Even at “safe doses,” opioids cause confusion, dependence, depression, increased pain sensitivity, diminished energy, and low sex drive. Consistent use of NSAIDs caused heart attacks.
Doctors are not trained in pain management or addiction, but they prescribe dangerous, highly addictive drugs. Get an organized curation of research and reports , plus alternatives and considerations.
Contents
Pain Relievers, NSAIDs, Opioids
Evidence of Harm
Alternatives & Considerations
Context: See how this subject fits in the bigger picture, and get links to related topics
Pain Relievers, NSAIDs, Opioids
Drugs used as pain relievers include NSAIDs and opioids.
NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are available both over-the-counter (OTC) and by prescription:
OTC NSAIDs include Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and Naproxen (Aleve). [source]
Prescription NSAIDs include Cataflam, Celebrex, Celecoxib, Ciclofenac, and Voltaren. [source]
Opioids are available illegally, and prescribed as pain killers:
Illegal opioids include heroin. [source]
Prescription opioids include Carfentanil, Codeine, Dihydrocodeinone, Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Meperidine, Methadone, Morphine, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone. [source and source]
Evidence of Harm
Consistent Use of NSAIDs Caused Heart Attacks — “Nearly 70 million prescriptions for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are written each year in the U.S. and 30 billion doses are consumed, often for headaches, back pain and menstrual pain. Research found a link between consistent use of NSAIDs with an increased risk of heart attack in the first seven days, with or without a previous history of heart disease. It is important to address the cause of the pain while using strategies that don’t have significant side effects, such as cayenne cream, acupuncture, EFT, and chiropractic management.”
Common Prescriptions Associated with Seizures in Children — “Child seizure cases from medication exposure doubled from 1,418 to 2,749 between 2009 and 2023, with first-generation antihistamines, antidepressants, painkillers and synthetic cannabinoids being primary culprits.”
Doctors are Not Trained in Pain Management or Addiction, but they Prescribe Dangerous, Highly Addictive Drugs — Harvard Medical School reports that doctors have even written opioid prescriptions after an overdose.
“Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death among Americans. Opioids are responsible for nearly two-thirds of these deaths… From 1996 to 2013, overdoses quadrupled.” — “A number of studies have highlighted the deadly risks you take when combining opioids with benzos. During the first 90 days of concurrent use, your risk of a deadly overdose rises fivefold, compared to taking an opioid alone… The ratio of patients using opioids and benzos concurrently rose from 9% in 2001 to 17% in 2013; concurrent use for at least one day doubled the odds of an opioid overdose.” See also: McKinsey to pay $650 million over role in OxyContin epidemic See also Synthetic Opioid Carfentanil Deaths Surge Sevenfold in a Year, CDC Says; “Carfentanil, which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, is a threat to first responders and law enforcement personnel who touch it by accident.”
Even at “Safe Doses,” Opioids Cause Confusion, Dependence, Depression, Increased Pain Sensitivity, Diminished Energy & Low Sex Drive — From a Pharmacist in Medical News Today: “Even at safe doses, they [opioids] can cause side effects that may include: confusion… physical dependence, constipation, depression, increased sensitivity to pain, dizziness, sleepiness… nause and vomiting, low testosterone levels… lower strength, energy and sex drive.”
Weaning Off Opioids Not Significantly Different from Trying to Come Off Heroin — Dr. Deeni Bassam, board-certified anesthesiologist, pain specialist and medical director of The Spine Care Center, notes “There’s very little difference between oxycodone, morphine and heroin. It’s just that one comes in a prescription bottle and another one comes in a plastic bag.” See also: What is the Timeline for Opioid Withdrawal?
Opioids Prescribed by Medical Doctors Led to Severe Addiction & An Epidemic That Killed 600,000 Americans. OxyContin Corporate Owners Made More than $10 Billion” — “The legal system has effectively allowed one of the country’s richest families to buy its way out of accountability for what a White House commission called “America’s national nightmare” of mass opioid addiction. On Wednesday, the court approved a deal for the dissolution of the opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, which kicked off the opioid epidemic two decades ago with its illegal drive to sell a high-strength painkiller, OxyContin. Purdue’s owners, members of two branches of the now-notorious Sackler family, are estimated to have made more than $10bn from the drug – even as the opioid crisis claimed more than 600,000 lives, with the toll climbing higher by the year.”
