One person dies every 19 minutes from a prescription drug overdose in the United States. I have recently posted several articles concerning the dangers of prescription narcotic drugs. Last Thursday the US Drug Enforcement Agency changed the classification of hydrocodone combination drugs ( such as Vicodin and Tylenol III) which are the most misused of the narcotic drugs from schedule III to schedule II. This puts more restrictions on the prescriptions. This ruling goes into effect in 45 days.
Do you think this was a good idea?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/22/health/hydrocodone-dea-rules/

Millions with disabilities get heavy-duty painkillers in potentially fatal doses

I recently posted an article by Consumer Reports stating that 17,000 American now die every year from prescription narcotic drugs. Here is an article discussing a new study from Dartmouth School of Medicine revealing that roughly 4 million Americans too disabled to work are prescribed heavy-duty painkillers, such as OxyContin, Vicodin, codeine and morphine. The study also found that one in five of those prescriptions are for doses so high that they put patients at risk for serious side effects and even overdose.
Plus, it’s not even clear that the drugs help!
Does anyone have any thought on this new study?
http://www.freep.com/article/20140816/FEATURES08/308160061/disabled-painkillers-dangers-overdoses

Do Cortisone Shots Actually Make Things Worse?

Here is a good review of the research on cortisone steroid injections by a rehab center blog. The current research is showing that although cortisone can be effective for arthritis in older patients, it is much less effective for other conditions such as tendinitis, and although it can give good short term relief in many cases it can lead to a worse long term outcome. We are also learning more about the damaging effects.
The article also reviews a 2010 Lancet study showing that for tennis elbow (which is a tendinitis/tendonosis), cortisone injections gave better relief at 6 weeks than manual therapy but cortisone lead to a 63% increase in relapses over one year.
Anyone had any experienced any negative effects from a steroid injection?
Do Cortisone Shots Actually Make Things Worse?

Physical therapy including manual therapy and manipulation as effective as steroid injection for shoulder pain

Study from this month's Annals of Internal Medicine found physical therapy (which included manual therapy and manipulation) to give the same improvement over one year as steroid injections. But the group that received injections used more health care services and had significantly more shoulder-related doctor visits during the year of the study.
Has anybody had experience with these two treatment approaches and which one seemed more effective?
http://consumer.healthday.com/bone-and-joint-information-4/bone-joint-and-tendon-news-72/skip-the-steroids-for-shoulder-pain-690444.html

The dangers of painkillers

New article from Consumer Reports about the dangers of prescription opioid (narcotic) drugs and acetaminophen (Tylenol).
These narcotics drugs now kill over 17,000 americans per year or 46 people per day! Acetaminophen is now the leading cause of acute liver failure and a common reason for ER visits! A not so well known fact is that although narcotic drugs can work well for acute post surgical pain and other types of acute pain and cancer pain, the research shows that they are not that effective for chronic pain.
So why are these narcotics so commonly prescribed for chronic pain when the side effects are so dangerous?
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/09/the-dangers-of-painkillers/index.htm