Don’t Label Me as an Addict
“I want you to understand, I am not an addict,” Rebecca (not her real name), a 32-year-old social worker calling from Philadelphia, spoke emphatically into the phone. “The pain I have is 100% legitimate and I work with a pain management specialist who is well...
How Can I Get Off These Bloody Pain Medications?
A recent publication by Health and Human Services (HSS) reports that opioid prescriptions in the US peaked at 255 million in 2012 and decreased to 191 million in 2017. Prescribers—and the rest of the world—have become well aware of the unanticipated consequences of...
What To Know About Boosting Energy After Stopping Opioid Medication
It happened again. The office phones had just transitioned to the answering service for the evening when a call came through from a patient who had completed an accelerated opioid detox (not to be confused with ultra-rapid (anesthesia-using), hospital-based detox)...
My Patient’s Most Shameful Secret
One of the most troubling aspects of my job as a medical addiction professional reared its head last week as I entered the exam room for a follow-up visit with Gordon.* Gordon has had a very successful career in banking. He is the 64-year old divorced father of three...
