Dawn Anderson’s Desperate Plea for Help

DAWN ANDERSON

(Editor’s note: Red Lawhern recently wrote a column about Dawn Anderson, a 52-year Indiana woman who died this month after a long battle with chronic pain and illness. Dawn was a double amputee and diabetic. We may never know the precise cause of her death, but as Red points out, Dawn died in “needless agony” because her pain was poorly treated.      

Last September, Dawn wrote a letter to her longtime primary care provider and shared a copy of it with PNN. Her letter is essentially a plea for help. Dawn asked the primary care doctor to take over her pain management because she was no longer able to get opioid medication from Dr. Paul Madison, a pain specialist who ran afoul of the law and stopped practicing medicine.    

Dawn wanted the letter published and her family has agreed because they want her story to be heard.)

A Letter to My PCP From His Chronic Pain Patient

Dear Doctor, 

You and I have been together, side by side for many years. You have been my doctor. I have been your patient.  You have cared for me during my most vulnerable times. You know my most precious secrets regarding my physical and mental capacities.  I have shared openly and honestly from my heart. You have saved my life not once, not twice, but numerous times. 

The pain I have endured has been stressful, exhausting, depressing and life changing.  You had tried your best to control my pain. Thank you for your referral to pain management.  This has been my experience.

I was promised by numerous pain management physicians my pain would resolve and I would be walking upright.  I knew it was puffing as no doctor could make such a promise.  Each time seeing a new pain management specialist, I went through numerous non-opiate medications.  Lyrica, Elavil, Cymbalta, Neurontin -- the list goes on and on. They tried numerous alternative treatments. Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Acupuncture, Acupressure, epidural injections, trigger point injections, caudal injections, radiofrequency nerve ablations. Not only did these cost lots of money, it took lots of my time and energy.  Most did not work.  Some gave relief that was short lived. 

Many of the doctors I had seen tried opiate medications.  I was on high dose Methadone when you referred me to the pain specialists. The Methadone made me so drowsy. It allowed me to sleep but it did not relieve the pain.  I was forced from pain doctor to pain doctor.  When one could not fulfill the promise of relieving the pain and having me walking upright, I was discharged from the service with a letter saying my condition was too complex and they would no longer see me. Or I would get the famous, “I don't know what else to do for you.”

Many of the opiates I was prescribed did not relieve the stabbing intractable pain I was experiencing.  One pain center refused to see me because I was discharged from one service and scheduled the appointment 28 days later.  I was accused of drug seeking.  I was in no way seeking drugs, I was seeking relief from the pain that kept me thinking I would be better off dead.

After the second amputation and surviving septic shock, I had no hope. I was so tired of the pain, the hospitalizations, the medications, the embarrassment of crawling around like a dog, the quality of life that I no longer had.  I couldn't even wipe my own butt.  But there was something about that granddaughter who was recently born that I needed to hold onto some type of hope things would get better.

Midwest Pain Management was my last hope.  I explained everything I had endured as far as pain treatments, the type of pain I was having and all the locations my pain was affecting.  I was slowly weaned off Methadone.  Again, I had to go through all those previous alternatives, previous medications, previous treatments.

The last trigger point injection I received caused an abscess about the size of a grapefruit.  I had to get the abscess drained, get placed on antibiotics and the doctor refused to do any further injections for fear of more infections and septic shock. The only option at this point was again, the opiate based medications. 

Now understand when you agree to go on opiate medication, you sign a pain contract. Basically limiting you to one doctor prescribing opiates, one pharmacy to obtain the opiate, monthly urine drug screens, and occasional pill counts which means the office can call you any time and you must go in with your pill bottle. 

Although many of the opiates caused drowsiness, they did not control the pain.  After almost two and a half years of trying different drugs at different doses, this pain doctor was able to find the right drug at the right dose that relieved my pain and not cause extreme drowsiness.  I was able to start doing things I did prior to both legs being amputated.  I was able to live on a daily basis without being so drowsy and unable to focus.  I began to have hope as I was able to care for my family, take care of the house, start paying the bills again, look forward to going on vacation. 

This was 8 years ago. I have remained on the same drug and the same dose for those 8 years.

You have seen me at my most desperate times. You have seen me when all I could do was focus on all the pain I was having.  And you can attest for the last 8 years, my pain has been under control and has not been a topic in our office visits until now.

You and I have always spoken with honesty and sincerity.  You have always called my pain doctor my drug dealer.  Although I have always smirked when you say it, it hurts my heart because I feel if it wasn't for this pain doctor who never gave up trying old treatments, new treatments, questionable treatments, I would have killed myself many years ago. 

The quality of life I had on high dose opiate medication relieved that excruciating stabbing pains in my back, stumps and hips.  I may not be walking upright but I was walking with minimal pain.  Until recently, you and your office did not even know I had a wheelchair.  How do you think I was able to do that?  I was able to do that because I was taking the pain medication my so-called drug dealer prescribed for me.  I never once abused them, misused them, diverted them, overdosed on them. 

Since the decrease and removal of the long acting medication, my quality of life has greatly diminished.  It is so painful to walk with the prosthetics. It hurts to bend, it hurts to stand. The pain has returned and again, all I can focus on. Being in constant pain is exhausting, depressing, and taking my will to live. 

You may see this as being addicted to the medication.  I see this as being addicted to the quality of life I had when my pain was under control. The life where I could put on my prosthetics, go shopping, go out in the yard and rake my leaves. The life where I enjoyed being around others without having constant pain to focus on.  That life where I loved to plan and go on cruises to the Caribbean. That life that no longer exists.

I feel like there is nowhere to turn, no one to help. I know there is a life where all this pain I am experiencing can be relieved with one medication. I am desperate to get that life back.

Sincerely,

Dawn Anderson

(Editor’s note: How did Dawn’s doctor respond? “I brought him the letter and have not received any communication from him. Just sad. He has been my doctor for decades,” Dawn wrote in an email last October. “I'll fight until I can't fight any longer. I have lost over 40 pounds and my muscles keep getting weaker.”

Dawn died on March 11, 2019. She is survived by her husband, two daughters and three granddaughters.)

What Doctors Say About CDC Opioid Guideline

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Over two-thirds of healthcare providers are worried about being prosecuted for prescribing opioid medication and many have stopped treating chronic pain, according to a new survey by Pain News Network on the impact of the CDC’s opioid prescribing guideline. One in four providers say they’ve lost a pain patient to suicide since the guideline was released in 2016.

A total of 68 doctors and 89 healthcare providers participated in the online survey. While that’s a relatively small sample size in comparison to the nearly 6,000 patients who took the survey, the providers come from a broad spectrum of healthcare, including pain management, primary care, palliative care, surgery, pharmacy, nursing and addiction treatment.

The CDC guideline discourages the prescribing of opioids for chronic pain and cautions doctors not to exceed a daily dose of 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) because of the risk of addiction and overdose. Although voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians, the guideline has been widely implemented as mandatory throughout the U.S. healthcare system.

Many doctors believe the guideline limits their ability to treat patients and has not improved the quality of pain care in the United States.  

“There are reasonable elements to the guidelines which should be preserved. However, setting an upper dose limit, especially one so low, severely interferes with titrating the opioids to their most effective doses, which is often much higher than 90 MME,” said a pain management doctor.

“The guidelines became hard rules for many insurance companies and pharmacies. Patients with pain have suffered in consequence,” said a palliative care doctor. 

“I see chronic pain patients all day that do not have their pain well controlled. It is heart breaking,” said another provider.

HAS CDC GUIDELINE IMPROVED QUALITY OF PAIN CARE?

“They are horribly ill-conceived. If we thought our previous approach to pain management was flawed, we surely will soon realize that these guidelines are worse,” said a pain management physician. “A patient told me two weeks ago that his friend needs repeated (coronary bypass) surgery, but now the hospital system treats post-surgical pain with Tylenol. This is barbaric.” 

An addiction treatment doctor summed up his feelings about the guideline with two words: “Misguided and draconian.”

Pain Contracts and Drug Tests

Nearly two-thirds of providers surveyed require patients to sign a “pain contract” before they get opioids. Over half have discharged a patient for failing a drug test or not following the rules. And nearly one in five mistakenly believe the guideline is mandatory.

