Dr. Cady's Blog

In light of this nation’s PAINDEMIC with an ever-increasing use of opioids medications, there is a strong motion by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to decrease the opioid availability to the general public with the recent change in the scheduling of hydrocodone. Hydrocodone is an opioid usually used in combination with acetaminophen (e.g. Norco, Vicodin) to help with severe chronic pain or for acute pain, such as after surgery. Hydrocodone was previously a Schedule III drug but now has been changed to Schedule II in the United States as of October 6, 2014. What does that mean? No longer can a patient have a hydrocodone product called in to the pharmacy. The patient must carry the written prescription to the pharmacy to have it filled. This is radically changing the landscape of pain medicine, which will likely continue to evolve.

Many of the opioids out in the public are being used to treat acute and chronic pain. Unfortunately, as many Americans are...

Physician-Author with local ties talks about chronic pain during Omaha book tour from The Challenge Doctor on Vimeo.

Jason Ward of the Mechanical Care Forum interviewed Dr. Cady regarding the book PAINDEMIC.

The Medical System: Dr. Cady expresses frustrations within the medical system, sharing that many physicians feel stressed out or burned out due to high volume practices. Medical practitioners feel victimized by the system, and she notes that “victims treating victims” is often not a sustainable business model or a successful treatment approach. She speaks to the complexity of the current healthcare system.

Quote: “Pain is usually not life threatening, it is life altering… especially dependent upon how you are viewing it.”

She goes on to explain how pain is often a signal that something may be amiss, but is rarely an emergency situation. She stresses the importance of pain education.

- from the Mechanical Care Forum website

Listen to the 2-part podcast at the following links:

Part 1: http://www.mechanicalcareforum.com/podcast/116
Part 2: ...

What an honor and privilege to speak to dozens of Austinites about my new release, Paindemic!

Listen to the Sirius radio interview: http://www.paulchristomd.com/paindemic/

Author? Never did I imagine in my lifetime that I would actually be an author of a book. My journey to becoming an author of PAINDEMIC merely started in 2013. It was an idea and a process that developed after encouragement from others who heard my messages. And it was leaders in the online world who allowed me to figure out how I could materialize a newfound dream.

The reality is that after years of medical school and training, I was supposed to be a pain-trained physician in practice. I do work part-time as an anesthesiologist, but I have been asked why I was not practicing pain medicine. Sometimes the more you learn, the more you realize how much society does not know or sometimes you begin to understand the inadequacies of the system. Although I have dear friends who are pain medicine physicians, I did not want to join the ranks of the current chronic pain practices. They did not appeal to my style of doctoring. My personal vision of a pain practice is not...

My visit to Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina was my first opportunity, not only to visit that town, but for a book signing. Yes, my first book signing. It was an incredible opportunity to reach out to osteopathic medical students who were eager to learn and open their eyes to the realities of the current medical system. I felt extremely welcomed and supported by the Barnes and Noble located on their campus. 

…It is Inappropriate Treatment

There is no doubt that more opioids are being used than necessary with associated unintentional  deaths—almost 45 Americans per day in 2010! (1) Yet, voices rise after hearing condemnation of opioids or when having difficulty in obtaining them. They are the people who already found opioids helpful or believe that they are helpful. Then, there are those who do not have access to any adequate treatment and proclaim “undertreatment” of pain? Fewer opioids, more opioids, or undertreatment of pain seem to be the prominent arguments in the pain community.

True, some people can function well on intermittent use of opioids. However, if numerous patients are so mentally clouded by the opioids that they use and/or do not do anything for themselves in the form of enhancing their own function or mental/physical health (aka self-care), then those drugs’ benefits are...

It should not come as a huge surprise that a larger percentage of our American newborns are suffering the consequences of a rising trend in opioid use and abuse related to the American PAINDEMIC. More and more babies are suffering withdrawal effects after birth due to their mothers using licit or illicit drugs during pregnancy, such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and heroin. Some of the withdrawal effects include:

• Poor feeding
• Irritability
• Hyperactive reflexes
• Excessive crying
• Tremors
• Seizures
• Sweating
• Vomiting
• Fever
• Diarrhea

These effects make up what is called the neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Depending on the drug used by the mother during pregnancy, the withdrawal effects can begin up to three days after birth. The abrupt discontinuation of the drug from the mother’s blood supply can be incredibly uncomfortable for the newborn and may require re-administering a similar drug to the newborn and weaning slowly to avoid severe withdrawal effects.

The rise...

Our PAINDEMIC (Pain-epidemic)

With over 100 million Americans with chronic pain per the Institute of Medicine, it is no wonder we have a PAINDEMIC® on our hands! (1) Despite the barrage of technological advances, drugs, injections , and surgeries, more people continue to suffer with pain than those with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. And as more strong painkillers are being used to suppress the painful symptoms, there has been a directly proportional rise in unintentional drug overdoses. (Graph 1)  Many of these strong painkillers are called opioids, which are medications such as morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. Unfortunately, these medications have the potential to cause significant respiratory depression and hence, death. The reality is that these medications cannot be received without a prescription; yet, there are over 250 million opioids still being prescribed every year in the United States with almost 50 people dying every day as a...