Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jul 2001
Source: Sun News (SC)
Copyright: 2001 Sun Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://web.thesunnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/987
Author: Elaine Gaston

MORE OXYCONTIN USERS SEEK HELP FOR ADDICTION

{Lead-in is photo by Jennifer Rotenizer of The Sun News encaptioned: 
Frances Ross of Little River is fighting an addiction to Oxycontin. Ross 
was a patient at Comprehensive Care & Pain Management Centers located at 
7714 N. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach. The center has a sign on the door 
that reads "To our patients - due to recent sanctions placed on us by the 
DEA, we are currently closed. We hope to re-open in the near future and 
will contact you regarding re-scheduling your appointment at that time."}

Local health officials say they're seeing an increase in the number of 
people seeking help for an OxyContin addiction, mirroring a national jump 
in the use of the prescription pain medication.

Although it is not clear why there's been a sudden surge in the number of 
people visiting local emergency rooms and treatment centers, some health 
officials speculate it's linked to the recent closing of a pain management 
center in Myrtle Beach.

Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center at 7714 N. Kings Highway 
closed in mid-June because of sanctions by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The DEA would not disclose details of the sanctions, but the American 
Medical Association, in a June 25 article online, reported that the clinic 
was under investigation for its prescribing methods.

Dr. D. Michael Woodward, the center's chief executive officer, could not be 
reached for comment.

The AMA article said the Drug Enforcement Agency suspended the DEA number 
of another doctor at the clinic, Dr. Benjamin Moore. Doctors cannot 
prescribe medicine without the number. The article says Moore prescribed 
OxyContin and other drugs without proper testing.

Moore denied the allegations, saying he was prescribing OxyContin in an 
appropriate way.

A DEA spokesman would not comment on the article, saying the case is still 
being investigated.

Since the clinic closed, emergency room visits have increased and calls for 
referrals for pain management physicians have risen along the Grand Strand, 
officials say.

Prescription drug abuse and addiction is a growing problem across the 
country. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 9 
million people 12 and older reported using sedatives, stimulants, 
tranquilizers or opiates such as OxyContin for nonmedical reasons in 1999.

"While prescription drugs can relieve a variety of medical problems and 
improve the lives of millions of Americans, they can be dangerous, 
addicting - and even deadly - when used nonmedically," said Dr. Alan I. 
Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Tonya Compton, director of quality improvement and licensed counselor at 
Shoreline Behavioral Health Services in Conway, said there's been a rise in 
clients seeking help for problems with OxyContin in the past four months.

The number increased again after the pain management center closed, she 
said. Shoreline, on average, used to receive about two calls a day from 
people needing crisis intervention. Now it receives at least five calls a 
day, most citing problems with OxyContin, she said.

  "We typically don't have the phone ringing off the hook like we've had 
lately," Compton said.

Dr. Brian Kelleher, medical director of Conway Hospital's emergency 
department, said patients seeking help are being offered non-narcotic 
medications for pain and other medications to help them deal with 
withdrawal symptoms.

Most of the patients seeking help are those taking OxyContin, an opiate 
used to manage moderate to severe chronic pain and widely used by cancer 
patients, Kelleher said.

"We've been seeing [patients with OxyContin problems] all along, because 
even during the time when the clinic was still seeing patients, they'd run 
out of their medications" and seek help in the emergency room, Kelleher 
said. "Since their closure, we've seen a dramatic increase."

Kelleher said the emergency room at South Strand Ambulatory Care Center on 
U.S. 17 Bypass south of Myrtle Beach has seen up to six patients a day with 
pain management problems and others complaining of chronic pain and 
requesting support.

"And we have seen spillover here in Conway," Kelleher said.

He said he's been surprised by how much OxyContin many patients have been 
taking.

"These drugs were originally developed for patients with cancer and other 
painful conditions," Kelleher said. "Now we see people on OxyContin for 
back and neck pain. If I had a magic wand to make one drug problem go away, 
I would make that go away. All of it pales in comparison to OxyContin when 
it comes to the impact in emergency rooms."

About a week after the pain center closed, Grand Strand Regional Medical 
Center in Myrtle Beach began seeing up to 10 patients a day seeking pain 
medications, said Joan Carroza, hospital spokeswoman. The hospital has also 
received several calls asking for referrals to pain management physicians, 
Carroza said.

The NIDA says opiates such as OxyContin are safe if used properly and under 
a physician's supervision. Addiction rarely occurs, but inappropriate use 
of prescription drugs can lead to addiction.

Although withdrawal from the opiate isn't necessarily fatal, it can be 
"miserably uncomfortable" and requires medical assistance, said Paige 
Bottom, director of operations at Wilmington Treatment Center, which 
recently opened an outpatient center in Myrtle Beach.

"You really can beat this, but the likelihood of beating it on your own 
would be very difficult," Bottom said.

Withdrawal symptoms can include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, 
insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and 
involuntary leg movements, according to NIDA.

When Cherry Grove resident Frances Ross, a patient of the center, was no 
longer able to get OxyContin for her osteoarthritis, she realized she had 
become addicted.  She was taking three 40-milligram OxyContin pills a day, 
she said.

"I have never went through anything like this before in my life," said Ross 
about the withdrawal symptoms. "I've been in withdrawals for two weeks and 
I've been in and out of hospitals." "I threw up for five or six days," Ross 
said. "I couldn't eat or drink. There's depression, confusion. It's like 
you're in a cloud.  I've just now started feeling like myself again."

Ross' brother, Raymond Ross, was also a patient at the center and was 
prescribed OxyContin for migraine headaches.

He and his sister, with the help of a local physician, are being weaned off 
the medication they said made them feel like Superman.

"I could work until 9 or 10 at night," Raymond Ross said. "You feel no 
pain. I never realized what I was getting myself into."

The Rosses are battling their addictions in their own home with the support 
of Donna Ross, Raymond Ross' wife, who has been taking care of them.

The Grand Strand does not have an inpatient drug treatment facility.

Patients who seek help for OxyContin addiction at Shoreline Behavioral 
Health Services in Conway or the Wilmington Treatment Center in Myrtle 
Beach are referred to inpatient treatment facilities in such places as 
Charleston, Florence and Wilmington, N.C.

Prescriptions for OxyContin have slowed since Medicaid has implemented 
tighter restrictions on who can receive the drug and since the pain 
management clinic shut down, said Ron Mason, pharmacist at Northside 
Pharmacy in Myrtle Beach.

"The sources for a lot of these things have dried up," Mason said. "That 
limits the availability for the prescriptions."

Medicaid now requires authorization before pharmacies can fill OxyContin 
prescriptions, which can cost as much as $700 for a 90-day supply.

Local law enforcement agencies have said OxyContin is becoming more of a 
problem.

Mason said his pharmacy was robbed at gunpoint in November 1999 by a man 
seeking the drug. The store was also burglarized in January; mostly taken 
was OxyContin.

"Dozens of other narcotics were left on the shelf," he said.

More treatment facilities are needed to help addicts, Mason said. "It would 
be good if they could establish something.  They have methadone clinics in 
other areas.  They need something like that here, at least for the time being.

It would help cut down on the crime in trying to procure [OxyContin]."
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