When you need narcotics for pain, and when you don’t

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We have talked about alternatives to painkillers and about how a substance use disorder is a true chronic condition.

We have met families who have seen the side effects of painkillers.

We have heard from parents who buried their children as a result of an addiction from an “innocent” painkiller.

We need this important information to resonate with us and those around us. Addiction is not a choice.

In that light, I want to share some helpful information from the ABIM Foundation, a charity created by the American Board of Internal Medicine to improve the quality of healthcare. Choosing Wisely is one of the foundation’s campaigns, and it aims to raise awareness about wasteful or unnecessary medical procedures.

Consumer Reports has partnered in the effort to spread the word about the care people should expect and to prepare them to ask their doctors important questions.

I hope you take a few moment and read this flyer, it lays out very clearly some helpful information about opioids. They are prescribed too often and can be very addictive — so much so that one in four who take opioids may become addicted.

One in four.

Every day 46 American die from an overdose of opioids. That’s 46 brothers, fathers, best friends, daughters. Why is this continuing when there are safer alternatives?

Please click on the flier for a larger version.

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From Choosing Wisely

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From Choosing Wisely