• 64% require patients to sign a pain contract or take drug tests

• 52% have discharged patients for failing drug test or not following rules

• 45% use more non-opioid therapies

• 18% believe CDC guideline is mandatory

• 17% refer more patients to addiction treatment

• 10% stopped treating chronic pain patients

•   7% closed practice or retired due to concerns about opioids

“I feel like the blow-back to the CDC guideline is just as misplaced as the misuse of it. The recommendations are good science,” said a pharmacy provider. “There are lots of people - prescribers, pharmacists, insurance companies, law enforcement - who have misapplied the guidelines and are practicing poorly with them as an excuse. That is not the fault of the guidelines themselves, but the fault of poor education and dissemination.”

“These guidelines came from people that do not serve as clinicians to patients,” said one provider. “I have witnessed patients being abruptly cut off from medications they've been on for years and without any notice. Some have gone through extreme withdrawal to the point of death from the complications of withdrawal.”

Disparity in Prescribing

The survey found a wide disparity in how providers have adjusted to the guideline’s recommendations.

Nearly half still prescribe opioids above 90 MME when they feel it’s appropriate, while 20 percent only prescribe at or below the 90 MME threshold. Fourteen percent have stopped prescribing opioids altogether.

“We are getting dumped on by all the PCP’s (primary care providers). They no longer want anything to do with patients on opioids,” said a pain management doctor. “What is medicine coming to that the number of opioids is more important than a patient’s well-being?”

“Acute pain is now being undertreated, as well as many who have been denied pain control with opiates. These patients are being harmed. All of us prescribers know that the majority of overdoses are from illegal opiates from other countries. We are not stupid,” wrote a provider who works in urgent care.

HOW HAS CDC GUIDELINE AFFECTED YOUR OPIOID PRESCRIBING?

Chilling Effect

Doctors are well aware they are under scrutiny. The Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies monitor prescription drug databases (PDMPs) to track opioid prescriptions. While PDMPs were initially promoted as a way to protect physicians from “doctor shopping” patients, they are now routinely used by the DEA to identify, threaten and raid the offices of doctors who prescribe high doses – even when there is no evidence of a patient being harmed by the drugs.       

“PDMPs are tracking prescribing based upon CDC guidelines. That has an adverse effect upon prescribers who end up being profiled and in jeopardy of arrest and prosecution,” a doctor wrote.

“They have weaponized the political and legal manifestations of appropriately treating chronic pain,“ said a pain management doctor.

“They have shamed high dose long term opioid patients and treat the prescriber like a bad guy. They are clueless to the fact that majority of deaths have always been street addicts and not legit pain patients. The guidelines embolden medical regulators to come after doctors, resulting in chilling effect on prescribers,” said an addiction treatment doctor.

The crackdown has also had a chilling effect on pharmacies and insurers, who are just as eager to stay out of trouble. Nearly three out of four providers (73%) say they’ve had a pharmacy refuse to fill an opioid prescription and 70 percent say an insurer has refused to pay for a pain treatment.

“Why does CVS, a drug store that sells NSAIDs without restriction, have control of how I treat my patient?” asked one provider.

“The insurance companies are acting beyond the CDC guidelines with their hard limits on dosing, even sending threatening letters to doctors,” said a physician. 

“Pharmacies and insurances are dictating how we treat our patients without the medical ability or authority to make diagnosis or treatment plans. Each patient is different,” wrote one provider. 

“The guideline is extremely narrow-minded and reactionary. Yes, opioid addiction has become a huge problem, and yes, some physicians are partially to blame because of inappropriate prescribing, but plenty more physicians prescribe opioids appropriately. Now many of those doctors are scared to do their job, leaving patients in unnecessary pain,” said a doctor.

Biased CDC Advisors

Many providers believe the guideline advisors assembled by the CDC were biased and unqualified to make recommendations for pain management. Their initial meetings were closed to the public and the agency refused to disclose who the advisors were. Later it was revealed that five board members of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), an anti-opioid activist group, were involved in developing the guideline, including two that belonged to a key committee that helped draft it.

“They are an abomination that has been foisted on the world by PROP via the CDC and have no real clinical or evidence based background, yet are carried forward by political and bureaucratic purveyors of untruth,” said a pain management doctor.

“I believe this guideline was made by a panel without any pain doctors. How can they know what is best? They have contributed to stigma, and now patients instead of safely being monitored by pain clinics are turning to the streets and dying from illegal opioids. The CDC then uses that data to inflate the so-called epidemic,” said another provider.

“The CDC never weighed the information from the pain treating community. The consequences were predictable. Poor quality of life for the pain patients and continuation of the opiate epidemic from imported fentanyl. The guidelines were a travesty,” a pain management doctor wrote.

“The CDC did not have the legal authority to issue the guidelines in the first place. They should be declared unconstitutional and burned. Dosing should be following the FDA published guidelines for a particular medication,” said a pharmacy provider.

‘Where Are the Followup Studies?’

When it released the guideline in 2016, CDC said it was “committed to evaluating the guideline” and would make revisions if there were unintended consequences. A CDC spokesperson recently told PNN several studies are underway evaluating the guideline, but gave no indication that any changes are imminent.

“Where are the followup studies to monitor the incidence of patients committing suicide, looking for illicit drugs on the streets, overuse of NSAIDs, (acetaminophen) with organ damage and death, increased disability, loss of quality of life, overuse of alcohol and tobacco, worsening of co-morbid conditions due to weight gain, inability to exercise or sleep, adverse effects on relationships?” asked a pain management doctor. “The guidelines are effective at saving money for the payors. That, I fear, is why there is no serious effort to revise the guidelines.”

For a breakdown of some of the other key findings from our survey, click here. To see what patients had to say about the guideline, click here. Our sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to participate.

What Pain Patients Say About CDC Opioid Guideline

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Are there better and safer alternatives than opioids for chronic pain?

That’s one of the questions posed in PNN’s latest survey on the CDC’s opioid prescribing guideline. The guideline states that “no evidence shows a long-term benefit of opioids” and recommends physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, massage and a number of non-opioid medications as safer and more effective treatments.

People in pain disagree. Nearly 7 out of 10 patients tell us there are no better or safer treatments for chronic pain than opioids.

But the numbers tell only part of the story. Most of the 5,885 patients who responded to our survey left detailed comments on how the CDC guideline has affected them.  

Many have lost access to opioid medications after using them responsibly for years. They feel abandoned by the healthcare system.

Some are bedridden due to physical pain, but also live with the emotional suffering that comes from losing jobs, financial security, marriages and friends.

Many are suicidal. And a few have turned to street drugs.

ARE THERE BETTER AND SAFER ALTERNATIVES THAN OPIOIDS FOR CHRONIC PAIN?

We thought the comments below were important for you to see. They are representative of the thousands that we received. The comments are edited for clarity and to protect the patients’ identities.  

‘I Have Lost So Much’

“I am now only able to use Tylenol for my multiple, severe chronic pain conditions. In two years, I have had to quit working, I am homebound, mostly bedridden. I am severely depressed, think about suicide daily as my only remaining option for pain management. I have severe insomnia due to the pain. I have developed severe hypertension and cardiac arrhythmia due to the constant severe pain and twice have suffered sudden cardiac arrest. The cardiologist said there is no underlying cardiac conditions, it is due to long term, unmanaged, severe pain.”

“I have been diagnosed with over 30 different conditions and a rare muscular disease. I spent thousands on doctors and natural treatments. Now, I have to suffer until I die. I have missed out on so much and lost so much. In bankruptcy, lost my business, could not go to Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the worst was I could not go to my daughter’s wedding. My life has become PAIN and my bed. As Americans we are supposed to have freedom. The right to choose what’s best for our pain. Each individual is different. The government should not choose what medication we should not take or how much.”

“You have no idea what it feels like to hurt, every single day. To be accused of being a drug addict for needing opioids. I have tried physical therapy. I have tried essential oils and Epsom salt baths. I have tried acupuncture and going to a chiropractor. I have tried every single alternative, but nothing helps the debilitating bone pain. I think of suicide, often. The opioids don't even get us high, it barely helps with the pain. At least with them, we can lead somewhat of a life. Right now I can barely work, let alone live. Your guidelines help no one but yourselves. People will always find a way to abuse something. But you guidelines are not hurting them. They are hurting us. You, are hurting us.”

“People with chronic/intractable pain just want to have some form of quality life. We want to live our lives. We want to be able to work, run errands like grocery shopping, clean our homes, cook food and take care of our families. I don't mention a social life as that is even difficult with good pain management. These guidelines are stripping people of their dignity, self worth and will to live, not to forget the shame and humiliation for needing narcotic pain medication in order to live.”

