An article regarding Oxycontin maker, Purdue Pharma, filing for bankruptcy after settling US court cases for USD $12 billion.
I recently had my annual pain management prodecures and the anesthetist gave me a script fot Tramadol instead of the usual Endone which I normally don’t need anyway.
I asked him if the profession was cutting back on prescribing oxycontin following all the recent controversy regarding it, and he confirmed that it was the case.
What’s the difference?
Aren’t they both opioids?
If Tramadol is an effective treatment why would any responsible medical professional have prescribed a supposedly higher risk product such as OxyContin in preference.
Perhaps the medical profession has a case to answer as well as Perdue Pharama?
One comparison that seems to spell out some differences between the two pain relief products.
Tramal (Tramadol etc) is a form of manufactured opioid that has a supposedly smaller dependency effect with only a few cases of dependency so far reported on low doses, higher doses have higher incidence of addiction.
Tramadol hydrochloride is used for moderate to severe levels of pain but many other opioids are used to treat severe pain, it is not classified the same as Oxycontin, morphine etc which are Schedule 8 drugs. Tramadol is classified as a Sch 4 drug, it is about as effective as codeine but only about 1/10 as effective as morphine.
If someone is taking an SSRI/SNRI drug and also Tramadol, because it is also an effective SNRI, may be subject to Serotonin syndrome (SS). They may need to reduce or cease their SSRI/SNRI drug to avoid these issues and their medical professional should be aware of this issue and monitor for and advise the user of the symptoms of too high levels of Serotonin (symptoms include tremors, headaches, seizures, respiratory failure, death). Tramal on it’s own can cause SS to occur but it is unusual.
Those with kidney or liver issues should also be very concerned with tramadol as it is contraindicated in those circumstances. Side effects can be seen at the following link:
An article regarding deaths due to opiods in Australia.
With some 1,123 deaths in 2018, it is just slightly less than the 2018 national road toll of 1,137.but whilst the road toll is constantly in the news, the opiod deaths receive little publicity.
Another article with a very grim warning regarding the very real dangers of opioids.
An article regardingndipharma being fined over $300,000 after the TGA took them to task
Perhaps it should have had a few more zeros added to the fine.
Australia has made changes to the prescription of opiods as from today.
An interesting article regarding addiction to prescribed opiods in Australia.
We were told by a neighbour that an older woman living nearby takes up to 6 Endone a day and is off her face all the time due to the tablets.
I stopped taking Voltaren tablets, a non opiod analgesic, last week after using them for my back pain for many years and I actually have less pain now.
Purdue Pharma to plead guilty to 3 crimminal charges.
Australian managing partner of McKinsey regrets consultancy’s role during opioid epidemic.
