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ToxicSlurpee posted:The socially isolated probably don't feel much like they have anything going for them and go back to using. If you can find that kind of support, it's more satisfying and longer lasting than any drug. The main reason why I dived into opioids was because it feels like you've got a pair of arms around you. For awhile, anyway.
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May 31, 2016 00:13
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The_Book_Of_Harry posted:This is an excellent read, and the book includes an intriguing depiction of Joe McCarthy at the end... McCarthy's morphine (and allegedly cocaine) addiction would've ended his career if he'd been exposed. All the lives and careers that were destroyed by his hysterical red-baiting could've been spared if someone had outed him or the DC pharmacy that supplied him until he died.
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Jun 6, 2016 08:49
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Great White Hope posted:My dad has been taking prescription Fentanyl for years, and the first thing he told me when he started taking them was a story of a couple teenage girls who got hold of their mother's patches and decided to lick one of them, and died very quickly afterwards to really slam it in my head how serious this stuff could be if misused, so to see/hear that Fentanyl is becoming (and in some places it seems already is) the next big drug abuse thing is completely mind-blowing to me. Nothing against your Dad, but that sounds like an urban legend to me. But yes, it's very dangerous stuff.
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Jun 6, 2016 23:53
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waitwhatno posted:Why isn't there stronger regulation of opioids in the US? I assume that you guys have special prescription systems for scheduled drugs, just like any other country. Can't you just limit opiates to only be prescribable for specific diagnosis and only in small amounts? Most of the strongest opioids (morphine, methadone, meperidine, hydromorphone, oxycodone, etc.) have a Schedule II classification, and can't prescribed over the phone; only by a written prescription. Doctors can't put refills on them, so a new script has to be written each time. Some states require them to be written in triplicate for careful record-keeping. Quantities are supposed to be kept to a minimum, and never more than a 30-day supply. Doctors have discretion to prescribe them as they see fit. But of course, that doesn't stop a determined patient from seeing multiple doctors or supplementing his legal scripts by buying extra pills on the side. Where there's a will, there's always a way. Pharmacies have to keep special records, including a perpetual inventory of their stock. When I was a pharmacy tech, it was designed like a checkbook. New stock is immediately added to the running total when it arrives, and the amounts dispensed in prescriptions are subtracted after being filled. Everything's computerized now, but imaginative methods of diversion continue. There's always a way to get around the rules. Always.
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Jun 7, 2016 00:16
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smg77 posted:Yeah it looks like loperamide overdoses are becoming a thing. I bet we'll see it restricted like pseudoephedrine before much longer. Retired pharmacy tech here. When I was working, loperamide was only available by prescription and was Schedule V narcotic. I was amazed when it was taken off Rx and became OTC. It's probably going back to it's old status before long.
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Jun 9, 2016 22:41
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Subvisual Haze posted:Bupropion is structurally related to amphetamines, so I always thought of it like a weaker amphetamine. But one that would induce a seizure before you reached anything close to euphoria. So label me surprised but not shocked that people are injecting it now. The weakest prescription diet pill is Tenuate, whose generic name is diethylpropion. (Schedule IV) Even though it's low-octane stuff compared to the others of it's kind, I could tell you some interesting stories about what people were willing to do to get some.
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Jun 9, 2016 22:48
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pangstrom posted:Putting straightforward suicide attempts aside, what proportion of users-mixing-opiates-with-depressants-who-OD knew they were playing with fire, do you guys think? Seems like it would be high. Feels semi-suicidal, at least the "gently caress it" sense. I've been on methadone for decades, and all the clinics I've been on have warned that combining it with benzodiazepines is particularly dangerous. I've lost count of all the people I've known who died by supplementing their dose with quantities of benzos they'd tolerated before with no problem. I remember a friend who I'd met at one of my clinics who was witty, well-read, and always good for an intelligent conversation. Thomas had gotten ahold of a few Xanax bars and took them with his regular dose, plus who knows how much vodka. At some point he realized he'd taken too much, called 911, and told the dispatcher what he'd done. But by the time the paramedics arrived he was already dead. I've added modest amounts of alprazolam to my own methadone before, and I liked the effect it had on me. But I like my life too much to endanger it by playing Russian roulette with those pretty pastel-coloured pills. #sonotworthit
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Jan 4, 2017 18:55
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spliffaz posted:I work as a registered pharmacy tech in Canada and some of the scripts I've come across have been straight up bananas. (Although I've gotten some pretty funny fake scripts, like that one guy that tried to write a script for 200 8mg OxyContin with 12 repeats and the whole thing was written without any medical shorthand). Anyhoo.. I've noticed a lot of people talking about docs writing for percocet and friends a lot, but how often are tylenol 3's used? I figure for dental surgery that would be the go-to considering it's not nearly as strong of a high as percocet and would lead to less addictive behavior. I could be 100 wrong about this though, cause I personally hate the opiate high and the few times I've taken them it's been only for a couple of days. I also read that Carfentanil is showing up in Fentanyl powders in Canada and killing folks pretty quickly. Is this also a problem in the states? When I was a pharmacy technician in the 1980's, Tylenol #3 (and it's generic equivalent) was in the top 10 of our most frequently dispensed drugs. Most doctors seemed to prefer codeine or propoxyphene products for mild to moderate pain, reserving drugs like oxycodone, meperidine, and hydromorphone for patients with more serious ailments. I remember a product called Synalgos-DC that dentists loved to prescribe for some reason. My guess is that the manufacturers employed some talented salesmen to visit local dentists and extol the virtues of their product. Either that or cash bribes. I've seen some very entertaining forgeries, too. I developed a talent for spotting them, and pointed out a number of bad scripts my supervisors were going to fill. We got quite a laugh one day when a young man brought us a script for 100 Quaaludes with prn refills. I remember another man who tried to cash a script for 500 10mg Valium tablets (Yes, five hundred tablets). Never a dull moment!