“Documentary Unveils America’s Pharma-Driven Opioid Crisis and the Heartbreak It’s Causing Families” — “A significant number of opioid addictions begin with a trip to the doctor’s office or a hospital as a result of an injury or medical problem for which addictive painkillers are carelessly prescribed. It seems no medical problem is too minor for powerful prescription painkillers to be prescribed.” 2-hour documentary on YouTube here.
Harvard Medical School Wrote This About a Common NSAID: “Vioxx caused as many as 140,000 heart attacks in the U.S. during the five years it was on the market.” — “NSAIDs may also elevate blood pressure and cause heart failure. The risk of heart attack and stroke achieved special notoriety with Vioxx, a type of NSAID… It caused as many as 140,000 heart attacks in the U.S. during the five years it was on the market.” See also: The Deadly Truth: How Big Pharma’s Profit-Driven Agenda Has Cost Millions of Lives: “Merck’s painkiller Vioxx was hailed as a breakthrough drug when it hit the market in 1999. However, it was soon linked to increased risks of heart attack and stroke. Merck was accused of hiding the risks associated with Vioxx, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of patients. In 2004, Vioxx was pulled from the market, and Merck faced a wave of lawsuits. In 2007, the company agreed to a $4.85 billion settlement to resolve thousands of cases filed by patients and their families. Merck’s prioritization of profits over safety cost countless lives.”
Horrific Combo of Opioids and Benzos: Deadly and Increasing
A number of studies have highlighted the deadly risks you take when combining opioids with benzos. During the first 90 days of concurrent use, your risk of a deadly overdose rises fivefold, compared to taking an opioid alone… The ratio of patients using opioids and benzos concurrently rose from 9% in 2001 to 17% in 2013; concurrent use for at least one day doubled the odds of an opioid overdose compared to taking opioids alone. – Dr. Joseph Mercola
Medical Professionals Responsible for Drug Abuse
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 60 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists with having illegally handed out millions of prescriptions for opioids in a pattern of malpractice that fed the flames of the ongoing opioid addiction crisis. – April 22, 2019
The Vital Importance of Learning How to Wean Off Opioids
Guidelines for tapering off opioids recommend gradually reducing 5% to 10% of the morphine-equivalent dose every two to four weeks and switching from immediate-release opioids to extended-release on a fixed schedule… To help patients manage their pain, the program uses a variety of methods, including nonopioid medications, exercise, acupuncture and mindfulness training. Opioids killed 33,000 Americans in 2015 and nearly 42,250 in 2016. The death toll is still trending upward, as overdose cases admitted into emergency rooms increased by more than 30% across the U.S. between July 2016 and September 2017. Studies show addiction affects more than 1 in 4 of those using opioids for chronic noncancer pain. – Dr. Joseph Mercola
Alternatives & Considerations
See GreenMedInfo for quick access to research on chronic pain. There were 194 abstracts at the time of this writing, showing success in alleviating chronic pain with acupuncture, Tai Chi and curcuminoids, for example. See also: More than 150 Health & Wellness Techniques to learn more about the many options.
