Soaked with pain; learning about chronic pain sufferers,and the denial of opiates.

I started almost accidentally following the pain care crisis on Twitter.
I have had,and do sometimes have pain.I've passed kidney stones so I know what truly severe pain is.It can be overwhelming.
But I don't have anything near to the agony that many in the Chronic Pain Patient community have.
It doesn't take long to tell these are people suffering from devastating medical conditions.Many have a very poor quality of life.And not very much left.
Their stories are soaked with pain.
Then the so-called opioid crises hit.I remember the stories on the NBC News site.The Opioid Crises.The Heroin Crises.Day after day by turns for months.
The mainstream media had a full bore, five star meltdown.The nefarious monster Big Pharma.The dirty doctors over prescribing.The cavalier attitude to popping pain pills.The junkie horror.The abandoned babies."Think of the Children!"
Every trope in the journalistic book.
The reality is opiate over doses were happening.It is a tragedy.I don't blame the media for covering it.But they played it so damn hard.And I'm afraid they made it,and still do,look relatively uncomplicated.T H E opioid crises.It's pain pill prescriptions.It's 'drug seekers'.
But it's not that simple.
Now here's where it gets worse.The Government got involved.Politicians started screaming about it.Crack Down!!! We shall crack down,and stamp it out.
This is a long complicated story which is beyond me.But the CDC's reported numbers have been questioned.It's claimed they inflated the opiate deaths by listing multi-drug overdoses as opiate caused.They find opiates,benzodiazepines,cocaine,and alcohol in someone's system,and say it was the opioids.In truth it was the whole load of drugs.
(But who wants to admit that? Not a young man's parents.Not when they can blame an oxy tablet.)
The politicians were certain they knew the root cause.Big Pharma,and their dirty docs.Simple.Stop that.Crises resolved.The lawmakers and enforcers have saved the day like J. Edgar Hoover.But it isn't working.They did shut down some genuine 'pill mills'. There was criminal diversion.It's good that was addressed.
But the more they squeeze the hand full of sand,the more it runs through their fingers.
Why? Fentanyl.
(information on Fentanyl )
Illegal Chinese produced Fentanyl types.It's a nightmare.
Substances in this category are astoundingly powerful.A tiny amount can be transported,and distributed easily.It's practically unmanageable.Prince,and Tom Petty had both taken illegal fentanyl.
So controlling an old lady's pain pills won't fix that.But that's what they're doing.
They're passing massive bill packages against all opiates.Denying veterans,and medicare patients use of all narcotics.Force tapering,and forcing off.Force.
To get the blessed numbers down.To make it look like they're winning the score.But you can't because they've targeted the source that's easy to attack instead of the real supply of death.
They're shooting fish in a barrel.
They force the pharmaceutical companies to produce less opioids,including less morphine for cancer patients.The Feds have now driven the supply so low it's causing shortages in hospitals.
Federal,and State law enforcement are pressuring doctors to stop prescribing opiates.Driving pain clinics out of existence.Threatening,and charging doctors who write prescriptions for legitimate medical patients with devastating conditions.Many of whom have been stable on pain care for years.They're cracking down,and stomping and destroying people's lives.The lives of the injured,sick,elderly,diseased.They are treating weak people like a stat on the butcher's bill.The acceptable cost of controlling the pain pill crises.
Now most doctors frown,shake their head,and push miserable pain patients away.

I follow a number of people on Twitter,and read the Pain patient sites.It's heartbreaking.
I don't think I'm a terribly soft person on hard issues.But I have to feel for them.I'm angry,and hurt for them.They're being tortured for a problem that's beyond their responsibility.
I follow a very angry man who's mother is in bad shape.She's under medicated.But in the midst of his anger there is clarity, as well as blame.He may sound like he's ranting against the powers that be.But he nails the problem.Over weaning micromanaging from the government over what is essentially a health care issue.Monitoring patients,pill counting,suspicion, etc...
Treating patients like criminals.
And they can't prove themselves to be innocent,and deserving because taking the opiates in the first place makes them guilty.
They're treated like they want to get high.They want to feel good.To feel ok.To live a worthwhile life.
So they're drug seekers.
It's turned into an unfalsifiable.
They're being increasingly denied the effective drugs that  make life bearable.Law enforcement busts another hapless doctor,and scatters his patients to the wind.No help.No recourse.Tough shit.

Some people are calling this a genocide.That's very melodramatic.But it stinks like the foul instinct to cull the herd of the old,weak,and sick.
Infirmicide.
Kill the cripples.
Sure as hell looks like it.
It's so easy for society to treat the severely disabled pain sufferers like lepers.Like the weak link in the chain of the opiate problem.If we could just get rid of them... we could control the addicts.
It's been pointed out that we are all an accident away from needing pain care.
Or old age,and illness.Give it time.If you're lucky,you'll get there.
One of my elderly relatives was told by her doctor that he "didn't have anything left in his tool chest." She was referred to a pain clinic.She has some medication for now.