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Jan 21, 2017 11:08
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spliffaz posted:That just reminded me of the fellow who added a zero to his 30 script of dexedrine. With pencil. Yep.. 300 pills coming right up sir! You just reminded me of another forger. He had been cashing scripts for awhile, for 15mg Dexedrine, #75, and my superiors had been filling them routinely once a month. I was suspicious on account of the odd quantity, so I got on the phone to the doctor in NYC (who turned out to be a dentist) who wrote the scripts. He told me he wrote the scripts for 5mg Dexedrine, #15, as a favor to a personal friend. So it turned out that with just two strokes of his pen, the guy had been increasing the quantity from 15 to 75, and the strength from 5mg to 15mg. A nice little scam that he had been getting away with before I transferred to that pharmacy. The doc asked me to let him deal with his friend privately, and not call the cops on him. So he got away with it without any legal consequences, but it probably destroyed his friendship with the dentist.
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Jan 22, 2017 00:11
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:How well do doctors respond when the pharmacist calls up and says hey you hosed up. During my years as a pharmacy tech, I always tried to be diplomatic when I called doctors and didn't rub their noses in their mistakes. Most of them understood I was doing them a favor when I pointed out drug interactions or incorrect dosages, and had the patient's best interests at heart. Occasionally a doctor would get an attitude and say things like, "I think I know more about practicing medicine than some pill counter in a white smock," but most of them appreciated the calls. It was more common to get flack from the customer, who resented the delay in getting his script filled while I spoke to the doctor.
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Jan 22, 2017 07:44
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reagan posted:Loperamide used to be a schedule II controlled substance. The entire DEA scheduling system is garbage, but this one always makes me laugh. Loperamide was once a controlled drug under Schedule V. (retired pharmacy tech here) And you're right; it made no sense.
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Apr 12, 2017 04:24
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:One of my coworkers died of a heroin OD on April Fools Day. He had a habit in the past but managed to beat it and was clean for a decade. He ran into money/marital problems late last year and cracked. He was 49. Sorry for your loss, Nissin Cup Nudist. One of my closest NA buddies also died about 10 days ago, apparently from an accidental OD while shooting his Rx morphine pills. Such a goddamned waste, and I'm feeling guilty for being so pissed at him.
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Apr 18, 2017 00:58
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King Possum III fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jun 29, 2017 |
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Jun 29, 2017 21:50
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reagan posted:On a similar note, my hospital was dispensing naloxone kits and now we are having issues with the police confiscating them. I have since left, but this is a very well known tourist city in the land of 10k lakes that is hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. This is baffling, since it's the cops and paramedics who are first responders to overdose cases. What reason do the police give for confiscating those naloxone kits?
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Jun 30, 2017 19:42
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tetrapyloctomy posted:The U-47700 side effects from causticity are horrifying not just in what they are, but in that people just keep jamming those suppositories in anyway. Yikes. Suppositories? Did I miss something?
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Jul 25, 2017 18:07
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The_Book_Of_Harry posted:I've spent the last few weeks working in Nashville, and (due to differences in regulations between the states) I chose to transfer to the (only) methadone clinic here in town. It sounds like quite the dilemma, considering how much you love your family, enjoy their company, and try to visit them as frequently as possible. You've also written about how much you value your Atlanta support network, and that you feel it's critical to your long-term success. So I take it that your transfer to the Nashville facility is a temporary arrangement, and that you plan to resume treatment at your Atlanta clinic when the renovation work is completed?
