Re: True or Not

[Guest guest]

--- delilahsdaddi " wrote:

> You can read a free copy of 'The Intractable Pain Patient's Handbook for

Survival' written by Forrest Tennant MD, it is available at:

http://www.foresttennant.com/pain_management_patient_self_help.html

>

> Bennie shared this and it is a great handbook for people this chronic pain.

The author has released it free of charge to anyone who wishes to read it, print

it, pass it along, etc. There are also some great tips for improving pain

relief.

Yes, in fact Dr Tennant wrote--

" Long-acting opioid products, including morphine, methadone, oxycodone, and

oxymorphone, are to be taken on a regular, fixed schedule. Depending on the

opioid, the time interval will be every 6, 8, 12, or 24 hours. IP patients

should discipline themselves to take their long-acting opioid on a fixed,

regular schedule such as when they first awake, noon, late afternoon, and just

before bedtime. They are NOT to be taken as needed, and when patients attempt to

take them this way, they soon find that their pain is not well-controlled. Many

patients will also need to use Step One opioid during pain flares or

breakthrough pain. "

He also writes--

" Patients have to be aware of the history, bias, safety, and true effectiveness

of opioid since many parties in modern society have been and continue to be on a

campaign to ban or restrict their use. Every IP patient will have to constantly

face an ignorant bias against opioid. Bias and ignorance may be thrown in your

face by family, friends, doctors, nurses, government officials, employers, and

your health plan. The worst offenders, in my experience, are the mental health

industry and the sellers of non-opioid pain treatments. Simply put, parties who

have a financial interest in keeping patients in uncontrolled pain continually

bad-mouth opioid. Be prepared to educate all comers, and above all, remember

that IP requires

opioid for control. There is no option.

Why the bias? Opioid work too well and there is no substitute. They give an IP

patient a meaningful, extended, quality of life. I now have IP patients who have

safely and effectively taken high doses of opioid for over 20 continuous years.

Current medical knowledge indicates that IP patients can have a fairly normal

lifespan if they have access to a dosage of opioid which effectively controls

their pain.

The real motivation behind opioid bias is money. There are expensive treatments

for health plans including government plans. When IP is properly treated with

opioids, the patient no longer has to hang out

in emergency rooms or hospitals, undergo surgery, or go whimpering to a mental

health clinic for " depression " just to get a little relief. "

Dr Tennant has published over 200 scientific articles and pioneered research on

the treatment and complications of intractable pain. He helped sponsor the

California Intractable Pain Act and the Pain Patients Bill of Rights.