the overdose deaths are caused by illicit fentanyl. People OD because they have no idea how potent the narcotics are that they are snorting, swallowing or injecting. According to the CDC (Nov. 3, 2017):
“Preliminary estimates of U.S. drug overdose deaths exceeded 60,000 in 2016 and were partially driven by a fivefold increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids (excluding methadone), from 3,105 in 2013 to approximately 20,000 in 2016. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50–100 times more potent than morphine, is primarily responsible for this rapid increase. In addition, fentanyl analogs such as acetylfentanyl, furanylfentanyl, and carfentanil are being detected increasingly in overdose deaths and the illicit opioid drug supply.”
Data released by the CDC on January 6, 2019 suggests that the “provisional number of drug overdose deaths” may be leveling off. That’s a bit of good news, but fentanyl and its derivatives are still causing untold harm.
Fentanyl powder does not come from your local pharmacy. Most of it is illicit and is coming from foreign countries (CBS news; New York Times, Aug. 10, 2017). China and Mexico are major sources of illegal fentanyl. It is being added to heroin or even counterfeit opioid pills that look like Percocet (CNN June 8, 2017) or Oxycontin. The government does not seem to know how to stem the flow of illicit fentanyl that is flooding the country.
查看次数： 4
评论
您必须是爱达荷州立大学中国学生学者联谊会 的成员才能加评论！
加入 爱达荷州立大学中国学生学者联谊会