Comment by anm89 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by anm89 | Hacker News Reader

Theoughout my life, I've ended up on opiate painkillers a handful of times, after broken bones or surgeries or whatnot. I have absolutely no history of addiction and never used them innapropriately but I realized how effective the pain relief was and id save them in case I have a snowboarding or mountain biking accident and don't want to go begging for meds for this exact reason.

So finally I run out over time and then later that summer I severely sprain my ankle rock climbing. I'm in excruciating pain which has to be pretty obvious to the urgent Care I'm at and I'll I'm thinking about is how to act as responsible and non addictey as possible so I can get a few pills and the next week won't be a living nightmare. So I drop the question and the mood instantly changes. I'm treated with suspicion for the rest of the appointment and the conversation is quick to the point of being rude.

And why? Because I didn't have the correct back story for my pain. And then the doctors put on this self righteous paternalistic act like they are taking the only accepted medical action which is in my interest by not listening to my subjective opinion of my own subjective experience.

What an infuriating experience and one of the first tough lessons I learned in my life about not relying too heavily on the medical system.

Same thing for mental health medication.

The hilarious thing is all the druggies and doc shoppers know exactly what kind of stories to tell to get what they need. It's just honest people with honest issues that suffer.

The entire concept of General Practitioner needs to be overhauled. They are poor at diagnosis and poor at choosing medication regimes. The fact that most come with a 'holier than thou' attitude is just icing on the cake.

I had a GP accuse me of shopping for roids and had to open google and show him that yes corticosteroids are in fact a first line treatment for heel spur.

To be honest, wanting opiates for an ankle sprain is a little bit concerning. While painful, there’s nothing about it that typically warrants a potentially addictive substance over just some bedrest and normal pain killers like ibuprofen.

Case in point, some paternalistic jerk (that's you), without knowing anything about the situation (my ankle was facing the wrong direction, I couldn't walk for a month, the pain was worse than bones I've broken no question) is going to present some totally subjective opinion regarding the morality of a treatment option as a some kind of medical opinion and claim that it's validity outweighs that of my own experience of my own pain.

Exactly the reason I solve these issues for myself and don't rely solely on the medical system, because I'd run the risk of being reliant on some paternalistic schmuck like you at a time when I need a better option.

If you find that "a little but concerning" and think that I should have to deal with terrible pain because the way I'd prefer to be treated hurts your sensibilities, you can respectfully go fuck yourself.

Out of curiosity for the jargon, is your ankle facing the wrong direction still referred to simply as a "severe sprain"? That sounds like it would involve multiple fractures, a dislocation, and several ligament tears (not just one like in what I consider a "normal" sprain).

Isn't there some term that comes with the weight of increased severity for that, which would make paternalistic jerks, at the very least, think twice? Compound fracture? Multiple sprain? I have heard what you suffered described as an "open ankle sprain" which at least calls for something to be google'd before commenting on how slight it is. I was agreeing with gp until you described the injury further.

I agree that reliance on the American (informed guess here) medical system is not a smart move, but for good reason the global medical consensus is that self diagnosing and prescribing is very dangerous. The problem is a medical system here that is not tuned to respecting patient's opinions and prioritizing their correct treatment and well being over being another profitable capitalist entity that doesn't break regulatory law.

To be honest I don't know the correct medical terminology. As far as I know nothing broke, there was definitely some kind of dislocation but basically I just rolled it hard enough where it got into some state it wasn't meant to get into and I had to pop it back into place.

But if anything this just reiterates the point to me. These cases aren't black and white, what i referred to (possibly incorrectly) as a sprain may have truly been some other thing and maybe that diagnosis would have somehow been "more deserving" of effective pain relief.

At the end of the day, it seems like the only valid criteria for me deserving pain relief is my opinion of whether or not I want it.

> never used them innapropriately

> I’d save them

Worth noting that by the definition a doctor would use these two observations are incompatible.

“Save” as in “not take/require” the entire prescription is not the same as hoarding. And then rarely dipping into the extra supply as needed is not the same as abusing. However, I agree that many (most, probably) doctors probably do see it as unacceptable behavior.

I got Vicodin after an appendectomy. I took 3 total I think. I threw away the rest. I didn’t want them around the house.

The odds of you ‘needing’ spare opiates in the house are pretty small unless you’re frequently doing impromptu field surgery.

Personally I wouldn't call it "unacceptable" or "abusing" behavior because I think it's an individual's choice how they want to use drugs. I don't think it's ethically wrong to take opioids. I just think it's dangerous. For your own sake, it's not a good idea keep opioids around and dip into the extra supply as needed. They are surprisingly addictive and addiction can sneak up on you.

I totally acknowledge that many in the medical field would agree.

I never agreed to make them the arbiters of what I can and cannot put in my own body.

Agreed. I think the war on drugs and especially more recently the war on opiates is a travesty. I sometimes wonder if the amount of suffering caused by the lack of access to proper treatment due to the fear among doctors of legal issues for prescribing is comparable to the suffering on the other end of the spectrum.

Honestly, and I say this with no judgment, I think you are treading a dangerous path. It isn’t like you’re a bad person for keeping some opioids around in case you feel some pain later. But opioids are really dangerous drugs. A lot more dangerous than anyone realized a couple decades ago.

If I were you, I would throw away my extra opioids and in the future, when you need pain relief, consider avoiding the opioids, even if the doctor says it’s okay. The opioid epidemic is real and even if we don’t know how to stop it, we can at least prevent it from hitting ourselves, by avoiding opioids.

I respect your opinion completely. And as long you don't try to forcefully it impose it on me then there's nothing wrong with it.

When arbitrary opinions like this start having real effects on my ability to get treatments or get medications which provide real world benefits to me, then I take serious issue with it.

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