Pain patients are in agony,and angry,and they should be.
This is grotesque.

It's not going to help the addicted either.They can always find the illegal supply.

Here is an interview with Dr Josh Bloom from Oct 2017 that explains the cost of punishing pain patients.

I really can't do this subject justice.But the information is getting out.
I'll keep being a supporter of severe pain patients.I can only hope the brutality of the politicians,bureaucrats,and law enforcement improves.
Where is the mainstream media on this?
Only lately starting to catch up.I'm afraid they're still mostly a part of the problem.
It's just too irresistible to show an old person's hand holding a prescription pain pill next to a bottle.
That's still the standard picture.
They're getting the picture wrong.That pill is likely counterfeit.

I'm getting to the point of expecting far too many important issues to be bungled.It's time for self correction,and rationality to gain ground.

Review of research into the effects of Anabolic - Androgenic Steroids

Link to a comprehensive review of research into the effects of AAS

Physical Effects of Anabolic-androgenic Steroids in Healthy Exercising Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis 

 

 

A great story on facing adversity: " Everything doesn't happen for a reason" by Tim Lawrence

I just want to share a link to this essay by Tim Lawrence because I love the point he's making.Too many people react to other people's pain with platitudes,and deflection.
If something bad happens to you;it doesn't mean it happened for some greater good.It's NOT divinely caused to teach you a lesson.Only shallow, ignorant people dump that nonsense on others.

Everything Doesn't Happen for a Reason

I'm going to post some articles from writings I find interesting.

I'm going to post some articles from magazines,or selections from books if I find them worth sharing.
I'll make sure to note the source.
If I feel I need to add a few notes I'll do it by providing a bracket [1] then placing the information at the end of the article.
I'll also write a note about why I'm sharing it if needed.But I think 'll put that at the end so as not to clutter up the page.If someone is interested in the article I want them to be able to get right to it.

I'm not trying to violate any copy rights.If I put up anything that needs to be removed,let me know.

The Steroid Scare: Link to an article worth reading

A link to an interesting article on the medical,and legal aspects of Androgenic-Anabolic Steroids.

THE STEROID SCARE:CONGRESS'S IRRATIONAL AND ARBITRARY ANABOLIC STEROID LAWS BY ALAN REID MANN


"Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent....The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding"

Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Pain improvement,and still plugging along.

My pain is better.I still have hip pain.I don't think that's ever going away.
But I'm still lifting.I can still squat,and deadlift.
I'm not an explosive lifter.To say the least.I'm a slow putterer.Grind and get it done.Do your best on the day.That's a place I had to concede to get to.I do know I worked out too hard when I was younger.I did too much volume training.It was promoted in the muscle media when I started,and it felt kind of intuitive that the harder,and longer,you lifted the more you would gain from it.
Well no...you can hit diminishing returns and exhaustion.
I tend to beat up on myself.
I'm reminded of the crazy scene in the movie 'Liar Liar' where the character is seen throwing himself around the bathroom,and when asked what's he doing responds "I,m kicking my ass! Do you mind?"
I think I succeeded in the self ass kicking department.I think I earned my merit badge in that.
I did adjust over time.
That may be another subject.

Anyway,pain.
I was never a competitive bodybuilder.But I wanted to look like one.Always a great excuse to bulk.I focused too much on lifting heavy.Lifted too heavy,and ate too much.
I had to trim down.Take weight off my back,hips,and knees.
The fact is I love to cook,and eat.I come from a foodie family.( I didn't go to cooking school,or work in a restaurant.But I did get paid to cook for private individuals at times. )
Since I learned about the low carb whole food approach it has made my diet far easier.I'm not  uncomfortably hungry,and miserable about my dieting any more.
I'm hearing a lot about the inflammation issue too.Cutting out the processed food is hopefully helpful.I feel like it is.You sure do shed water weight dropping grains,and sugar from your diet.It will make a noticeable difference.
I could tell after a couple of months that my usual pain level was down.Maybe 30-40% day in,and day out.That's pretty significant.

Then I think it got even better somehow.I lifted more regularly.Made the new eating habits feel like the usual.And started cruising.Now I'd say my pain is down by about half.I still feel stiff on some days after a heavy lifting session,or yard work.It mostly hurts when I have to bend over,and put a pull on my hip joints.
But it's far more manageable.

