Dr. Cady's Blog

If you don’t think pain and its treatment is an issue, then look no further than many of the patients and celebrities (e.g. Heath Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andy Irons, Prince Rogers Nelson) who have died from addressing their pain with opioids. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people have died from opioid overdose, which in many instances is a combination of opioids, benzodiazepines, and/or alcohol.

 Unintentional overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death that has now surpassed motor vehicle accidents.

And although there is a huge surge of illegal production and distribution of opioids in the form of carfentanil, heroin, and others, there is no doubt that a massive influx of opioids into medicine cabinets are due to physicians writing the prescriptions. (See DEA Warning about carfentanil posted on 9/23/2016 at https://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2016/hq092216.shtml)

Opioids not only can lead to death; but, they can generate misuse, abuse, and addiction in...

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 consequence. (2)

The Opio...