poledriver
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Pharmaceutical opioid addiction: patients delay treatment due to stigma
When most Australians think of drug addiction, Jessica Khachan is not the type of person that springs to mind.
The 42-year-old lives a comfortable life in Ryde with her husband and two children.
Her first so-called 'hit' came from an innocuous prescription for codeine - a pharmaceutical opioid - to cope with the after effects of minor surgery to remove her wisdom teeth.
"I look back now and I think: 'I wasn't really in much pain. I could have done without it'. I had no idea [codeine] was addictive," Ms Khachan said.
When her prescription ran out she moved onto over-the-counter codeine painkillers. Less than two years later she was taking 92 tablets every day; an alarming but familiar scenario according to addiction clinicians.
Her friends were oblivious. Her family had no idea.
"I had to constantly hide the boxes of medication. I was so terrified of having to admit I took these pills," Ms Khachan said.
"The longer I took them the more I needed them to function; to get out of bed, to get the kids to school. It numbs you. I was a zombie."
Ms Khachan's family became increasingly concerned when her physical health deteriorated. She was admitted to hospital weighing 30 kilograms, with a green tinge to her skin caused by anaemia, a severe stomach ulcer and in urgent need of six blood infusions.
"There was just so much shame," she said. "I was in denial for so long. I just couldn't believe this was happening to me," she said.
The distorted portrait of addiction among the community - and the damaging stigma that accompanies it - is preventing people with opioid dependence to seek help, addiction experts say.
Opioid dependence does not discriminate, "but people certainly do," said Dr Mark Hardy, a consultant addiction clinician in Sydney.
"People are not shy about sharing the negative views of people with pharmaceutical opioid misuse," he said.
A large proportion of the public has little sympathy for individuals addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, and their addictive effects are often underestimated, found a national survey released by advocacy group Scriptwise.
Demeaning phrases including "junkies" with "weak will power" are used to describe people addicted to opioids among the 1000 who participated in the survey commissioned by opioid addiction treatment supplier Indivior.
"Individuals with opioid dependence take their problems underground and don't seek help early because they're worried about the ramifications for their careers, or they're ashamed to tell their family and friends," Dr Hardy said.
"And the survey results show their fears are absolutely justified."
One in five of those surveyed thought high earners or professionals could become addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, with almost half suggesting illicit drug users were most at risk of opioid addiction.
"Addiction knows no bounds. It doesn't care if you're homeless or a homeowner in one of Sydney's most affluent suburbs," Dr Hardy said.
His patient list is dominated by "normal mums and dads" addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, vastly out-numbering individuals addicted to heroin.
In the late 1990s, opioid poisoning hospitalisations were predominantly heroin-related. By 2008 prescription opioids accounted for 80 per cent of opioid-related hospitalisations.
"Even more troubling is we're finding in a very vulnerable subgroup of patients pharmaceutical opioids may be a gateway drug to more serious substances," Dr Hardy said.
Prescription opioids are a vital treatment for pain relief among cancer patients and short term acute pain from serious injury or surgery.
But skyrocketing opioid use to treat for non-cancer chronic pain over the last two decades has alarmed clinicians and health authorities.
Prescription opioid dispensing in Australia increased 15-fold between 1992 and 2012, from 500,000 to 7.5 million per year. Oxycodone prescriptions alone jumped 152 per cent between 2002 and 2008.
Scriptwise patron Kim Ledger is aware of the devastating effects of pharmaceutical opioid misuse after his son, Hollywood actor Heath Ledger died from an overdose in 2008.
"Heath's passing was a little more high profile than most" said Mr Ledger, "but a staggering number of people are killed in Australia by overdoses involving prescription medications".
People who died of an overdose nationally in 2011 outnumbered the death toll on Australian roads.
Pharmaceutical opioid-related hospitalisations increased from 605 to 1464 cases between 1998 and 2009, out-numbering heroin poisoning hospitalisations since 2001.
But despite their potential potency, one in four survey respondents said they used opioids every month, but more than half of them didn't know common over-the-counter painkillers like codeine could be addictive.
Scriptwise and Indivior have launched a new online resource - turntohelp.com.au - for individuals battling opioid dependence and the community.
"It's a way to open discussion with family and friends, and your doctor without that fear of being judged," Mr Ledger said.
"It's very important that everyone knows there's a way through it."
http://www.smh.com.au/national/heal...-treatment-due-to-stigma-20160725-gqdg35.html
When most Australians think of drug addiction, Jessica Khachan is not the type of person that springs to mind.
The 42-year-old lives a comfortable life in Ryde with her husband and two children.
Her first so-called 'hit' came from an innocuous prescription for codeine - a pharmaceutical opioid - to cope with the after effects of minor surgery to remove her wisdom teeth.
"I look back now and I think: 'I wasn't really in much pain. I could have done without it'. I had no idea [codeine] was addictive," Ms Khachan said.
When her prescription ran out she moved onto over-the-counter codeine painkillers. Less than two years later she was taking 92 tablets every day; an alarming but familiar scenario according to addiction clinicians.
Her friends were oblivious. Her family had no idea.
"I had to constantly hide the boxes of medication. I was so terrified of having to admit I took these pills," Ms Khachan said.
"The longer I took them the more I needed them to function; to get out of bed, to get the kids to school. It numbs you. I was a zombie."
Ms Khachan's family became increasingly concerned when her physical health deteriorated. She was admitted to hospital weighing 30 kilograms, with a green tinge to her skin caused by anaemia, a severe stomach ulcer and in urgent need of six blood infusions.
"There was just so much shame," she said. "I was in denial for so long. I just couldn't believe this was happening to me," she said.
The distorted portrait of addiction among the community - and the damaging stigma that accompanies it - is preventing people with opioid dependence to seek help, addiction experts say.
Opioid dependence does not discriminate, "but people certainly do," said Dr Mark Hardy, a consultant addiction clinician in Sydney.
"People are not shy about sharing the negative views of people with pharmaceutical opioid misuse," he said.
A large proportion of the public has little sympathy for individuals addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, and their addictive effects are often underestimated, found a national survey released by advocacy group Scriptwise.
Demeaning phrases including "junkies" with "weak will power" are used to describe people addicted to opioids among the 1000 who participated in the survey commissioned by opioid addiction treatment supplier Indivior.
"Individuals with opioid dependence take their problems underground and don't seek help early because they're worried about the ramifications for their careers, or they're ashamed to tell their family and friends," Dr Hardy said.
"And the survey results show their fears are absolutely justified."
One in five of those surveyed thought high earners or professionals could become addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, with almost half suggesting illicit drug users were most at risk of opioid addiction.
"Addiction knows no bounds. It doesn't care if you're homeless or a homeowner in one of Sydney's most affluent suburbs," Dr Hardy said.
His patient list is dominated by "normal mums and dads" addicted to pharmaceutical opioids, vastly out-numbering individuals addicted to heroin.
In the late 1990s, opioid poisoning hospitalisations were predominantly heroin-related. By 2008 prescription opioids accounted for 80 per cent of opioid-related hospitalisations.
"Even more troubling is we're finding in a very vulnerable subgroup of patients pharmaceutical opioids may be a gateway drug to more serious substances," Dr Hardy said.
Prescription opioids are a vital treatment for pain relief among cancer patients and short term acute pain from serious injury or surgery.
But skyrocketing opioid use to treat for non-cancer chronic pain over the last two decades has alarmed clinicians and health authorities.
Prescription opioid dispensing in Australia increased 15-fold between 1992 and 2012, from 500,000 to 7.5 million per year. Oxycodone prescriptions alone jumped 152 per cent between 2002 and 2008.
Scriptwise patron Kim Ledger is aware of the devastating effects of pharmaceutical opioid misuse after his son, Hollywood actor Heath Ledger died from an overdose in 2008.
"Heath's passing was a little more high profile than most" said Mr Ledger, "but a staggering number of people are killed in Australia by overdoses involving prescription medications".
People who died of an overdose nationally in 2011 outnumbered the death toll on Australian roads.
Pharmaceutical opioid-related hospitalisations increased from 605 to 1464 cases between 1998 and 2009, out-numbering heroin poisoning hospitalisations since 2001.
But despite their potential potency, one in four survey respondents said they used opioids every month, but more than half of them didn't know common over-the-counter painkillers like codeine could be addictive.
Scriptwise and Indivior have launched a new online resource - turntohelp.com.au - for individuals battling opioid dependence and the community.
"It's a way to open discussion with family and friends, and your doctor without that fear of being judged," Mr Ledger said.
"It's very important that everyone knows there's a way through it."
http://www.smh.com.au/national/heal...-treatment-due-to-stigma-20160725-gqdg35.html