‘American Genocide’

"I am ashamed that my chosen career in Public Health has actively created a campaign based on false data.  The fact that the ‘prescription’ drug epidemic was based on both the legal and illegal drug statistics was openly stated at every public health presentation I attended. That more accurate breakdowns have now been published has not altered the campaign, since grant monies have been awarded to organizations based on the inaccurate info, and those organizations must follow-through with the original requirements to get their money. Although they knew that data on suicides and the impact on pain patient quality of life would need to be measured, information systems to gather this information were not put into place.” 

“A prescription opioid was the only medication that worked for me. I went through every non-narcotic drug before my doctor would even prescribe opioids. These guidelines have made doctors scared to write pain med prescriptions.  Never in my life did I think I would live in a country that has legalized the torture of millions of American citizens by withholding necessary pain medication. This is beginning to look like the start of an American genocide of chronic pain/ill people.”

“I believe everyone has a right to be pain free. Every person has a different pain tolerance and to deny them medication for their pain should be absolutely illegal. People who are denied pain medication WILL find another way to handle their pain, and WILL be more likely to overdose and possibly die. Denying prescription pain medication will not stop people from finding it somewhere else, it will only increase their desperation to find another way to get it.”  

I'm scared. I am a senior citizen. I cannot afford to go on like this. I am now afraid to see a physician because I am using Heroin for pain. I do not have a addictive personality. It is the only substance I use and only enough to barely function. I am frightened. I am ashamed. The one thing the CDC was attempting to halt has sent numerous pain patients down the road of underpasses and scary encounters to try and keep functioning as we used to before we were treated like addicts.”

“I have lost good friends because of the CDC guidelines. I have had 4 friends commit suicide because they could not deal with their day to day pain levels. I had a friend who broke his ankle bad enough that the bone was sticking out and he had to have surgery and they told him to take Advil and Tylenol afterwards. This is starting to be barbaric and inhumane.” 

‘Living on Borrowed Time’

“I have been fortunate. My doctor continues to treat me, prescribe my meds, and help when there is a problem getting prescriptions filled. However, many of my friends have had problems ranging from doctors discharging them to pharmacists refusing to fill their prescriptions and more. One of my friends committed suicide when her pain meds were taken from her and she could no longer live with her pain. I feel so fortunate that I'm not having these problems, but then I wonder if I'm living on borrowed time.” 

“My spine specialist informed me one year ago he would no longer be doing pain management due to the DEA. I have not been able to find another pain doctor.  I am 55 years old. I spend 75% of my days in bed suffering. Even taking a shower puts me in tears. My house is a mess. I only go to the grocery store and my primary care provider when I have to. I have had multiple injections in my back, have tried every OTC med but nothing helps. When I was on opioids I passed my urine screens, my medication was never off count. I took them as prescribed. WHY AM I BEING NEGLECTED? DON'T I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE TREATED FOR MY PAIN?”

“I have chronic pain due to multiple spine surgeries and fibromyalgia. I am on Medicaid and unable to work. I was on the same dose of opioids through a pain management physician for over 10 years with no issues whatsoever. I was able to work, raise my children (single mom) and have a life. I now have been cut back so far that I have to choose whether or not I want a good night’s sleep. The CDC guidelines have completely left the chronic pain community out to dry.”

‘Doctors Have a Responsibility’

“Please please please tell doctors they have a responsibility to provide pain medication to patients whose lives are being destroyed by chronic pain. I've lost everything because I got hurt at work. I used to run marathons and triathlons. Now my my blood pressure has skyrocketed, I gained 30 pounds, I lost my independence, I have no social life, I lost my sex life, and as a result of all these things I finally lost my wife of ten years. The guidelines needs to emphasize the need for people like me to have access to pain meds because so far, every doctor I have come into contact with since my injury has ignored that part of the guidelines. If you want to see a doctor's eyes glaze over and watch them stop listening to you, just mention pain medication.”

“My doctor was placed under investigation by the DEA for overprescribing. His practice was for high risk pain patients (many receiving end of life care), so he was red-flagged for a high volume of opioid Rx’s. As a result multiple chain pharmacies refuse to fill his scripts, Medicare & Medicaid patients were dropped with only 30 days notice, and he had to start tapering all other patients no matter our diagnosis. My insurance has refused to reimburse my prescriptions and half my disability check now goes to pay for them. I have no quality of life, it hurts to do everything, even basic self-care. I was openly mocked by doctor at a recent visit to the emergency room when I said I had a pain level of 7. He told me I wouldn’t get my fix from him. I had fractured my back in a rollover car accident.”

“Four years ago I was diagnosed with a B cell Lymphoma cancer. At that time my cancer doc prescribed pain meds for the broken vertebrae the cancer caused and the pain that the chemo caused. I came out of remission recently and started another round of treatment. My cancer doctor will no longer prescribe pain meds for me because I now see a pain doctor. The pain doctor doesn't understand the new cancer drug I'm on and that the side effects of this drug are pain, so he is very reluctant to manage my cancer pain. Many days I wonder if it would just be better to let the cancer take its course than to be scrutinized and treated like a criminal.”

“I am 88 years old and the dosage of medication I was given before these guidelines went into effect gave me a decent quality of life and I was able to endure the severe chronic pain I have had for years. I am now in a nursing home with a 38-year-old doctor who refuses to treat my pain. I feel helpless and fear I am going to remain in this nursing home much longer than I would like. I am also angry, in pain and have become depressed due to my situation. I have thought of suicide, often. I recall our lawmakers and others stating they did not want to do anything to keep the elderly from suffering due to these changes. I am here to tell you that they missed that goal by a long shot. As an elderly man, I should have the right to take what I need to live out my last bit of time on this earth as comfortable as possible. These guidelines have made that impossible.”

For a breakdown of some of the key findings from our survey, click here.  To see what doctors and other healthcare providers are saying about the guideline, click here.

Survey: CDC Guideline Having ‘Horrendous’ Impact on Pain Patients

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The CDC opioid prescribing guideline has harmed pain patients, significantly reduced their access to pain care, and forced many patients to turn to alcohol and other drugs for pain relief, according to a large new survey of over 6,000 patients and healthcare providers by Pain News Network. 

Today marks the third anniversary of the CDC guideline, which discourages the prescribing of opioid medication for chronic pain. Although voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians, the guideline has been implemented as mandatory policy by many states, insurers, pharmacies and throughout the U.S. healthcare system. The survey found many unintended consequences for both patients and providers.

Over 85 percent of patients say the guideline has made their pain and quality of life worse. And nearly half say they have considered suicide because their pain is poorly treated.

“The guidelines are affecting legitimate patients in a horrendous way while the actual addicts are just turning to street drugs,” said one pain sufferer.  “My quality of life has been so drastically reduced I attempted to take my life last year. Fortunately, I was found before I could bleed out but every single day has been an absolute struggle.”

Over two-thirds of healthcare providers are worried about being sanctioned or prosecuted for prescribing opioids. Rather than risk going to prison, many have stopped treating pain, closed their practice or retired.

“Many of those doctors are scared to do their job, leaving patients in unnecessary pain, both acute and chronic. Tapering patients on chronic stable doses of opioids because some people abuse opioids is not just unjustified, it’s cruel and harmful,” a doctor wrote.

The PNN survey was conducted online and through social media from February 17 to March 15.  A total of 5,856 patients and 157 doctors and other healthcare providers in the U.S. participated.

Asked if the guideline is helpful or harmful, 96 percent of respondents said it has harmed pain patients — a startling verdict for an agency with a mission statement that says “CDC saves live and protects people from health threats.”

“Cannot understand or know why the CDC will not speak out on the harm done to undertreated, denied and abandoned patients,” one patient said.

“It was a criminal act. The outcome was foreseen, the guidelines were written in secret, and the carnage that we predicted has come to pass,” said an emergency medicine physician.

“They should be revoked. People are suffering and committing suicide due to inability to tolerate suffering. This is inhumane,” another provider wrote. “It blemishes CDC’s reputation.”

HAS CDC GUIDELINE BEEN HELPFUL OR HARMFUL TO PAIN PATIENTS?

Opioid Prescriptions Declining

Opioid prescriptions in the U.S. have been declining for several years and now stand at their lowest level since 2003. The drop in prescriptions appears to have accelerated since the CDC guideline was released in 2016.