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Aug 13, 2017 05:20
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These limitations on quantities the drug companies are allowed to manufacture have been around for at least the last ~40 years. I'm a retired pharmacy technician, and I remember these limits being discussed when I started working in that field in 1979. The first time I heard it mentioned, a couple of pharmacists were discussing Dexamyl. Apparently there was a shortage of this product because that year's limit of dexamphetamine had already been manufactured, and there would be no more until after the first of the following year.
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Oct 20, 2017 21:23
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The_Book_Of_Harry posted:From what I was told during one rehab stint, one has a higher likliehood of success using a comorbid psychiatric diagnosis. The Americans With Disabilities Act designates addiction as a disability, and theoretically a documented addiction would entitle one to benefits, including a monthly check from Social Security and Medicare coverage. But good luck getting approved, even with a talented lawyer helping you. You wouldn't believe the hurdles the SSA put in my path when I filed for rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia. I had documentation in the form of medical charts and test results going back several years, but the process was unbelievably slow. Without a lawyer, I'd probably never have gotten approved. But you have nothing to lose by applying, and you'd be no worse off if they denied your case. And there's always the possibility you'd be approved. When I finally got mine, I received retroactive benefits going back to the day of my initial application. It's not every day $14k shows up in your mailbox. 
King Possum III fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Feb 7, 2018 |
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Feb 7, 2018 22:26
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tetrapyloctomy posted:Gabapentin 100% is being crushed and snorted for recreational use. We've been seeing a ton of it. People are snorting the whole 300mg capsule all at once?
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Mar 29, 2018 09:26
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PT6A posted:Ideally we'd also supply clean drugs to addicts, so there's no problem with unknown dosages, adulterated drugs, theft and other crime associated with drug trade, but first things first. You mean something other than methadone?
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Aug 31, 2018 05:12
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KingEup posted:or something in addition to methadone, like diamorphine. I've read about programs in Switzerland, and I think a few other countries that are doing exactly that. Apparently they have equal or greater success in harm reduction compared to methadone clinics in the US.
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Aug 31, 2018 07:40
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PT6A posted:Yep. Whatever they want, honestly. We need to stop looking at substance addiction as some kind of moral failing. If giving people their drug of choice keeps them from dying, contracting serious illnesses, or committing crimes to fund their habit, we should give it to them. Under the old system in the UK, addicts could register with the government and receive pharmaceutical heroin (and if they wanted it, cocaine), with sterile injection equipment. Apparently it was very effective at keeping illicit opioids from becoming as widespread as in the US up until the 1980s. One article I read said that in the early 1950s, there were just 56 registered heroin addicts in the UK. But IIRC, the NHS now offers only heroin or (preferably oral) methadone to new patients, and I'm not sure if people registered under the old system can still get their coke.
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Aug 31, 2018 17:49
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I first read about this a long time ago, and don't remember the original source. So I did a quick search, and found several articles that covered this. This is the one I got that figure from; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539406/
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Aug 31, 2018 18:03
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sea of losers posted:in case anyone cares: Abrasive in what way?
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Jun 5, 2020 17:36
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WAR CRIME GIGOLO posted:Coerced by corporate interests. But there's a dedicated agent who sees the bigger picture and she's determined to hold the Sacklers responsible. A well written series with unforgettable characters.
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Nov 19, 2021 20:50
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KingEup posted:Why wait until people fail bupe or methadone before offering injectable agonist therapy? Surely more people would be attracted into treatment earlier in their opioid using career if IV formulations were available as first line treatments. Isn't that basically what they used to do in England? I think they used to give registered addicts a fixed ration of morphine (and sometimes cocaine) with sterile injection equipment. But that was decades ago, when opioid addiction was rare in the UK. I understand the newer patients are given methadone; injectable if that's what the patient wants. Does anyone know for sure what the policy is today?
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Dec 1, 2021 22:03
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Wowwwwwwwww 220mg hydromorphone IV??? No typo?? I'd always heard the injectables given in these clinics was pharmaceutical grade heroin. I had a friend* who put it very well when he said Dilaudid is the crack of the opioid world because of the rush. So at first glance it does seem an odd choice for harm reduction, but if it keeps people alive until they're ready for treatment, that's a good thing. *My buddy was a regular in this thread until he OD'd and died in June 2020.
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Feb 28, 2022 20:42
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The Lone Badger posted:My medical knowledge is extremely limited, but would it be possible to have a slow release implant like they use for birth control or an implanted pump like they use for insulin, keeping a constant concentration of (appropriate drug) in the bloodstream to prevent craving while being very difficult to misuse / increase the concentration? You've just described Sublocade; a once-monthly subcutaneous injection that releases buprenorphine at a controlled rate. https://www.sublocade.com/?utm_camp...wE&gclsrc=aw.ds King Possum III fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Mar 1, 2022 |
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Mar 1, 2022 06:28
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King Possum III fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Jun 2, 2022 |
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Jun 2, 2022 02:39
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