Promising Results for New Trigeminal Neuralgia Drug - National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/1uzi9kP
This is a novel compound, not a patent extension or reformulation. It's another sodium channel blocker, but it is being specifically developed for Trigeminal Neuralgia. I doubt this will be a game changer, but I do believe that having another treatment option has the potential to help many people.
Pills for Breakfast: Five Things I Wish I Knew Sooner About Chronic Pain- National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/1uVOIve
I'm sure we all have many things we'd line to add (feel free to list them in the comments below), but this it's a great article.
Steve
FDA Approves New Opioid Addiction Treatment - National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/1oQMbPd
This isn't a new drug, just a new formulation of buprenorphine, but it's worth noting anyway.
Some of you may be wondering why I'm paying about an addiction treatment and it's a valid question. As pain patients, we are constantly grouped with addicts and we need to stay informed. Also, some PMs have prescribed Suboxone for pain, which is stupid because buprenorphine only treats pain with doses below 0.3mg/300mcg per day (Butrans is the only buprenorphine product capable of treating pain). The reason why doses above 2mg don't work for pain is that buprenorphine is a partial mu-opioid agonist (it acts like naloxone/Narcan and naltrexone at high doses and blocks opioids).
If we don't know the names of these addiction treatments, PMs can lie to to us.
SUBOXONE, BUNAVAIL, BUPRENEX, SUBUTEX, ZUBSOLV, AND ALL GENERIC BUPRENORPHINE PRODUCTS ARE FOR ADDICTION TREATMENT ONLY, DO NOT TAKE THEM FOR PAIN. Buprenorphine pills aren't for pain, only buprenorphine patches treat pain.
Steve
GW Pharmaceuticals cannabinoid for cancer pain likely to have encouraging US market penetration, abuse possibility uncertain – experts
http://ctcaho.pe/1lfsPUe
Although approval is limited to cancer related pain, Sativex should be made widely available due to a relatively low abuse potential for patients who don't get enough relief from opioids alone.
As a Marinol/dronabinol user, I'm excited about the possibility of a cannabinoid product without the intense high and unpredictable absorption of oral THC (Marinol). I can also verify the article's assertion that cannabinoids alone are inferior to cannabinoids added to to opioids.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I'm extremely excited for this new, non-opioid (& opioid boosting) pain medication. I also find reports like this one reassuring, and a little exciting (I'm sure it's no big deal for patients in medical cannabis states, but it's important for those of us in Republican hell states, we have no cannabis, no Medicaid expansion, and we're desperate for a decent cannabinoid (oral dronabinol is terrible & the Marinol inhaler is stuck in clinical trials)).
Steve
Generic Celebrex (celecoxib) Approved by FDA- National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/UhqsXD
While the prices will drop a little once these are available, the real price drop will occur in about six months, when multiple generics become available for each strength (Teva has exclusivity on 100mg, 200mg, & 400mg celecoxib & Mylan has exclusive marketing rights for 50mg celecoxib).
Of course, for insured patients, generics typically have a set generic copay and the only price drop they'll see is in their copay.
For uninsured patients, multiple generic manufacturers are a necessity because they have no price insulation.
Don't forget to ALWAYS use an Rx discount card for any prescription not covered by your insurance (if you have any).
Also, the Partnership for Prescription Assistance can help you find programs that offer free & discount drugs (my wife gets 30 Duragesic per month for $0.00, courtesy of Johnson & Johnson (owner of Janssen) thanks to PPARx.
http://pparx.org
My Story: The Dark Side of the Anti-Opioid Campaign - National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/1unVrhi
This article, and the comments, really say it all. The anti-opioid propagandists are doing nothing to fight drug addiction, but their restrictions are destroying HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of lives. Even the lucky few who have prescriptions are afraid to sneeze wrong or risk being cold turkeyed.
I haven't been paying much lately because my wife and I have had ridiculously busy weeks topped off with our daughter's kindergarten graduation yesterday (Tuesday). Her last day of school is tomorrow (or, rather, today... Thursday) and it's a half day (they get out at 10:45am).
While I'm extremely excited for her schedule to open up so that we can do more fun stuff (summer reading program, zoo trips, beach, museums, etcetera), I'm also worried about returning to chasing after her all day and all of the other things that go along with being a parent with chronic pain.
I've made rules for myself to prevent the typical cycle of over exertion & paying for that over exertion. I don't have them all written down, but they include (in no particular order):
1) TAKE BREAKS
2) "No" isn't a dirty word
3) Neither is "later"
4) kids don't need you to literally chase after them, just keep them within your eyesight when outside your home
5) Play dates are your friends (when you watch other people's kids, they really entertain your kid and you get free time when their parents return the favor)
6) don't afraid to ask for help
7) Kids will test you anytime things change, enforce discipline in June so July & August are smooth sailing
8) Don't forget your pain medication & don't skip doses, keeping your pain under control makes you a better parent
9) when you need a break, ask/tell your kid(s) to
10) DON'T BE SO JUDGEMENTAL/HARD ON YOURSELF
11) make time for yourself
12) make time for you & your significant other
Steve
Acetaminophen, Opioids, and Safety- Medscape
http://bit.ly/SpUhUq
It sickens me that hydrocodone/APAP 5/500 is still available. No one should have to cost between talking enough hydrocodone & not damaging their liver with acetaminophen/paracetamol/Tylenol (APAP). 500mg APAP gas not been shown to be superior to the safer 325mg APAP. Of course, they never added the acetaminophen for pain relief, it us there to prevent people from taking more hydrocodone that prescribed (doesn't work), which is why hydrocodone is CII, but hydrocodone/APAP is CIII (less restrictive).
Bill Would Force Drug Makers to Make Painkillers Tamper Resistant- National Pain Report
http://bit.ly/1kYSnVB
I know that this story is about two years old, but there is talk of reviving this bill in light of the Zohydro (non-tamper-resistant hydrocodone ER).
There are several problems with tamper-resistant opioids:
1) tamper-resistant opioids don't always work as well (or at all)- they're tested on healthy people who have an easier time absorbing them (the healthy people have to absorb them within a 30% tolerance)
2) they don't stop people from abusing them, but it does weaken the "high", which causes them to go to diacetylmorphine/diamorphine/heroin
3) they increase pharmacy prices, which makes it harder for pain patients to afford their medications
3b) increased pharmacy prices lead to increased street prices, which causes addicts (& sometimes even pain patients) to switch to heroin
3c) street heroin has unknown potency, unknown impurities, & poor oral absorption causing people to resort to intravenous injections
The ONLY way to reduce the harm caused by drug addiction is to switch from the law enforcement model to a treatment based model and to LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS (private prisons and the DEA would lose money, so they spend a small fortune fighting this). Legalization (& the drop in prices that this would cause) would eliminate the violence, crime, and disease (people inject heroin because it HA poor oral absorption & injecting is cheaper- same high from less drug; legal drugs also lack the dangerous impurities found in street heroin).