Eight out of ten patients said they are being prescribed a lower dose or that their opioid prescriptions were stopped. Many indicated they were forcibly tapered off opioids without an effective alternative.

“I had my pain under control until my doctor told me he was cutting my pain meds by half,” a patient said. “He lied to me, he cut them by 85% and now I am home ridden! The CDC guidelines are a disaster to the chronic/intractable pain patients.”

“I have lost all quality of life and many days I no longer want to live with this pain,” another patient wrote. “I've never abused my meds, yet I'm being treated like a drug addict.”

“VA doctors are afraid to prescribe any opioids or narcotics, because of mandatory education courses given to all VA doctors,” a nurse with the Veterans Administration said. “The veterans are not being treated for chronic pain. Suicides have increased!”

“Our doctors should not have to choose between treating their patients in a safe meaningful way or feeling like they could lose their licenses to practice,” another patient said.

HOW HAS CDC GUIDELINE AFFECTED YOUR OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS?

Patient Abandonment

It’s not just opioids that patients are losing access to. Nearly 9 out 10 pain patients report problems finding a doctor that’s willing to treat them. Many say they’ve been discharged or abandoned by a doctor or had problems with a pharmacy or insurer. Only a small percentage of patients have been referred to addiction treatment.

• 73% of patients say it is harder to find a doctor

• 15% unable to find a doctor

• 34% abandoned or discharged by a doctor

• 27% insurer refused to pay for a pain treatment

• 27% pharmacy refused to fill an opioid prescription

• 5% given a referral for addiction treatment

“As an RN in pain management I have seen decreased quality of life, increased pain and anxiety for patients. Providers fear for their license and livelihood. My staff spends HOURS on the phone trying to authorize scripts,” a nurse wrote.

“Most doctors in our area are refusing to prescribe any opioids, even the pain management doctors. This is forcing some patients to buy street drugs,” a primary care physician said.

Desperate Measures

The widespread denial of care has many patients taking desperate measures for pain relief. One in five are hoarding opioid medication because they fear losing access to the drugs. Many others are using alcohol, marijuana or the herbal supplement kratom for pain relief. A small percentage are using illicit drugs. Few have found medical treatments that work as well as prescription opioids.

• 22% of patients hoarding opioid medication

• 11% obtained opioid medication from family, friends or black market

• 26% used medical marijuana for pain relief

• 20% used alcohol for pain relief

• 20% used kratom for pain relief

• 4% used illegal drugs (heroin, illicit fentanyl, etc.) for pain relief

• 2% found other treatments that work just as well or better than Rx opioids

“I know seven people personally that have gone to the streets to get pain relief. Four of them died because it was mixed with fentanyl. Two committed suicide,” one patient said.

“Since my doctor stopped prescribing even my small amount of opioids, I deal with days where I can’t even get out of bed because I hurt so much and I’m stuck turning to alcohol, excessive amounts of acetaminophen and NSAIDs,” another patient wrote. “Kratom has been the omly thing that has helped my pain.”

“I have been without a prescription for two years and have been getting medication on the street. I cannot afford this and I have no criminal history whatsoever. I have tried heroin for the first time in my life, out of desperation and thank God, did not like it. It was stronger than anything I need to help with pain,” wrote another patient.

Addiction and Overdoses Still Rising

While the guideline appears to have significantly reduced the dose and quantity of opioid prescriptions, patients and providers overwhelmingly believe it has failed to reduce opioid addiction and overdoses. Nearly 49,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2017, but over half of the deaths involved illicit fentanyl or heroin, not prescription opioids.

“They are attacking the wrong problem. Pain patients are under strict scrutiny by their doctors and therefore have an addiction rate lower than the general population. The large numbers of deaths are among those who are using heroin and other illegal drugs,” one patient wrote.

“As a retired substance abuse counselor, these new guidelines do nothing to stop the real addict. It only hurts those of us in chronic pain,” said another patient.

“What happened to care for the elderly, disabled and sick?” asked one patient. “We are not the problem. The amount of prescription pain medicine has significantly gone down but the overdoses are continuing to rise. This is targeting the wrong people!”

HAS CDC GUIDELINE REDUCED OPIOID ADDICTION AND OVERDOSES?

Guideline Revisions Needed

An overwhelming majority (97%) of patients and healthcare providers believe the CDC guideline should be revised. When it released its recommendations in 2016, the agency said it was “committed to evaluating the guideline” and would make future updates “when warranted.” A CDC spokesperson recently told PNN there are several studies underway evaluating the impact of the guideline, but gave no indication that any changes are imminent.

Patients and providers say the the guideline is misunderstood, based on faulty evidence and needs revision.

“It is a falsified document created only to satisfy political pressure which demanded such a report. There is no medical/scientific evidence to support the conclusions made in the document,” a patient wrote.

“The CDC needs to correct their glaring error. They need to make sure that every doctor in America is re-educated and reassured that they can treat people with serious pain disorders without being jailed,” said another patient. “The CDC needs to stand up and admit their mistake, they need to correct the damage.”

“While the guidelines are useful, they should not have been made into mandatory rules followed by states and insurers. The patients with chronic pain issues are suffering. Can we revisit them?” asked a palliative care doctor.

SHOULD CDC GUIDELINE BE REVISED?

For more survey results and comments on the guideline, see “What Pain Patients Say About CDC Opioid Guideline” and “What Doctors Say About the CDC Opioid Guideline.”

Over 6,200 people responded to PNN’s survey. In tabulating the results, we did not include the responses of caretakers, spouses and friends of patients or those who live outside the U.S. We greatly appreciate everyone who participated and will be releasing more survey results in coming days.

Oregon’s Opioid Tapering Plan Delayed

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A controversial plan that could force thousands of Medicaid patients in Oregon off opioid pain medication has been put on hold because of a medical expert’s potential conflict of interest.

Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director Patrick Allen asked the Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) to table a final vote on changes in opioid policy until his agency could get an independent review of the recommendations.

At issue is a task force plan to limit Medicaid coverage of opioids to just 90-days for fibromyalgia and lower back pain. Patients currently on opioids longer than 90 days would be required to taper off the medications and switch to alternative therapies such as acupuncture and physical therapy that would be covered by Medicaid.

The plan has drawn nationwide criticism from chronic pain patients, advocates and pain management experts who say forced tapering would “exacerbate suffering for thousands of patients.”

Allen said he learned this week that Dr. Catherine Livingston, a family medicine physician who serves as a contracted medical consultant to HERC, is also a paid consultant to the Kaiser Center for Health Research and the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Livingston helped draft the opioid coverage proposal.

“I have requested the HERC to remove a chronic pain management proposal from today’s agenda to allow OHA time to seek independent review to ensure no potential conflicts of interest compromised the way the chronic pain benefit proposal was developed for the HERC’s consideration,” Allen said in a statement.

“It is vital for the Oregon Health Plan to cover safe and effective therapies to help people reduce and manage chronic pain. Yet it is also vital that Oregonians have full confidence in the decisions the HERC makes to assess the effectiveness of health care procedures.”

No timetable was set for the independent review. At a HERC hearing earlier this week, The Bend Bulletin reported that state officials defended the opioid policy change.

“I think the potential harms associated with opioids have become clear,” said Dr. Dana Hargunani, chief medical officer for the Oregon Health Authority. “Harms shown by the evidence about tapering are less clear.”

But in a joint letter signed by over 100 pain management experts, Dr. Sean Mackey, chief of pain medicine at Stanford University, urged the commission not to mandate “non-consensual forced tapering.”

“We fear the HERC’s proposal is, in essence, a large-scale experiment on medically, psychologically and economically vulnerable Oregonians, at a moment when Oregon has already seen a significant reduction in opioid prescribing and prescription opioid-related deaths,” Mackey wrote. “The evidence supports that this proposal represents an alarming step backward in the delivery of patient-centered pain care for the state of Oregon.”

Other members of the task force questioned the distinction between forced and voluntary tapers.

“I can’t tell you whether the tapers I do in my practice are voluntary or involuntary,” said Dr. Roger Chou, a professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University who was one of the co-authors of the controversial CDC opioid prescribing guideline.  “I explain why I think that’s important, that it’s a safety issue, and I guide them through the process. I try to be empathetic, but they don’t want to taper.

“I don’t think there’s anything compassionate about leaving people on drugs that could potentially harm them.”

Steep Decline in New Opioid Prescriptions

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The number of doctors writing new prescriptions for opioid pain medication has fallen by nearly a third in recent years, according to a large but limited study that documents a dramatic shift in opioid prescribing patterns in the U.S.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied health data for over 86 million patients insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield from 2012 to 2017, and found that first-time prescriptions for patients new to opioids – known as “opioid naïve” patients -- declined by 54 percent.

At the start of the study, 1.63% of Blue Cross Blue Shield patients were being treated with new opioid prescriptions. Five years later, only 0.75% were.

The study also found a shrinking pool of doctors willing to start opioid treatment. The number of doctors who prescribed opioids for opioid naive patients decreased by nearly 30 percent, from 114,043 to 80,462 providers.

The research findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, do not provide any context on the patients’ health conditions or the severity of their pain and injuries. As such, it is a data-mining study that provides no real information on the harms or benefits of opioids.

"The challenge we have in front of us is nothing short of intricate: Curbing the opioid epidemic while ensuring that we appropriately treat pain," lead investigator Nicole Maestas, PhD, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. "It's a question of balancing the justified use of potent pain medications against the risk for opioid misuse and abuse."

First-time prescriptions for opioids are usually used to treat short-term acute pain caused by trauma, accidents or surgery. They rarely result in long-term opioid use or addiction, but have become a major target for healthcare policymakers and anti-opioid activists. Several states have adopted regulations that limit the initial supply of opioids to 7 days or less.

While the number of doctors starting opioid therapy has fallen dramatically, Harvard researchers say many are still engaged in “high-risk prescribing” – which they defined as new prescriptions for more than 3 days’ supply or a daily dose that exceeds 50 morphine milligram equivalent (MME).

More than 115,000 of these “high-risk prescriptions” were written monthly for Blue Cross Blue Shield patients. Over 7,700 of the prescriptions exceeded 90 MME per day, a dose that researchers say puts patients at a substantially higher risk of an overdose. The study did not identify whether any of those high-dose patients experienced an overdose.

Opioid prescriptions in the U.S. have fallen sharply since their peak in 2010, but have yet to slow the rising tide of overdoses. Nearly 49,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2017, over half of them due to illicit fentanyl and heroin, not prescription opioids.

Risky Combination: Opioids and Gabapentin

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Opioid medication significantly reduces low back pain, but opioids should not be used in combination with gabapentin (Neurontin) because of their limited effectiveness and potential for abuse, according to the authors of a small new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

"In these days, when we are focusing on reduction of opioids due to opioid crisis in the U.S., gabapentin could be an important part of multimodal non-opioid pain management," N. Nick Knezevic, MD, of the University of Illinois in Chicago told MedPage Today. "However, it should not be given to all patients since the effectiveness in chronic pain patients, particularly in those with low back pain, is limited."

KAISER HEALTH NEWS

In a retrospective study, Knezevic and his colleagues looked at 156 patients with low back pain; half of whom were treated with opioids alone and the other half with a combination of opioids and gabapentin.

“According to our study, the combination of gabapentin with opioids was not statistically superior in providing pain relief, in contrast to opioids alone, in patients with chronic pain. Our results are in line with recent guidelines for low back pain treatment that reflect the need to assess the recommendation of gabapentinoids for chronic pain in patients already taking opiods to mitigate risk factors of abuse and overdose,” researchers found.

Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant that was originally developed as a treatment for epilepsy, but is now widely prescribed for a variety of chronic pain conditions. Its use in primary care as a treatment for chronic back and neck pain has risen by 535% in the last decade, despite little evidence of its effectiveness.

"The fact that anticonvulsants are often advertised to be effective for 'nerve pain' may mislead the prescriber to assume efficacy for low back pain or sciatica," Oliver Enke, MD, of the University of Sydney, told MedPage.

A 2018 study by Australian researchers found that gabapentinoids did not reduce back pain or disability and often had side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness and nausea. Another recent study found that combining gabapentin with opioid medication significantly raises the risk of dying from an overdose than opioid use alone.

There have been increasing reports of gabapentin being abused by drug addicts, who have learned they can use the medications to heighten the high from heroin, marijuana, cocaine and other substances.

The CDC’s opioid prescribing guideline recommends gabapentin as a safer alternative to opioids, without saying a word about its potential for abuse or side effects.

A 2017 commentary in the The New England Journal of Medicine warned that gabapentinoids -- a class of nerve medication that includes both gabapentin and pregabalin (Lyrica) -- are being overprescribed.

"We believe… that gabapentinoids are being prescribed excessively — partly in response to the opioid epidemic,” wrote Christopher Goodman, MD, and Allan Brett, MD. “We suspect that clinicians who are desperate for alternatives to opioids have lowered their threshold for prescribing gabapentinoids to patients with various types of acute, subacute, and chronic noncancer pain."

60 Minutes Fails to Consider Pain Patients

By Laura Mills, Kate M. Nicholson, and Lindsay Baran

In a Feb. 24 segment, CBS’s 60 Minutes accused the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of igniting the overdose epidemic in the United States with its “illegal approval of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain.” While the program highlighted the adverse consequences of misleading pharmaceutical marketing and lax government oversight, this segment failed to consider the perspective of patients who legitimately use opioids for pain, stigmatized them as drug-seekers, and propagated misconceptions about the overdose crisis, such as the idea that opioid treatment for chronic pain is indisputably illegitimate and is driving overdose deaths in the U.S.

When OxyContin went to market in 1996, its FDA label said that addiction was “very rare” when the medication was used to manage chronic pain. Although that warning was enhanced in 2001, the market for OxyContin was already booming: advertising spending for the drug increased from $700,000 in 1996 to $4.6 million in 2001. Lawsuits allege that Purdue Pharma, the maker of the drug, targeted high-prescribing physicians and continued to aggressively market OxyContin even after it learned its product had become a go-to drug for illicit use. The lack of government oversight and Purdue’s practices certainly deserve media scrutiny that could help shed light on actions that may underlie the overdose crisis.

However, the guests featured in the 60 Minutes segment gave the impression that the use of opioids for chronic pain is illegitimate or illegal, that prescription opioids are still driving overdose deaths in the United States, and that the use of prescribed opioids to manage chronic pain is equivalent to “heroin addiction.”

These are false narratives that do real harm to pain patients, who have been regularly stigmatized in the media and elsewhere as drug-seekers. In presenting this report, 60 Minutes failed to tell the other side of the story: that of pain patients who rely on these medications to function, and that of the medical community which largely agrees that opioids may help patients whose pain isn’t resolved by other means.

Chronic pain is a large category that includes pain associated with incurable illnesses, severe neurological conditions, and catastrophic trauma as well as more common ailments like arthritis. There is growing agreement that using opioids across this broad category was inappropriate and did harm, and that it is important to balance the potential benefits of opioids with misuse and diversion risks. But the medical community still largely agrees that, for some patients, opioids provide benefits. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control, the Federation of State Medical Boards, a 2011 report by the Institute of Medicine, and all applicable medical and government guidelines on prescribing opioids have reaffirmed that opioids may be appropriate for patients whose chronic pain isn’t resolved by other means. 

Re-evaluating the use of opioids in long-term pain makes sense given recent history, but rushing to judgment before we do so can do real harm and risks violating a fundamental component of the right to health, including the right to adequate treatment for pain.  In over 80 interviews with patients, physicians, and experts, a recent Human Rights Watch report found a disconcerting trend: chronic pain patients are being forced off opioid medications simply because doctors fear regulatory oversight and reprisal. In many cases, physicians acted against their better medical judgment. Even when they believed their patients’ health was improved by long-term opioid treatment, they felt they had no option but to reduce patients’ doses dramatically or cut them off completely. They felt a wide range of pressures, from fear of Drug Enforcement Agency or state medical board scrutiny to the heavy bureaucratic burden created by insurance companies through their efforts to discourage opioid prescribing.

When deprived of their medication, the consequences for patients can be devastating: their health declines to the point where they can no longer work, do simple chores, or take care of their personal hygiene.  Several patients said they had turned to alcohol or illicit drugs to manage their pain when they were deprived of care.

Take Maria Higginbotham, whose story is included in the report. She has undergone 12 operations to prevent the collapse of her spine. Unfortunately these operations, which failed to relieve her pain, also left her with adhesive arachnoiditis, an incredibly painful condition that causes the nerves of the spinal cord to “stick together.”

“Re-evaluating the use of opioids in long-term pain makes sense given recent history, but rushing to judgment before we do so can do real harm and risks violating a fundamental component of the right to health.”

