The Coleman Institute Blog

As of October 16, 2017, the US Government declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The medical community, and particularly pain medicine practitioners, have been active participants and fully aware of the development of the current state. Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (NASPER) have effectively contributed to the reduction in opioid prescriptions by 8% and prescription opioid overdose death rates by 12%.

Despite these substantial reductions in opioid prescriptions in the USA, deaths by opioid overdose continue to escalate at alarming rates: 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016; over 42,000 of those were opioid deaths. This represents a 20% increase from the total of 52,000 drug overdose fatalities in 2015. Overdoses related to illegally manufactured fentanyl represent the greatest contribution to the increase, accounting for 20,000 deaths in total; heroin accounted for 15,000 deaths; and prescription drugs for less than 15,000. Source.

It doesn’t happen like this all the time. But it did happen yesterday. Room to room, patient to patient, over and over---I heard one success story after another.

Mack, off fentanyl since mid-April. Sleeping well, doing home renovation projects he’d put off for years. He now has the time, the energy and the money to do so.

This has become a very common scenario and patients from all around the country are calling the Coleman Institute for Addiction Medicine for help. It’s important to understand the difference between addiction and physical dependence. Addiction, at its simplest, can be defined as continued use despite adverse consequences.

Recovery is a lifelong process, fraught with many twists and turns. A friend who has been sober from alcohol for two and a half years told me a story yesterday that brought this point home. She had just renewed her Costco membership and went there for the first time since she became sober.

Patients with Substance Use Disorder may struggle with relapse after surgery. In this article, we discuss how both Al and Paula needed to receive help from the Coleman Institute after having surgery and taking prescribed pain medication.