Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2016
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Susan Dean

NEWS COVERAGE OF OPIOIDS ONE-SIDED

Just once I would like to see a story that mentions opioids in a positive way.

Your story on March 16 indicated that the CDC is recommending that 
doctors not prescribe opioids to patients without trying to treat 
pain in other ways. Very few legitimate physicians will immediately 
write an opioid prescription as a first choice. But the stress that 
is being placed on doctors is causing legitimate physicians to 
reconsider their treatment formularies.

Opioids saved my life and my sanity. I have been taking them for many 
years. They allowed me to work in a stressful job until I was 68 
years old; they allowed me to spend my summers traveling all over the 
world; and they have kept me from spending my retirement in bed, in 
pain. There are many of us who have benefited considerably from these 
pills. We are legitimate patients consulting legitimate doctors who 
are trying to give us the best possible lives, and now once again our 
"lifeline" is being attacked.

We are the users not the abusers.

Susan Dean, Davie
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom