Recovery Connections Network

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Making Naloxone More Widely Available Could Prevent 20,000 U.S. Deaths: WHO

November 4th, 2014/

Increasing the availability of the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone could prevent more than 20,000 deaths in the United States annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

About 69,000 people die worldwide from overdoses of heroin or other opioids each year, WHO estimates.

In most overdose cases, people using opioids misjudge the dose they are taking or their tolerance for the drug, WHO expert Nicolas Clark told Reuters. A family member is often there to witness the overdose, and that person could administer naloxone, he noted. “If opioids are easily available in people’s bathroom cabinets, it might make sense for naloxone to be equally available,” Clark said.

Naloxone, which previously was available only as an injectable drug, can now be administered as a nasal spray. It works quickly, without side effects. “We’re happy to recommend the intranasal approach as an effective approach,” Clark said. “Naloxone is cheap but it’s limited really to emergency departments and some ambulance departments.”

A growing number of states have passed laws increasing access to naloxone. As of September 2014, there were 24 states with such laws. Most of the laws allow doctors to prescribe naloxone to friends and family members of a person who abuses opioids. The laws also remove legal liability for prescribers and for those who administer naloxone.

In addition, 17 states and the District of Columbia have passed “Good Samaritan” laws, which provide limited legal immunity for people who call for help for a person who is overdosing. These laws were passed in response to concerns that people who are present during an overdose may hesitate to call 911 because they fear legal consequences.

Abuse-Deterrent Opioids Bring Up Many Thorny Issues at FDA Hearing

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

November 4th, 2014/

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing last week revealed there are a number of disagreements among experts about abuse-deterrent opioids, MedPageToday reports.

The FDA has granted abuse-deterrent labeling to three drugs: Targiniq (oxycodone hydrochloride plus naloxone); Embeda (morphine plus naltrexone); and a reformulated version of OxyContin (oxycodone).

Drug companies that want to produce a generic opioid that competes with an abuse-deterrent brand-name opioid lack a clear set of rules to meet FDA expectations, the article notes. It is a challenge to develop a standard battery of tests to compare two drugs’ abuse-deterrent properties, experts said. In part that is because there are a number of ways these drugs can be abused, such as crushing a pill manually with a grinder, dissolving the drug in alcohol or water, or smoking it. There are also many ways to make the drugs harder to abuse, such as causing a burning sensation in the nose if the drug is inhaled, or making it harder for the particles to be absorbed.

Several speakers at the hearing expressed concern about limiting use of opioids that lack abuse-deterrent formulations. C. Bernie Good of the Department of Veterans Affairs noted the VA spends almost $89.4 million on drugs annually, primarily on generic drugs. He said more evidence is needed that using abuse-deterrent formulas are having the intended effect. He called for more studies “to know that we are benefiting society, and it’s not just decreasing the abuse in terms of crushing or snorting, but that actually at the end of the day, we have fewer deaths, fewer unintentional overdoses, et cetera, and that there aren’t unintended consequences like people going to heroin.”

Other speakers were concerned that removing non-abuse deterrent formulations would lead to a drug shortage or increase prices so much they would become too expensive for many patients. People who are determined to abuse drugs that cannot be ground or crushed could simply take more pills, some speakers noted.

Study: 19 Percent of Americans Suffer From Chronic Pain

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

November 4th, 2014/

A new study concludes 19 percent of Americans suffer from chronic pain. Women and the elderly are most likely to have constant pain, HealthDay reports.

The findings come from a poll of about 35,000 American households. The researchers asked respondents if they suffer from chronic pain, defined as constant or frequent pain that lasts for at least three months.

Study author Jae Kennedy of Washington State University in Spokane said narcotic painkillers such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine can be helpful in treating chronic pain, but only on a short-term basis. “We are clearly overusing opioids [narcotics],” he told HealthDay. “The U.S. consumes about 80 percent of the world’s opioid supply, and 99 percent of the hydrocodone supply. These medications are effective in the short term, [such as] for managing postoperative pain, but long-term use often leads to dependency or addiction.”

The survey found many people with arthritis or back and join pain did not say they had constant and persistent pain. Of respondents who did have chronic pain, more than two-thirds said their pain was constant, and more than half said their pain was sometimes unbearable and excruciating.

The study appears in the Journal of Pain.

“If you’re dealing with pain constantly for a long period of time, that’s going to affect your work life, your family life, your social life. It also puts you at higher risk for things like mental illness and addiction,” Kennedy said in a news release.

Bob Twillman, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the American Academy of Pain Management, noted narcotic painkillers are not helpful for many people with chronic pain. “Those medications are wonderful when they work, but on average, they only relieve about a third or less of the chronic pain people experience, and may be completely ineffective in treating some kinds of chronic pain,” he said.

Daily Quote

"In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for 'finding himself.' If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence." - Thomas Merton

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November 4, 2014

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HALT Series: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired:

Does Being TIRED Really Affect My Recovery?

Everybody gets tired to varying extents. Being tired can take a significant toll on your body, mind and spirit. It can also often contribute to feelings of depression. We all need to relax as well as make sure we are getting the right amount of sleep, especially in recovery. We have all heard the expression "you will never die from lack of sleep. Well truth be said, lack of sleep may not be fatal, but insomnia, for the person in recovery, can lead to relapse which can be fatal or at minimum lead to a negative outcome which could have been prevented.

Insomnia is all too common among so many of us today. It is a double edged sword for both the person in active addiction as well as the person in early recovery.

It is a specific problem for those in an addiction whose sleep is constantly being disrupted by the brain altering effects of the chemicals being ingested. Our sleep habits are governed by what are called circadian rhythms. These are cyclical patterns in the brain that regulate our neurological activity during the nighttime hours allowing us to sleep. Drugs and alcohol impact every natural process in our bodies including these circadian rhythms.

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NEW! Certificate in Supporting Youth Recovery Program!

The Council is excited to announce an innovative certificate program to prepare individuals to provide peer-based recovery support services to youth, adolescents, young adults, and their families.

The Peer Paraprofessional Certificate in Supporting Youth Recovery goes beyond the current requirements for the Certified Recovery Specialist Credential in Pennsylvania by providing students with enhanced and specialized training to work with youth, adolescents, young adults and their families.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 4 Chp 73 v 21 v 22 TWELVE STEPPING WITH STRENGTH FROM THE PSALMS

Then I realized my heart was bitter , and I was all torn up inside .I was so foolish and ignorant - I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you .

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.

This was my bottom ! Bitter Broken and battered is where my life left me . This is where a lot of you are now ! Most are medicating cause they are all torn up inside . Like a senseless animal they are emotionless due to the heavy medicating they administer on the daily . Medicating the pain and running from feeling does not fix it or make it go away. Caged is where you will remain until you over medicate or your hauled off to a jail cell to add more to your life of misery. Man up and deal with it ! Expose it so it cannot keep holding on to you .Discuss it , hash it out , and cry a river but get it out before it takes you out.

1 Peter 5:9-10 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace,who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

By Joseph Dickerson