"Skip Baker demonstrates the amount of weight he lost because of severe, untreated chronic pain. He went without eating for 14 months, while the State of Virginia was deciding if he would be an "authorized pain patient," and get an increase in his pain medication. He averaged a one inch loss around the middle per month, for a total of 14 inches for the 14 months! This is like torture for a State to do this to a Pain Patient, who they knew all along, has Ankylosing Spondylitis," a VERY painful spinal disease."The decision to make him an 'authorized' pain patient could have been made in one hour by a good pain specialist, if this system wasn't in place in Virginia.
Skip Baker is President of ASAP and he would like you to join him in the campaign for sensible pain treatment. You can contact him at: skipb@widomaker.com or see our President's Page.
ASAP
American Society for Action on Pain
ASAP Home Page
Documents and Resources
Who We Are - And how you can help
The Panic Button -- Do you need immediate help with treatment for chronic pain? See this link.
To Get Help for Pain go to:
Doctors with Compassion
What Patients Can Do To Help Themselves
Pain Placement Reps
Proper Dosing of Pain Medications
To subscribe to the Action-on-pain list send a blank email to: mailto:Actiononpain-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/Actiononpain/
To unsubscribe, just send a blank email to: Actiononpain-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Doonesbury on Pain Treatment -- The Doonesbury comic strip from Sunday, July 26, 1998
Understanding The Issues
In order to understand how we got to the present problems with pain management in the US, it is necessary to understand basic facts about heroin, the opiates, and the history of our laws and policies regarding these drugs. The best overall view of this issue, in our opinion, comes from the first section of the Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs.
We recommend the following chapters as basic to the understanding of how we got to the current problems with pain patients.
Chapter 1 - Nineteenth Century America - "a dope fiends paradise"
Chapter 2 - Opiates for pain relief, for tranquilization, and for pleasure
Chapter 3 - What kinds of people used opiates?
Chapter 4 - Effects of opium, morphine and heroin on addicts
Chapter 5 - Some eminent narcotics addicts
Chapter 6 - Opium smoking is outlawed
Chapter 7 - The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906
Chapter 8 - The Harrison Narcotic Act (1914)
Chapter 9 - Tightening up the Harrison Act
Chapter 10 - Why our narcotics laws have failed: 1) Heroin is an addicting drug
Chapter 11 - Why our narcotics laws have failed: 2) The economics of the black market
Chapter 12 - The heroin "overdose" mystery and other occupational hazards of heroin addiction
Deadly Morals, By Katherine Eban Finkelstein - The DEA is busting doctors for prescribing drugs and patients are dying in pain.
The Police State of Medicine by Dr. William Hurwitz -- Dr. Hurwitz is the doctor who was featured on 60 Minutes because he was persecuted for treating patients with severe chronic pain. He is one of the heroes of our time.
Caught in Pain's Vicious Cycle, an interview with Dr. William Hurwitz
Medical Society of Virginia's Guidelines for the Use of Opioids in the Management of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain.
Senate Bill 402 - California, 1997 - Pain Patient's Bill of Rights
Summary: Existing law, the Intractable Pain Treatment Act, authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe or administer controlled substances to a person in the course of treating that person for a diagnosed condition called intractable pain, and prohibits the Medical Board of California from disciplining a physician and surgeon for this action. This bill would establish the Pain Patient's Bill of Rights and would state legislative findings and declarations regarding the value of opiate drugs to persons suffering from severe chronic intractable pain. It would, among other things, authorize a physician to refuse to prescribe opiate medication for a patient who requests the treatment for severe chronic intractable pain, require the physician to inform the patient that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates, and authorize a physician who prescribes opiates to prescribe a dosage deemed medically necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Opioids - by Mike Hamilton
Fact Sheet on Chronic Non-Malignant Pain by Marcia E. Bedard, Ph.D.
Opioid Pain Killers Available in the US
CHRONIC USE OF OPIOIDS AND ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS: SIDE EFFECTS, EFFECTS ON ENDOGENOUS OPIOIDS, AND TOXICITY - Annals New York Academy of Sciences pp151-172
METHADONE AND OPIATE DRUGS: PSYCHOTROPIC EFFECT AND SELF-MEDICATION - Annals New York Academy of Sciences, 1982. V.398 pp 44-53
Pain Management Resources
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Pain Management Policy - California Board of Registered Nurses
Prescribing Controlled Substances for Pain - A Statement by the Medical Board of California
Summit on Effective Pain Management: Removing Impediments to Appropriate Prescribing - Summit Report - State of California - 1994
The Tragedy of Needless Pain by Ronald Melzack -- Scientific American February 1990 Volume 262 Number 2 -- Contrary to popular belief, the author says, morphine taken solely to control pain is not addictive. Yet patients worldwide continue to be undertreated and to suffer unnecessary agony
The Painful Dilemma -- The Use of Narcotics for the Treatment of Chronic Pain, A report prepared by the Sacramento-El Dorado Medical Society ad hoc committee on the treatment of pain, 1990
Anatomy of a pain summit from November, 1994 - Sacramento, Medicine By Harvey L. Rose, MD
State of Florida Medical Guidelines on Pain Management Using Dangerous Drugs and Controlled Substances, 1996
Medical References on Pain and Pain Medication - Part 1
Medical References on Pain and Pain Medication - Part 2
Links to Other Pain Related Sites
Source:
ASAP - American Society for Action on Pain
Link:
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/asap/index.htm
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