Belladonna and Opium (B&O) suppositories are one of the best things that I've discovered. They were very reluctant to write me a prescription for them but they were life changing last time I had to pass a stone. Dunno what would happen if I asked for one outright... when I tell them dilaudid doesn't do much for me I get treated very skeptically.
> Dunno what would happen if I asked for one outright...
Nowadays unless you're over 65 you'd be labelled with "drug seeking behavior" (in your records) and sent home with nothing and a "come to the hospital when you pass your stone." Forget the fact that the difference between drug-seeking behavior and legitimately needing something stronger is indistinguishable, and forget the fact that it will cost thousands upon thousands of dollars for you to do it in hospital. Thank God they're keeping you safe from the evil Sacklers
I had a staph infection on my balls when I was recovering from cancer. My normal doctor was busy so I went to urgent care, with blood dripping down my leg. It was the first time I ever asked for pain killers. I was prescribed acetaminophen.
I understand that addiction is a big problem, but this was a male doctor looking at a whole in my testicles, and telling me he can't give me painkillers
My wife had some core muscles in her back collapse. Think unable to walk and could only crawl with me holding her hips up. When she went to the primary doc, he thought it was drug seeking behavior. When she went to the ER they luckily decided that she was serious and gave her the most powerful muscle relaxant available - Valium. She had no idea, but it it saved her life.
I see several issues here, but I think it is extremely important that no one leaves thinking Valium is the most powerful muscle relaxant available. Valium is a centrally acting muscle relaxant, among others. It is very difficult to kill someone with an overdose, mostly interactions with other drugs.
The best muscle relaxant / antispasmodic depends on the patient and the situation. Valium is a safe indication from someone not dealing with those medications, as a temporary measure.
All benzodiazepines (including valium - diazepam) create dependence.
It's possible the ER doc meant most powerful that he could legally prescribe given the clinical presentation; or perhaps he was just saying that because you don't give someone medication and say "well, you just got a basic painkiller, it's near the end of the its use-by, maybe it'll work", you say "We're giving you the best". It's the placebo effect, albeit with a medication that should work regardless.
What I meant is that she had a serious muscle spasm which caused any attempt to use the muscle to leave her in agony. Since the muscle in question was in the lower back and is used for everything to do with balance, this left her bedridden.
Its interesting because its a very specific, recent, and almost uniquely American religious concept, that's written into virtually every aspect of our culture.
That is, it seems like nowhere else has the idea of purification through suffering really taken hold at such a widespread level for so long. I'd argue its because its just the flipside of the Prosperity Gospel. If you assume that one's physical conditions are a reflection of one's spiritual choices, then your first move when someone says "I'm in pain, please help me with my pain" is to ask "What have you done to deserve this pain? I won't remove God-given pain; if you deserve it, it would be a sin to do so", instead of "Here's something to make the pain manageable while we figure out how to remove the source of the pain".
> I'd argue its because its just the flipside of the Prosperity Gospel.
I loathe the prosperity gospel too, and never miss a chance to blame its preachers where I can. But in this case I think glorification of suffering can’t be blamed on them because suffering was also fetishized by mother Teresa.
It does seem to be a uniquely American problem though.
I don't disagree that others outside of the US have taken up the cause of the holiness of suffering. I'm arguing that only the US has taken it and injected it into every aspect of our culture, because we have taken the Prosperity Gospel and injected it into every aspect of our culture.
Scratchy robes for monks in certain orders has long been a thing all over the world. But successfully banning comfortable clothing for all, regardless of religiosity, is really more of an American thing.
I agree it's terrible and very American, but I don't think it's recent. There's a good bit in this Backstory podcast where they talk about how part of the shift to sleeping straight through the night (as opposed to the previous behavior of first and second sleep) was partly driven by puritan busybodies (from the temperance movement, I think?) who thought that it was virtuous to sleep a bare minimum or less: https://backstoryradio.org/shows/on-the-clock-4/
I also recall reading of Calvinists who came to American in the mid-1800s to be free of such things as vaccines and insurance, because they thought those things interfered with God's plan. A plan, apparently, wherein a lot of people suffered while others stood around and quietly gloated that they were god's favorites.
Yeah. This overcorrection happened in my country too. We saw what happened in the US and the result was doctors became more afraid of prescribing opioids even when in cases of acute pain where it's warranted. Fear of causing harm to patients due to risk of drug dependence.
And yet benzodiazepines are taken by vast amounts of people as if it was water.
Go look at opioid prescriptions by country. Europe is way lower than the US. Plenty of anecdotes about how hard it is to get opioid prescriptions in Europe.
I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just it's lower than the US, yet less religious, which pretty much blows up OP's thesis.
But you said "pain medication", many forms of which are sold OTC in Europe just like basically everywhere else. Now that you've narrowed it to "opioids", sure...
Not everyone is easy to start an IV on, especially if it's hard for them to hold still (like if they're in so much pain that they're considering between IV drugs or a suppository).
I guess I misspoke a bit in the original comment. Yea - in the hospital, they’ll just inject if possible; however, if a doctor is writing a prescription and you’re offered pills vs a suppository, take the suppository.