Melatonin Lowered Cortisol Levels, Reduced Pain, Improved Sleep
Melatonin may also be beneficial if you are dealing with chronic pain. A 2019 study published in the Biological Research for Nursing has found that melatonin may be beneficial for those with fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by widespread chronic pain. Researchers found that melatonin may help to lower cortisol levels, improve mood, reduce pain, and increase the quality of life in fibromyalgia. A 2018 review published in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology has found that melatonin may help to improve chronic pain and pain related to sleep disorders. Researchers found that melatonin offers neuroprotective, sleep-supportive, and analgesic benefits. They found that due to these effects, melatonin may help to reduce chronic pain. – Dr. David Jockers
Acupuncture Improved Chronic Shoulder Pain Diagnosed as Osteoarthritis or Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
Research published in Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in 2009 reported improvements in chronic shoulder pain with acupuncture. [source]
Meditation Reduced Pain Even More than Morphine
Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2011 reported that brain scans demonstrated that mindfulness meditation can dramatically reduce sensitivity to pain — even more so than morphine. [source]
Yoga Proven to Improve Pain Levels in Many Research Studies
Yoga is safe and provides statistically valid improvements in pain and functional outcomes in a range of conditions including low back pain, arthritis, kyphosis, and fibromyalgia. [source]
Yoga caused significant improvements in pain levels, mood and functional capacity for those with chronic pain and depression. [source]
Yoga reduced pain and improved well-being in people with systemic lupus. [source]
Postural awareness reduced chronic pain. [source]
Randomized, single-blind, controlled trial: Carpal tunnel syndrome pain reduced. [source]
Cold Water Therapy Improved Inflammation and Decreased Soreness
Cold water therapy is short exposure to extremely cold water (40 to 59 Fahrenheit, 4 to 15 Celsius) for a few minutes, up to 15 minutes. It may be a cold shower or immersion into a body of water or tub of ice cold water. [source] May be useful when experiencing autoimmune disease [source], chronic inflammation [source], or muscle soreness [source].
Context, Organized Curation
This article is a subset of a vast resource curation on the failure and corruption of establishment medicine. See here for the entire collation, or select links below to focus on an individual subject.
The subject matter above is an excerpt from Cause of Harm. Pain meds are one of the types of drugs covered there.
Failed Health Outcomes — The U.S. spends nearly twice the per-capita amount on healthcare than the next highest spender, yet Americans are the most chronically ill, and rank 48th in life expectancy, among other countries. In addition, medical misdiagnosis causes permanent harm and death to 795,000 people every year.
Verifiably Corrupt — Establishment medicine as a system* is verifiably corrupt, and structured to serve the interests of industry — not health. (*Obviously, not every individual working in establishment medicine is unethical. Rather, the system that educated / indoctrinated them, and that sets policy, hires, pays, and promotes them is verifiably corrupted.)
Not Evidence/Science-Based — The bulk of establishment medicine’s standard of care is not based on unbiased, reproducible science. (We prove it here.)
Regulatory & Professional Betrayal — Government agencies entrusted to regulate the field of medicine fail to do so. The majority of influential professional organizations such as the American Medical Association are corrupted by industry.
Cause of Harm: Evidence by Drug, Treatment, and Test — Establishment medicine providers routinely utilize diagnostic testing and “treatments” that have harmful (“adverse”, “side”) effects, some of which have a high risk of severe consequences. Get verifiable evidence of the harms, organized by drug, treatment, or test (mammograms, CT scans, antibiotics, statins, benzos, etc).
Drug & Vaccine Harms: Organized by Illness or Symptom — Review an illness or symptom of interest, and quickly identify drugs and vaccines that may have caused it (e.g. depression, infertility, kidney issues, nervous system disorder, seizure, etc).
Failed Strategies; Suppressing Symptoms vs. Resolving Cause — The philosophies and strategies used by establishment medicine are dysfunctional and irrational, including a focus on suppressing symptoms rather than understanding them. Providers do not seek to identify and resolve root causes of illness. Diagnosis is simply an exercise in naming groupings of symptoms, disconnected from their purpose and message.
Stifling Treatments That Don’t Enrich Industry — Healing modalities that don’t benefit industry are underutilized, suppressed, and disparaged. Providers who are perceived as a threat to establishment dictates or lucrative markets are condemned, intimidated and attacked.
Suppressed Cancer Treatments — Cancer treatments that don’t benefit establishment medicine are ignored and disparaged. This curation of more than 150 clinical studies and testimonials provides quick access to documented cancer reversal and recovery successes.
The Significance of Legal Precedent — Legal precedent, breach of duty, and “standard of care” are significant factors in the state of the medical industry.
Alternatives & Considerations — Alternatives, considerations, and what you can do.