— Human Rights Watch

Maria is now being forced to a lower dose of medication by a provider who believes she needs opioids, but is afraid of attracting law enforcement scrutiny of his practice. Previously, Maria could function independently; she now requires assistance to go to the toilet.  To suggest that Maria has no legitimate right to these medications—and that her need for them is misguided, inappropriate or the result of drug misuse — is stigmatizing to all patients like her.

Hundreds of leading physicians and experts from with varying views on the efficacy of opioids have called attention to the dangers of involuntarily discontinuing opioids for the estimated 18 million Americans who currently use them for long-term pain, a practice the CDC and other medical bodies do not encourage. These dangers include medical destabilization, the lost ability to work and function, and suicide. The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), a national disability rights organization, shares these concerns, which have a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities living with chronic pain who already face major barriers to accessing healthcare.  The American Medical Association has similarly criticized the indiscriminate discontinuation of opioids, and has underscored that the stigma surrounding opioids now affects cancer and palliative care patients who, despite explicit exemptions, face increased barriers to access as well. 

While liberal prescribing undoubtedly caused harm, further perpetuating inflammatory and stigmatizing ideas about people who rely on opioids helps legitimize the growing reluctance of physicians to prescribe these medications to those who they believe need them. At a time when the prescribing of opioids has dropped precipitously and drug overdose deaths are largely attributed to illicit substances, such harm ought to figure into the conversation.

It’s true that there is a lack of high quality data studying the efficacy of opioids beyond 12 weeks, but it is also the case that most medications approved for the treatment of pain reflect studies of similar duration.  This is in part because doing long-term, placebo-controlled trials with real human beings who are suffering presents practical and ethical challenges. 

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently responded to the concerns raised by 60 Minutes, by announcing that the agency will conduct new studies into the efficacy of opioid analgesics for chronic pain, a move that he signaled could have an impact on how these drugs are marketed in the future. We agree that more research is critical and have backed initiatives such as the National Pain Strategy that call for much needed additional research into chronic pain. In the meantime, the dangers of reinforcing an incomplete or incorrect narrative and of stigmatizing patients are real—60 Minutes should ensure it doesn’t do either in its coverage, and should show all sides of the story.

This article was originally published on the Human Rights Watch website and is republished with permission.   

Laura Mills is a health researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the HRW report, “Chronic Pain, the Overdose Crisis, and Unintended Harms in the U.S.”

Kate M. Nicholson is a civil rights and health policy attorney. She served for 20 years in the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, where she drafted current regulations under the Americans With Disabilities Act. She gave a TEDx talk about chronic pain, “What We Lose When We Undertreat Pain.”

Lindsay Baran is the policy analyst at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the longest-running national cross-disability grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities.

FDA Commissioner Resigns Unexpectedly

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resigned unexpectedly Tuesday, just days after a critical report on 60 Minutes that alleged the FDA “opened the floodgates” to the opioid crisis.  

“I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to help lead this wonderful agency,” FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, tweeted. ”This has been a wonderful journey and parting is very hard.”

In a lengthier statement to FDA staff, Gottlieb cited family reasons for his departure.

“There’s perhaps nothing that could pull me away from this role other than the challenge of being apart from my family for these past two years and missing my wife and three young children,” Gottlieb said, indicating he would remain on the job until next month.

Gottlieb is a 46-year old cancer survivor and a former consultant to several drug companies. He commutes to Washington DC from his home in Westbury, Connecticut, where he lives with his wife and three daughters.   

President Trump tweeted that Gottlieb “has done an absolutely terrific job” and “he and his talents would be greatly missed!”

SCOTT GOTTLIEB, MD

There was no indication that Gottlieb was in trouble or that he was forced out. The FDA is currently involved in a number of complex and controversial regulatory issues, from high drug prices and e-cigarettes to medical marijuana and the opioid crisis.

The timing of Gottlieb’s departure is puzzling, however, because he tweeted two months ago that he had no intention of resigning after hearing from friends about speculation in the news media that he was leaving.

“I want to be very clear — I’m not leaving. We’ve got a lot of important policy we’ll advance this year,” Gottlieb tweeted, adding a famous quote from Mark Twain that reports of his death “have been greatly exaggerated.”

The 60 Minutes report alleged that the FDA caved into lobbying pressure from the pharmaceutical industry in 2001 by changing the warning labels on OxyContin and other opioid medications to indicate they were effective for long term use.

Gottlieb was not working at FDA when the agency made its labeling decision, but pledged last week in a lengthy essay that the FDA would “learn from past mistakes” and take “a much more aggressive approach to regulatory action” involving opioids.

Gottlieb joins a long list of agency directors and cabinet members who have resigned from the Trump administration, including former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who was forced out over excessive travel expenses and other ethical lapses, and former CDC director Brenda Fitzgerald, who resigned after it was disclosed she invested in tobacco and drug companies.

How Has CDC Opioid Guideline Affected You?

By Lynn Webster, MD, PNN Colomunist

The controversial CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain was released on March 15, 2016 in an effort to curb the opioid crisis. While “largely supportive” of the guideline at the time, the American Medical Association had concerns about how it would be implemented.

“We remain concerned about the evidence base informing some of the recommendations; conflicts with existing state laws and product labeling; and possible unintended consequences associated with implementation, which includes access and insurance coverage limitations for non-pharmacologic treatments, especially comprehensive care; and the potential effects of strict dosage and duration limits on patient care,” said Patrice Harris, MD, then board chair-elect of the AMA.

Dr. Harris proved to be prescient. In the last three years, insurance companies, healthcare systems and dozens of states have imposed limits – based on the CDC guideline -- on the quantity and dose of opioids dispensed to people with pain.

Oregon has even drafted a plan to stop opioid prescribing for many Medicaid patients and require that they use alternative treatments. Here was my response to Oregon's plan, in which I warned that “forcing opioid tapers is not an appropriate or compassionate solution” and could drive some patients to suicide.

Pharmacies are also imposing limits. In 2017, CVS announced it would limit the number of pills for new patients with acute pain to 7 days’ supply, saying “the CDC Guideline should become the default approach to prescribing opiates.”

That same year, the giant prescription benefits manager Express Scripts also started limiting new opioid prescriptions and set a dosage limit “based on CDC prescribing guidelines.” 

This January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made it more difficult for over a million Medicare patients to receive doses above 90 MME (morphine milligram equivalent) which they consider a high dose. CMS also imposed a seven-day limit on all patients receiving a new opioid prescription. The CMS rules are based on evidence “cited in the CDC Guideline.”  

‘Revisit This Guideline’

When it first published its recommendations, CDC pledged to “revisit this guideline as new evidence becomes available” and said it was “committed to evaluating the guideline to identify the impact of the recommendations on clinician and patient outcomes, both intended and unintended, and revising the recommendations in future updates when warranted.” 

In a recent statement to PNN, the CDC said there are “several studies underway with external researchers” evaluating the impact of its guideline on opioid prescribing and patient outcomes. The agency also said it recently commissioned a review by Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) “to determine what new scientific evidence has been released” on the effectiveness of opioid and non-opioid pain relievers.

In the meantime, no revision of the guideline is being planned.    

The CDC guideline was well-intentioned and included many wise principles of opioid prescribing. But it appears to be more about limiting the supply of opioids than improving clinical care for pain patients. Limiting opioid access may be good for some patients, but for many it means more pain and a worsened quality of life.  

There is little evidence that limiting supply reduces opioid addiction and overdoses. Opioid prescribing in the United States has significantly declined since 2012, yet opioid overdoses continue rising – primarily due to illicit fentanyl, heroin and counterfeit drugs, not prescription opioids. The CDC's reevaluation of the guideline should take this into consideration.  

In 2018, the National Institutes of Health’s Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee recommended that the CDC "engage with advocates and patients, who have been negatively impacted by the unintended consequences of the CDC guideline." It also called on the FDA and the CDC to work together to "update and improve" the guideline.  

Rather than seeing the CDC guideline as a resource or helpful tool, many prescribers live in fear of it. The DEA now routinely monitors prescription drug databases, looking for “red flags” that indicate a doctor is prescribing opioids at doses above those recommended by the CDC. The AMA last year took a stand against this “inappropriate use” of the guideline, and passed a resolution stating that doctors should not be subject to criminal prosecution or other penalties solely for prescribing opioids at higher dosages.

