I was recently contacted by someone that was working with the University of New England Online MSW Program, and they wanted to let me know they created an infographic called “Painkillers and Heroin in the U.S.” I was happy to post it on my website because it is of high-quality.
Often times reading words with visuals can lead to better understanding of an issue. You can read the article that goes with the infographic by clicking here.
Here is the infographic below, which shows just how significant the opioid epidemic has become in the US:
Hello, please help me Matt ! I have been on subs for almost 4 months. I started at 2mg twice a day I am down to 2 mg in am only. Have been there for two weeks. Yesterday I cute 1/4 off a two mg strip. I am frighten to death after reading everything about getting off. I have uncontrollable anxiety always have. My doc put me on neurotin. I am scared of that Med he first put me on Baclofen and I couldn’t tolerate it. It’s the holidays I have grandchildren. I am scared to get off for fear of sickness and scared to stay on longer. I am 63 , I go days without being able to eat. Not sure my body can handle the stress. Please help !
Dear Matt:
My name is Joe (John) Milner, my journey with opioid addiction began in the womb as my mom was a heroin addict back in the very early 70s but really didnt become a problem until around 2005 while i went through interferon treatment. the side effects along with problems with persistent and recurring kidney stones had me on hydromorphone. due to my naturally high tolerance for opioids they had me on 30mls 4 times a day once i started i couldnt stop and in hindsight it seems to me that they were willing to give me as much of this stuff as i could possibly handle. by 2008 i was abusing my meds, i could no longer control the monkey on my back that by now had grown into a fully grown and extremely hungry baboon. by now my dose was 60mls 4 times a day. during this time i began asking for medicinal marijuana but my doctors made it perfectly clear that this idea was not to be entertained for a single moment. fast forward a few years. Now i had progressed to injecting my hydromorph doing massive 60 – 90 mg hydromorphone injections. in 2011 i became critically ill with bacterial endocarditis, and although i was injecting drugs a severely rotten tooth that had become badly abscessed was believed to be the real culprit. although im sure abusing my meds contributed. i was hospitalized for an entire year until the infection was brought under control so they could replace my destroyed tricuspid valve. during this episode my dosage spiked to close to 120 mg 4 times daily. surgery was 2012, i was given a pigs valve and the procedure was a complete success with no complications. they promised to begin weening me off once i recovered fully from surgery. by 2014 dosing hadnt changed even-though i wanted off and told them marijuana is a better pain control tool for me begging to be switched. then i demanded to be put on methadone. i hate it, its so gross. fortunately ive gotten my medicinal marijuana card now and through the use of concentrates ive managed to drop my dose phenomenally by about 2/3rds im now down to 55mls but its getting harder. i want to break free of this crap so bad, im so sick of having to stand in line day after day while people judge me like a social pariah. ive heard of Kratom and am considering using it to supplement with my weed concentrates to help me expedite the situation. My methadone doctor refuses to give me carries even-though ive been clean of any street drug use for over 2 full years and only asks me if i want to go back up on my dose. i dont believe for a second that its in his best interests to lower my dose as i believe that hes just following higher orders to keep pushing this crap on the public, just as my GP was with hyrdromorph. if you’d be willing to help point me in the right direction and/or perhaps give me some advice on Kratom and dosages as well as anything else i would be eternally grateful.
John,
Unfortunately here in the US, the pharmaceutical companies are bullying their way through our governmentAL regulations , causing Kratom to be listed as a schedule 1 drug. It is my understanding that after September 30, 2016 it will be illegal to pocess.
~Mary
OAS RECOVERY SPECIALIST