I did keep using Kratom on,and off.It's very good for pain,and excellent for mood.I have to say it's been a real advantage having access to it.In combination with aspirin,and the occasional ibuprofen it helps keep me active,functional,and strong.
Unfortunately the overreaching idiots in the federal government are trying to ban it as a matter of principle.They can't stand anything remotely like an opioid escaping their crushing legal grasp.Bureaucrats are a nightmare of irrational over regulation.It's their job.But mostly it's their type.They want to be seen as champions of protecting the public....from themselves.Which is a fundamental violation of the concept of personal liberty.Which seems to be a point lost on many people right now.
I'll fix,or screw up my own life thank you very much.
There are organizations fighting to keep it legal.But they're fighting the dull machinery of blind control.It's like a Kafka story.
I support the efforts.But I don't hold out much hope.Bullies usually win in the world now.

Anyway..I'll keep plugging along with my weightlifting as well as I can.It's a long journey.But it's largely beneficial so I'll stay the course.

I've been reading a lot about food,and diet lately.

I haven't been writing much.Sigh.
But then since I don't have any real readership,no big deal actually.

Anyway..I've started down the road of reading about food,and dietary research.
I did believe the usual story on nutrition for the most part.I was raised in the era of low fat advice.
But it turns out that the evidence for this dietary program is not well supported by science.What I've been reading lately has been a detailed exposure of the recent history of the recommended dietary guidelines for weight loss,and health.
The short story is the powers that be,the USDA,supposed health authorities,and media have been promoting the idea of low fat,high grain,'plant based' diets for decades now.Basically don't eat fat,eat carbs.If you tell people not to have bacon,and eggs for breakfast they'll be likely to eat cereal.They'll have a sandwich,or salad for lunch with chips,and a soda.Dinner may be chicken,or fish and vegetables.Sometimes a pasta dish.There will probably be meat in most people's diet.But less than the generations before.
This all seemed to start in the late 1960's to early 1970's.I now know why.Mostly from the influence of a medical researcher named Ancel Keys.He and his associates promoted the idea that eating saturated fat ( animal based foods ) clogged your arteries,and lead to cardiovascular disease.Without adequate evidence this idea was foisted off on the entire American populace as the official dietary guidelines.Mostly because of the committee lead by Senator George McGovern who was following a low fat diet at the time.The USDA created the well known food pyramid with grains at the base in the highest amount.Vegetable,and fruits.Meat,and dairy,A small portion of fat at the top.
So what happened? The American people have become increasingly obese,and burdened with metabolic disorders.Type 2 diabetes has gone up to alarming levels.
I knew the basics of some of this.But the mainstream medical authorities,and media just keeps putting out the same message.You're doing it wrong.It's all calories in vs calories out.Eat less,move more.It's a simple math problem.That hasn't been working for almost fifty years now.But it's still the dominant dietary model.
I've learned what the deeper story is.The history says that the older,and better founded idea about weight was that sugar,and starchy foods were uniquely fattening.That's what food,and dietary experts knew for ages.Up until the age of Keys,and his insistence on animal fats causing heart disease.That knocked the whole understanding of what to eat for health off it's base.Of course the cereal manufacturers,and soda companies benefit from this viewpoint.Huge powerful food companies make high profits off of processed foods made from wheat,corn,vegetable oils,and sugar.
Yes the American public eats junk food.Too much processed low nutrient filler.It's cheap,and tasty.But it's more than that.It's an overdose of sugar,and refined carbohydrates.People eat high sugar,and carb food,and they crave it.The problem is the human body must manage all of this by producing insulin.Until it can't produce enough anymore.Poor glucose control,and metabolic disorder follows.It's too much burden for too long.

The alternative to the low fat high carb diet can be called Keto,Low Carb High Fat,or Paleo.It's advocating eating mostly real whole unprocessed foods.It does,in general, promote an evolutionary understanding of the human diet.it's ok,and natural, to eat meat,green vegetables,nuts,a little fruit.
It discourages eating,or overeating,starchy vegetables,and grains.
Basic protein,and fat.Without the unnecessary carbohydrates.
It's odd that this should seem revolutionary.It isn't.It can feel extreme by what we have become used to.Comfortable,sweet,soft sugary food.There's not much that tastes better than hot buttery bread.How strange to think the butter could be ok,but the bread is not.
Not a happy thing if true.
I'm afraid for some people it may well be.

The books I've read are these;
Good Calories,Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Why We Get Fat,and what to do about it by Gary Taubes
The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

I'm not going to do a full book review here.Maybe at a later time.
There's a lot to unpack as they say about this subject.
I did believe the official low fat recommendation.There wasn't really any counter case allowed.It was the sermon of medicine,and the fitness world.
( only Dr Atkins seemed to disagree )
I worked out,and followed the bodybuilder,fitness approach.I don't think it did me specific harm.But I wish I had of known how important it could be to stop with the sugar,and excessive carbs.It would have made things easier.

I'm following the low carb,and keto story now.I'm listening,and learning,and questioning.But I think they're making a strong case against the grain so to speak.
I'm not sure about the fat issue.But high carb,sugary foods are clearly making too many people sick.