Accidental overdose, so sad and bad...

    Good evening, Family... The AB Challenge is finally over.  I almost made it through, but my hips hurt so bad from the leg raises, I couldn't do it anymore.  I was eating Ibuprofen like candy, trying to ease the pain.  I thought it was best to just stop and try something else--like a new challenge for the month of July...  How did you do with the challenge???  My motto:  never give up (maybe postpone for a little bit, but never give up).

     It's ironic that in light of me taking Ibuprofen around the clock to ease my pain, there has been a recent report about women overdosing on pain medications and dying.  Trust me when I say, TOO MUCH of anything is not good for you, but overdosing on pain killers is a scary thought to me.  The CDC states that the rate of prescription drug overdose deaths of women increased 400% from 1999 to 2010.  The highest increase is in the age group of women 45 to 64 years of age.  Pain meds are being prescribed much more frequently.  Unfortunately, responsible use of the drugs has decreased and led to such a horrible outcome, death.

     These prescription pain medications are being ABUSED and used how a patient "sees fit" instead of how they are "prescribed".  Also, it seems that we women tend to have more chronic (ongoing) pain.  This leads to higher doses and longer use of the drugs.  Through my research it seems to be implied that women will shop around for doctors and at each stop, may get a new prescription for some type of pain pill.

     When you have a fever, you can take your temperature to determine how bad it is.  If you sprain a muscle or tear a ligament usually there is swelling.  But with pain, ONLY the patient can feel and describe what's happening.  So that leaves the healthcare workers in a responsible mode to pay attention to "overuse" by patients.  Some of the drugs that are problems (Oxycontin and Vicodin) should be used for treatment of SEVERE pain, not mild pain.  Also, there needs to be information given to the PUBLIC about the effects of these mediations, and finally, there needs to be support for those people to help them if the do get addicted to narcotic painkillers.

     At the end of the day, everyone has a responsibility in this matter.  Step up and do your part.  Overdoses can be intentional, but in most cases (about 70%) they are accidental.  In any case it's a sad and bad situation.  SMOOCHES...

Special thanks to USAtoday.com, huffingtonpost.com,oregonlive.com