jerseyboy

http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/

Saralyn, Thank you for your response. I'm just curious about patient advocacy though. As a Nurse, aren't you ethically and legally bound to give patients informed consent on any treatment? If you worked at a Dr. office and you saw a patient returning time after time because the Dr. prescribed antibiotics for their diabetes instead of insulin, wouldn't you question that? Or would you let the patient just keep returning for the wrong treatment? I'm often amazed, that for some reason, people who present for treatment of addiction are not given the same patient rights as those who present for other problems. What is the rationale that the facility gives you for prescribing the wrong treatment over and over for people? I have to agree with changes in the Government payor sources. I agree, why pay for the same treatment over and over if it doesn't work. However, I believe they have gone about this all wrong. The patient is the one who gets punished for ineffective treatment, not the facility providing it. Does this occur in any other field? Thanks for your response

http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/

Saralyn, Im curious, does the place you work give informed consent about Rational Recovery, SMART Recovery, SOS, or WFS? Or, do you require 12-step meeting attendance? I'm certain many of your patients have been through treatment more than once and each time have been referred to 12 step meetings, but it did not work for that patient. So which recovery support group do you send them to? You don't send them back to 12-step meetings if they have tried it several times and it didn't work for them, do you? And if you do, why? And I really don't need a refresher on 12-steps. I have studied them intensely over the years. I agree, people need to go see for themselves. However, one must attend more than one or two meetings, and you must not let the group know you are there to observe. Attend like those coerced into re-education and attend 90 meetings in 90 days. Become part of the subculture, tell them you are an alcohol or addict. Then decide for yourself. If anyone does this experiment, please be very careful with whom you associate. AA is full of predators, criminals and mentally ill people. Choose wisely who you speak to. And if you really want to get them riled up, tell them you're "sober" but you take Methadone. http://www.orange-papers.org/ http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp Of particular interest here is the book The Real AA: Behind the Myth of 12 Step Recovery. You can read the book online.

Hi Simon, I'm not a Nurse so I don't know if Nurses can prescribe or not. I would just like you to know that Europe is light years ahead of the U.S. in addiction treatment. Although addiction is called a disease in the US, somewhere in the neighborhood of 93% of treatment centers "treat" addiction with 12-step facillitation. Therefore, people with addiction in this country are "treated" for "the disease of addiction" with a moral model of intervention. Unfortunately, MMT in this country is so tightly regulated that few people can benefit from it. Everyone is shuffled off into re-education called "treatment" and are told that the only possible way for them to overcome and addiction is to spend the rest of their lives "recovering", (the myth propagated here is one can NEVER recover from addiction) while attending 12-step meetings (AA/NA) for the rest of their lives. Once indoctrinated into the recovery subculture, the person is expected to surrender and accept that they are powerless and need divine intervention to keep from using drugs or drinking. Once the person is indoctrinated into the recovery subculture, they are told that if they "work the program" (whatever that means, for there is no criteria to do so) that God will deliver promises upon them. God will remove their character defects, God will intervene in the "strange blank spots" to keep them from drinking or using drugs, so on and so forth. But to receive these promises one must become humble before God and the group, they must confess their sins to God and the group in what they call "sharing" and make amends for their sins. They must cast aside the silly notion that they can think for themselves and direct their own lives, they must give up free will and turn it over to God. They tell the person that the reason they are an "alcoholic/addict" is because they are selfish, liars, cheaters and theives and their only hope for "recovery" is through the grace of God. So as you have have likely guessed Simon, the success rate of this treatment hovers somewhere around 3-5%. The treatment centers are hard pressed to answer for these miserable stats, and since they are nothing more than very expensive rapid indoctrination of the 12-step religion, they absolve themselves from providing inadequate treatment by blaming the client for treatment failure. Either the client is "in denial, not honest enough, hasn't worked the steps properly (although there is no criteria), hasn't gotten right with God, hasn't went to a meeting everyday, didn't really want to get better, and the list goes on and on. So yes, what you are doing is helping far more people than all of the 1930's religious psychobable that is done here. What other disease is treated with a moral modality created in the early 20th century ignoring all new research that is available? I know you must be thinking that I must be joking. Really, I am not. Google, Alcoholics Anonymous+Cult and you will be led to many sites.

Dorimar asks, "why would one refuse a drug test....hmmmmm" Thomas Jefferson is spinning in his grave as we speak! Here is a reason one would refuse a drug test: http://www.aclufl.org/issues/privacy/drug_testing.cfm

http://www.drugpolicy.org/law/drugtesting/pregnantwome/index.cfm

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2001/supreme-court-rules-against-2.html

Dear Medsurv, Please check out www.painreliefnetwork.org Contact them, perhaps they may be able to help you if you are willing to fight this. Also, perhaps you can sue the Dr. for violating your medical privacy rights.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/law/drugtesting/pregnantwome/index.cfm

Dutchgirl said you wouldn't have to go off of your legitimate meds in rehab. Think again. The reason being is... rehabs don't know the difference between someone who has developed a tolerance to pain medication for chronic pain and an addict. Everyone is an addict in their eyes. Even the teenager who gets drunk or experiments with drugs. I just haven't decided if they do this becaue they are ignorant, or they need a billable diagnosis. I think maybe a little of both.

The fact that people in pain have to resort to illegal activities to have their pain properly treated, is the real crime here. Did anyone see 60 Minutes last night? Richard Paey was on. He is in prison for 25-Life for having to obtain his own pain medication. I don't know about you all, but I'll sure sleep better at night knowing that this "crimina" in a wheelchair is locked up. www.painreliefnetwork.org to read about Richards' suffering.

Dalzac, I don't believe the OP stated that she had a problem with alcohol. Quite an assumption that she would need Alcoholics Anonymous.

rnmom3153, Please visit www.painreliefnetwork.org for information on long term chronic pain meds. Also, www.stats.org has alot of information. There is nothing wrong with using pain meds long term and I believe you may find some literature to back you up when you say that these meds do not impair you. I am certain they do not, regardless of the dose you take. The belief that people on pain meds are impaired is a direct result of the misinformation put forth by the governments war on drugs. Good luck to you. Jerseyboy

Nursdiz, You said "lets not forget what Christmas is about. The Discovery Channel has a show called "Christmas Unwrapped". Actually, Christmas by another name was celebrated in antiquity and is actually a pagan celebration. The Church sometime in the 3rd or 4th centruy AD decided to add the birth of Christ to the celebration. It's a very informative show.