Lynn R. Webster, MD, is a vice president of scientific affairs for PRA Health Sciences and consults with the pharmaceutical industry. He is a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the author of “The Painful Truth.”

You can find Lynn on Twitter: @LynnRWebsterMD. 

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Future Pain Pills

By Roger Chriss, PNN Columnist

The Food and Drug Administration announced this week that it would require drug makers to conduct new studies on the effectiveness of opioid pain medication and whether long-term use of the drugs lead to addiction. The FDA’s unprecedented action was due in no small part to a 60 Minutes report that said the agency “opened the floodgates” to the opioid crisis by approving the use of opioids for chronic pain. 

With opioid medication coming under scrutiny again – and perhaps more regulatory action – this is a good time to assess where we stand with development of newer and safer painkillers.  

Many analgesics already on the market have too many risks or too few benefits. A recent meta-analysis in JAMA concluded that opioids “may provide benefit for chronic noncancer pain, but the magnitude is likely to be small.”

And a new Cochrane review on acetaminophen (Tylenol) for hip or knee osteoarthritis found “only minimal improvements in pain and function.”

So new analgesics, whether safer opioids or non-opioid drugs, are urgently needed. Fortunately, there has been significant progress.

NKTR-181, from Nektar Therapeutics, is a new kind of opioid under “fast track” FDA review. It was designed with safety in mind, because it enters the nervous system slowly as a result of its unique chemical structure. NKTR-181 is the only abuse-deterrent opioid in the drug development pipeline designed to reduce the “high” and “drug liking” that can lead to addiction. Practical Pain Management recently gave it four out of five stars as a future analgesic.

Desmetramadol, from Syntrix Pharmaceuticals, is another opioid in early testing. Developed with support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, desmetramadol is designed as a safer version of tramadol, a Schedule IV opioid. Researchers are looking at the results of a recent clinical trial to see whether the new drug “provides the safety and pain relief of tramadol without its metabolic issues.”

VX-150, from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is a sodium channel inhibitor that late last year finished a “proof-of-concept” Phase II trial successfully. It acts specifically on sodium channels to block the pain caused by small fiber neuropathy. Because these channels are not expressed in the brain, VX-150 should have few if any cognitive side effects. Phase III clinical trials are expected to start later this year.

Tanezumab, from Pfizer and Eli Lilly, just completed a Phase III clinical study for chronic low back pain. The results showed that tanezumab injections were associated with a statistically significant improvement in low back pain compared with placebo. Tanezumab is also being studied as a treatment for osteoarthritis, although there are some lingering concerns about its side-effects.

Finally, the novel compound AT-121 from Astraea Therapeutics is showing promise as a non-addictive opioid analgesic. Researchers created AT-121 to bind to both the mu opioid receptor and the FQ peptide receptor, a combination that blocks the unwanted side effects of current opioid analgesics. Preclinical testing of AT-121 in animals found that it was more potent than morphine, but did not produce physical dependence or tolerance at high doses. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently called AT-121 a “promising alternative to opioid pain medications.”

Improved understanding of the nervous system and of chronic painful disorders is also contributing to drug development. A recent review in Frontiers in Pharmacology looks at emerging “safer opioids” that provide effective pain relief with fewer side effects. The review explains that the new goal of drug developers is to target opioid receptors in injured or diseased tissues, while avoiding the brain to reduce cognitive side effects and minimize risk of abuse, addiction and overdose.

And new genetic research is identifying genes involved in painful neuropathies. For instance, a recent case report found that a variant in the gene PMP22 is linked to painful peripheral neuropathy in Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.

With the prevalence of chronic pain increasing as the population ages, the development of safer, more effective analgesics is critical. Advances in drug development techniques and better understanding of painful disorders should accelerate the process.  

Roger Chriss lives with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and is a proud member of the Ehlers-Danlos Society. Roger is a technical consultant in Washington state, where he specializes in mathematics and research.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Counterfeit Pill Lab Exposed in BBC Report

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Counterfeit prescription drugs have emerged as a worldwide problem – from fake “Mexican Oxy” sold in United States to bogus cancer drugs recently found in Turkey, Argentina and Switzerland.

This week a chilling BBC documentary took viewers inside a dingy underground lab in the UK where counterfeit Xanax pills are made – often laced with illicit fentanyl and other dangerous chemicals.

One dealer bragged to BBC reporter Livvy Haydock that he could make 42,000 Xanax pills in three hours.

"I import the raw ingredients and chemicals needed and then I press the tablets with a tablet press machine,” he said.

"I've been doing this for many years and I've never been at the point where I can produce and supply enough to meet the demand for my product. I'm always turning away customers.”

BBC ‘INSIDE BRITAIN’S BLACK MARKET”

The fake anti-anxiety pills are manufactured in a converted cement mixer and tested on volunteer “guinea pigs” before being sold on the street, often to teenagers.

"They're taking that risk, they're paying the money. I'll make it and I'll do it as best as I can and I'll give a good service and provide a good product and the rest is on them," the dealer said.

He boasted that overworked customs officials send him warning letters when his shipments are seized, but they rarely tell police.

"I've had plenty of packages stopped from customs to addresses. A lot of the time you just receive a letter saying it's been seized,” he explained. “"They don't really follow it up. Sometimes they do, but the majority of the time they don't.”

A similar problem exists in the United States, where the Postal Service processes and delivers nearly half of the world’s mail. Postal inspectors can’t even open suspicious packages without a search warrant.

“Drug traffickers have familiarized themselves with and exploited vulnerabilities in the Postal Service network,” a recent Inspector General report warned. “Individuals can now order nearly any type of illicit drug online and have it delivered to a location of their choosing, all from the comfort of their own home.

“These illicit purchases often rely on mail shipment companies, including the Postal Service, to deliver products to customers as they provide greater opportunities for anonymity than other delivery options, such as human couriers.”

The Inspector General recommended that Congress pass legislation to give postal inspectors legal authorization to open and inspect domestic packages suspected of carrying illicit drugs.

According to the World Health Organization, the counterfeit drug market is worth $200 billion worldwide, with almost half of the fake and low-quality medicines sold in Africa. Up to 300,000 people may die from pneumonia and malaria every year due to substandard medications primarily made in China, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

Prevalence of Chronic Pain Increasing

By Lynn Webster, MD, PNN Columnist

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid prescribing quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. Some policymakers suggest that the amount prescribed in 1999 was appropriate and should remain static, and that any prescribing above the 1999 level exceeds the amount required to meet the needs of people in pain.

Perhaps, but it is important to understand that pain was vastly undertreated in the 1990s and there was a clear need to find effective treatment for pain patients. At least some of the increase in opioid prescribing would also seem logical, based on the greater number of people in pain.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the number of American adults suffering from at least one painful condition increased substantially from 120.2 million in 1997 to 178 million in 2014 – about 41 percent of the adult population. These numbers are from a comprehensive analysis of 18-year trends in the rates of noncancer pain, recently published in the Journal of Pain. 

 Aging Population

The NIH report may make you wonder why there are more people in pain now than there were in 1999. Here are some possible explanations.

Our aging population includes an ever-increasing number of elderly people. Baby boomers, who make up the largest demographic of society, recently began to enter their 70s. That is the decade during which we begin to experience a much greater prevalence of arthritis, spinal pain, obesity, surgical operations and cancer.

Mortality rates for cancer continue to decline, thanks to better treatments. More than 40% of cancer survivors now live longer than 10 years. That is good, of course, but many cancer survivors experience treatment-related chronic pain. 

Aging increases the likelihood that people will experience chronic pain. More than half of all adults older than 65 experience arthritic pain of the spine and other joints. For more age-related statistics regarding arthritis, click on this U.S. government PubMed abstract, the CDC's arthritis information page or the Arthritis Foundation’s website.  

In all age groups, the U.S. has an obesity epidemic (according to the CDC and the Journal of the American Medical Association) which can lead to diabetes. Obesity causes increased load on the back and joints, causing chronic pain. In addition, more people have peripheral neuropathy caused by diabetes. 

Finally, there is the problem of chronic post-surgical pain, which we began to recognize around the turn of the century. The incidence of chronic pain after major surgery is estimated to lie between 20% and 50%. Relatively minor operations, such as inguinal hernia repair or a C-section, seem to lead to this problem in approximately 10% of patients. This is an annuity that will keep growing as more operations occur every year.  

