Hello all.
First the opioid epidemic is the same as I wrote last year so refer back to that. What has been the unintended consequences of such draconian measures in our Federal and State governments? Unfortunately, the addition of human suffering. I have added Dr Stephen J Ziegler from PainWeek here:
"Overarching concept really should be the reduction of unnecessary human suffering, so that we avoid the zero-sum game mentality of it’s either pain treatment or it’s preventing abuse. And so, if we’d go with this framework of the reduction of unnecessary human suffering, we would be concerned about those who are suffering from opioid use disorders; we would be concerned about those that are being not treated adequately for their pain; we would be concerned about options, alternatives that are safe, effective, and covered by insurance.
BY STEPHEN J. ZIEGLER PHD, JD"
Truer words could not be spoken. Opioids are not by their nature evil. They are addictive (opioid use disorder is what it is called now) for a small portion of the population but not all the population, depending on the citation in the literature between 10-30% have issues with opioids from overuse, misuse and addiction. In our knee jerk reaction to the 2016 guidelines put out by the CDC the unintended consequence was that these guidelines were treated like Gospel and Law. Guidelines are supposed to be just what the word means, guiding. Unfortunately, these guidelines have become defacto law and any one who treats outside of these restricted "guidelines" are treated like they are breaking the law. Since when did treating the pain and suffering of our citizens become illegal?
This is not a new thinking as opioid use has a love/hate relationship with swings for over 100 years. What has been different this time around is the heavy handedness of our regulating boards and charging those that feel their duty to treat suffering as a criminal offense.
Doctors in FL have been arrested charged and convicted of "drug dealing" because someone has needed a higher dose to control pain and this resulted in the FL law which was to curve drug dealing, had the unintended consequence to a doctor's freedom with 25 years in prison. This is no small thing so physicians and FNP's/PA's are not prescribing opioids for fear of retaliation for helping with the suffering of our community.
Now, I am not saying that opioids are the best tool in the tool box. It actually is the last tool. Insurance will not cover other modalities that can be as effective if not better for chronic pain suffers. Our clinic strives to reach for the causation of conditions and not put band aids on chronic conditions. We offer Pulse Electromagnetic Field Therapy, Laser, Low Level Light therapy, Bach Flower remedies, Photobiomodulation, Cupping, Electrostimulation of Acupressure points, Auricular therapy and Auricular seeding. All of which are non-toxic and with few exceptions very safe. Stay away from Kratom if at all possible. Though it be a "herb" one can become addicted to this the same as opioids. Kratom is an opioid and effect on the brain the same. Though small, in the US there have been deaths related to Kratom use alone and in combination with other substances. Just because it is a plant doesn't mean it can't kill you or harm you in other ways.
Natural health, unlike allopathic care, can use different modalities to effect change. The most important of these changes is the food that we eat. Eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) and inflammation will be a likely potential. As many coin the term, "Its about the food". Once your food choices are changed it will take some time for the changes to be evident so take heart, it is not hopeless.
Darrel
Comments