Mount sinai hospital in NYC is no longer prescribing opiates for long term pain

[metronycguy]

the whole opioid scare has caused many doctors to change their practice to injections only, no Rx due to media sponsored opioid scare.
tramadol is only med mount sinai now Rx for BT pain.
VA in Bronx i am sure will follow through.
insanity in pain management

[2drwhofans]

the whole opioid scare has caused many doctors to change their practice to injections only, no Rx due to media sponsored opioid scare.
tramadol is only med mount sinai now Rx for BT pain.
VA in Bronx i am sure will follow through.
insanity in pain management

This reflects what's going on around the country. Every quarter, our State Medical Board releases a list of doctors who have been disciplined for various infractions to all local media outlets. The most common reason for license suspension is "Non-Therapeutic Prescribing". Basically, writing prescriptions for opiates without adequate documentation of need or lab tests to check for diversion. The "bad apples" make the news and the Doctors who have practiced within the standard of care get scared off.

The effect has been that Pain Management Physicians stick with interventional nerve blocks and refer for non-medication treatment options to treat chronic pain.

Prescriptions for controlled substances are tracked and multi- state pharmacy reports can be easily accessed by other doctors when new patients arrive requesting medications.

Entrepreneurs hire homeless individuals and drive them to the known remaining "pill-mills". The homeless fill the prescriptions, turn the meds over to the boss and get paid. The pills get sold on the street for 1-2x the amount of opiate content. A generic 10 mg lortab goes for 10-20 dollars here. While temping to some, lortab pill presses are used to manufacture fake drugs in Mexico and China. These are often laced with a Fentanyl-like substance and can be deadly.

The VA is strongly encouraging its providers to follow newly issued chronic pain guide lines. https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/Pain/cot/

To give you an idea, follow the algorithm on https://www.healthquality.va.gov/gui...mary022817.pdf

Tramadol was initially thought not to cause clinical dependance. That was later proved to be wrong leading to it being scheduled in an effort to track prescription use. The irony is that many doctors became dependent on Tramadol because it doesn't show up on a standard pee test.

If you are a Veteran, talk with your VA SCI doctor. Their understanding of spinal cord related pain is likely better than anyone else.

Best to you.

[Tim C.]

Mt Sinai?
As if they know how we can best deal with pain?
Who runs the SCI dept since Dr Ragnarsson retired?

[SCI-Nurse]

Mt Sinai?
As if they know how we can best deal with pain?
Who runs the SCI dept since Dr Ragnarsson retired?

http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-ca...al-cord-injury

(KLD)