This is an article by Casey Bloom. I offer it with the author’s permission for informational purposes. The author and I have no financial involvement. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE HER OWN AND DO NOT REPRESENT MY VIEW OR MEDICAL ADVICE. Chronic pain can disrupt your life both physically and psychologically. It can ..read more

As entertainment, Dopesick is an achievement, but the awards should only be given if the admission is made that the Hulu series is almost entirely fictional ..read more

The updated guideline contains beneficial changes. Among them, certain prescription duration limits and the upper MME dosage threshold have been removed. There is some acknowledgment that pain treatment is indeed important. Yet, the inappropriate usage of the 2016 guideline and policies created in its image to harass, prosecute and even jail clinicians must be specifically and adequately addressed. The MME threshold now in the revised version is no more scientifically sound than the ones in the previous version, and it has already been shown that dosage levels are too easily interpreted with r ..read more

Disenfranchised people are in danger of losing their right to vote, and people in pain are an important constituency. Congress recently passed H.R. 4, which is a revised version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act ..read more

Crime of the Century had the opportunity to debunk myths about addiction. Instead, it confuses the terms addiction and physical dependence and propagates misinformation ..read more

This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune on May 20, 2021.   Many years ago, I took on an unforgettable patient (“Jack”) who was on a high dose of physician-prescribed opioids. He wanted me to continue his high dosage. But I was unsure whether the benefit of doing ..read more

The use of opioids was not a crime then, nor is it today. However, the failure to appropriately treat chronic pain when it is possible to do so should be a criminal offense ..read more

In my view, it was a mistake for the CDC to publish the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in 2016 ..read more

This is an article by Casey Bloom. I offer it with the author’s permission for informational purposes. The author and I have no financial involvement. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE HER OWN AND DO NOT REPRESENT MY VIEW OR MEDICAL ADVICE. Chronic pain can disrupt your life both physically and psychologically. It can leave you feeling depressed, anxious, and constantly worrying about when pain will return. That can severely affect the quality of your life. If you are suffering from chronic pain, you can use a resource like this site to help you find ways to treat it or cope with it throug ..read more

This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on September 12, 2022. By Dr. Lynn Webster and Hazel Shahgholi Dopesick, the eight-part Hulu series on the opioid epidemic – sorry, the OxyContin epidemic — has been nominated for 14 Emmy awards. Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Beth Macy, most of the nominations are well-earned, from the excellent acting of Michael Keaton (nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor) to the breakout performance of Kaitlyn Dever (nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress) as an addicted patient. As entertainment, Dopesi ..read more