The increased prevalence of chronic pain has probably contributed to a greater number of opioid prescriptions. In addition, we have historically failed to recognize that pain deserves to be treated.

Alternative therapies like massage and acupuncture have not been widely available due to lack of insurance coverage. Thus, many people in chronic pain have not had access to any therapy except opioids. This can partially explain why there was an increase in the amount of opioids prescribed from 2001 to 2014.  

Undertreated Pain

Quadrupling the amount of opioids prescribed over several decades may sound excessive, unless we consider the growing number of people who were undertreated and in severe pain, year after year.  

Additionally, we must recognize opioids have not been distributed equally. It is possible that more opioids have been prescribed than appropriate for some patient populations, while other patients have been denied access to any pain treatment. 

A major shift in opioid prescribing began several years ago and by all accounts is accelerating. Between 2013 and 2017, the amount of opioids prescribed declined by 22%. The people most affected by the decrease appear to be those who reported benefit from opioid therapy.  

The amount of opioids that should be prescribed will remain open to debate. But millions of Americans have been -- and continue to be -- denied access to pain treatment, and there should be no debate about the fact that failure to treat severe pain is unacceptable.   

Everyone in the health care system and policymakers should be concerned about the NIH report on the prevalence of chronic pain. The dramatic increase in the number of people with chronic pain warrants our examination of all polices and resources to ensure that this population is receiving the care they need and deserve.  

Lynn R. Webster, MD, is a vice president of scientific affairs for PRA Health Sciences and consults with the pharmaceutical industry. He is a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the author of “The Painful Truth.”

You can find Lynn on Twitter: @LynnRWebsterMD. 

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Do Rx Opioids Really Increase Risk of Fatal Accidents?

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A recent study published in JAMA Network Open made headlines when it claimed that use of prescription opioids more than doubled the risk of causing a fatal car accident.  

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health looked at death certificates and toxicology tests on drivers involved in over 18,000 fatal two-vehicle accidents from 1993 to 2016. They found that 1,467 of the “crash initiators” tested positive for hydrocodone, morphine, oxycodone or other prescription opioids.    

The researchers reported their findings as “compelling evidence that use of prescription opioids by drivers is a significant contributing factor” in fatal crashes, which was a dog whistle for media outlets like CNN to warn, “Opioid epidemic spilling over onto roads.”

It turns out the evidence was not so compelling after all.

Like many states, Maryland faces growing rates of opioid abuse and addiction. But when researchers looked at opioid-related crashes in Maryland from 2006 to 2017, they found no significant increase in fatal accidents.

“The fact that opioid crashes in Maryland over the last 10 years have been more or less steady was a surprise,” Johnathon Ehsani, PhD, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told The Washington Post.

“That is striking, because Maryland is one of those states that has been quite severely affected by the overall opioid epidemic.”

Ehsani and his colleagues took another look at the toxicology data and realized it was misleading. The reason was simple: Because hospitals and first responders often give opioid medication to patients injured in accidents, autopsies will detect those opioids in patients who later die from their injuries. In other words, the drivers may not have been under the influence of opioids before the crash.

When researchers only looked at a sub-sample of drivers who died at the scene, they found that the use of prescription opioids was “considerably lower than those who died hours or days following the crash.”

“We applied a stricter definition than our other colleagues did,” said Ehsani, who published his findings in the less prominent journal Accident Analysis & Prevention. “We were more conservative in our case definition.”

The JAMA study apparently over-counted the number of opioid-related crashes by not differentiating between drivers who died at the scene and those who died after getting medical treatment with opioids.

"When determining the prevalence of opioid use in a population, it can be tricky to untangle the two circumstances," says Ehsani. "Thinking differently about the way in which researchers count cases has implications that can offer policymakers and public health professionals more meaningful results."

No one is suggesting that it’s okay to drive a vehicle while impaired by opioids. But it’s also not okay for researchers and prominent medical journals to use flawed data to suggest that patients using prescription opioids are more likely to cause fatal accidents.

In Maryland, they found just the opposite may be true.

“It could be that a number of people who are impaired by opioids choose not to drive,” Ehsani said. “It could be that there is some self-selection going on in that population or it could be that some of those who are most seriously impaired are unable to or don’t have access to a vehicle to drive.”

Should the CDC Opioid Guideline Be Revised?

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Carol Levy’s recent column (see “Guideline Paranoia”) drew quite a response from PNN readers, many of them offended by Carol’s contention that pain sufferers complain too often about the CDC’s 2016 opioid prescribing guideline.

“Maybe if we did not take any and all new guidelines as a frontal attack on us, maybe we would not be seen and referenced so often as a major component and cause of the opioid epidemic,” Carol wrote.

Those were fighting words to many pain sufferers who’ve been cutoff from opioid medication or had their dose reduced since the guideline came out. Dozens of patients commented on Carol’s column.

“Sounds a bit like blaming the victim for getting upset,” said Jen Saeger. “We ARE being targeted and having our medication taken away because these CDC guidelines have been taken as law. This isn’t overreacting, this is happening all over the country.”

“This woman needs to be educated about what is actually happening. We aren't overacting,” said Teresa. “Does she not know pain patients are being tapered or have completely lost their pain meds? Has she not heard of the suicides that are occurring in the chronic pain community?”

“Once these guidelines were released my pain doctor cut my medications by nearly 50% as well as many of his other chronic pain patients. He also showed me a letter from the CDC exclaiming that he was writing too many prescriptions for narcotic pain killers,” said Joe Allio. “So when they say this was a suggested guideline and not a mandate, IT'S A BIG FAT LIE!!!!! What I saw in this letter was nothing short of a threat!”

“The policymakers are the ones that need to be reminded that these are just guidelines,” wrote Vickie Tway. “You might especially want to let the DEA know this as they are running roughshod over physicians and causing those who DO want to help intractable pain patients to give up their profession for fear of being raided and facing criminal charges for doing their jobs.”

“The problem is that (doctors), pharmacies and insurance companies are using those said guidelines against chronic pain patients. Whether that's who they were intended for or not. CPP are having their meds cut back or cut off because of this hysteria and the new guidelines,” said Tracey Morales. “Until the CDC makes a statement to set this right people are going to continue suffering.”

CDC ‘Committed to Evaluating the Guideline’

PNN readers are better informed and more knowledgeable about the CDC guideline than most Americans. And they’re right when they say that the guideline was only supposed to promote a dialogue between primary care physicians and patients about the risks of opioid therapy.  The recommendations were never meant to be mandatory rules for everyone to follow, yet they’ve been widely adopted by other federal agencies, states, insurers, pharmacies and throughout the U.S. healthcare system.

Within months of the guideline’s release, CDC was warned by its own public relations consultants that “some doctors are following these guidelines as strict law” and that “pain patients who have relied on these drugs for years are now left with little to no pain management.”

In a joint letter to the CDC last year, over 200 healthcare providers warned the agency that many patients were being abandoned or forcibly tapered off opioids, and some were turning to suicide or illegal drugs to escape from their pain.

“Within a year of Guideline publication, there was evidence of widespread misapplication of some of the Guideline recommendations,” the letter warns. “These actions have led many health care providers to perceive a significant category of vulnerable patients as institutional and professional liabilities to be contained or eliminated, rather than as people needing care.”

The CDC pledged three years ago to “revisit this guideline as new evidence becomes available.”

“CDC is committed to evaluating the guideline to identify the impact of the recommendations on clinician and patient outcomes, both intended and unintended, and revising the recommendations in future updates when warranted.”

Will the CDC keep its pledge? The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what it was doing to assess the impact of guideline or whether it would be revised.

(Update: On February 28th — 9 days after we asked — the CDC sent PNN a brief statement indicating it has “several studies underway with external researchers” evaluating the impact of the guideline on opioid prescribing and patient outcomes.

“CDC is commissioning a chronic pain systematic review by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) to determine what new scientific evidence has been released since the CDC Guideline was released in March 2016. The chronic pain systematic review is underway now,” said CDC spokesperson Courtney Lenard.

“The review will evaluate the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of non-opioid pharmacologic therapy and pharmacologic (opioid and non-opioid) therapy for chronic pain, considering the effects on pain, function, quality of life, and adverse events.”

The statement gave no indication when the review and other studies would be completed.)

How has the guideline affected you and should it be revised? If you’re a patient or healthcare provider, you can help shape the debate by taking our survey. Either click here or on the banner above.

We’ll release the survey results on March 15th, the third anniversary of the guideline’s release.