FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restricted

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jul2873
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FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restricted

Post by jul2873 »

An FDA panel today agreed with the recommendation for the DEA that drugs containing hydrocodone be moved to a schedule 11 drug from schedule 111. Vicodin is the most commonly prescribed drug that will be affected. Here is an article about the hearing in the Washing Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ ... story.html

This panel just recommends, but whoever in the FDA that makes the final decision will look at the panel's recommendation.

NPR also had a story on this tonight. It said that many people came to plead with the panel not to change the classification. They explained the hardships the change would cause but the DEA's opinion carried the day.

ViewsAskew
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by ViewsAskew »

Well....

I better keep my fingers quiet on this one...
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

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EeFall
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by EeFall »

ViewsAskew wrote:Well....

I better keep my fingers quiet on this one...


Go ahead and tell 'em what you think. It is a crock full of dog do :lol: that's what I think about it. What someone should do is come up with the fact that severe RLS/WED is a terminal illness and any medicine that relieves it should be allowed.

badnights
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by badnights »

Once again, fools are choosing the wrong route to deal with a problem. From the article
“I don’t think reclassification is a panacea for the opioid abuse problem in this country, but I think it’s an important step to get doctors to rethink their prescribing practices,”
I agree, part of the problem is doctors' prescribing practices. But making life harder for patients - making them see the doctor every 3 months instead of every 5 months - is not going to fix that problem!

In my letter to the FDA on the petition to restrict opioids in general, I addressed each of the reasons the petitioners gave for placing greater restrictions on the drugs - and these are so obvious I cannot see why there is even any argument about it:

The petitioners claim that a body of evidence suggests, first, possible harm to patients of opioids in high doses.
My response: the possible harm of untreated disease/pain has to be balanced against any potential harm caused by the treatment!

They claim secondly that there is societal harm in prescribing opioids, from patients developing into addicts.
My response: clinical WED specialists will tell you that the incidence of opioid addiction is lower among their patients than in the general population.

They claim thirdly - THE BIIGGIE - that there is societal harm in prescribing opioids, from prescribed drugs getting onto the street.
My response: restricting access to a drug for those who need it does not solve the problem of addiction on the streets, and does harm to those who need the drug. Is this not flamingly glaringly sun-blindingly obvious?
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

ViewsAskew
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by ViewsAskew »

It is to me (blindingly obvious)....but they can't see how to prevent #3 so they are willing to do this anyway.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

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Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

dogeyed
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by dogeyed »

You know, drug companies spend a lot of money creating drugs for people with chronic pain that will never go away. RLS is a condition where often it is painful, and also once you have RLS, you will always have it. So, what the heck are people going to do? As far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, is only Tylenol Codeine is the only Schedule III left of pain killers. That's what I take. But you know what, not only do I have RLS, I also have worsening back pain from an old car wreck, I've got chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy in my hands and feet, intermittet lymphedema, fractures in my feet that make me limp. Now, what in the hell am I supposed to do? By putting fairly moderate pill killers on Schedule II, you have to get your prescriptions every month from your doc, or they have to work around it by giving you a handful of scripts. I would give anything to go back on Oxycodone, I had to take it when I had cancer pain and, the funny thing about it is, it did not pull on me to want more the way Hydrocodone did. I suppose if I am to believe all the research, I'm wrong. But if I'm also to believe research, I would be a raving lunatic if I took a strong pain medicine and became an addict. They say and I have found this to be true, that if you have pain that a drug relieves, you don't get all hooked on it because it's doing a job. And, you know, the scheduling of these drugs has gotten so bad, I don't see how people are going to be able to get their meds, particularly our elders having to visit a doc every single month, and one day we may neve have them again, thanks to some lousy sleezey unemployed subnormal folks that have nothing better to do than to hang out on a corner in a rotten part of town to score or sell. Now, as for them getting out on the street illegally, which I suppose means some kid raids their parents' medicine cabinet, then docs should be notified to tell each and every patient they have, whether they're taking pain meds or not, to keep their medicines under lock and key and hide the key in a convenient but unusual place. Since we do not have children, I don't worry, but I do keep them out of the medicine cabinet. And if I had kids and pills in the cabinet, I can think of five places right now where I don't care if a kid has all day to find the key that they won't. You can hang the dang thing around your neck with a comfortable but unbreakable chain. There is nothing worse than living with pain. I am famliar with a large number of women who suffer from breast cancer pain, goes on for years sometimes, who don't get ANYTHING. This is just so wrong. :|
"It's not how old you are; it's how awful you feel."

Polar Bear
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by Polar Bear »

Dogeyed, I totally agree with your post.
'' lousy sleezy ....... on a corner..... etc. etc ''' you tell 'em.... :)
I dare say we shouldn't generalise but you make your point very well.

And as for us keeping proper security regarding medications. Of course we would.
We are not dimwits and only too glad to be prescribed something that will give us blessed relief.

Even my codeine 30/500 is only prescribed 4 x weekly.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
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ViewsAskew
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by ViewsAskew »

I think Beth really nailed it earlier when she said that we're trying to affect change in the wrong way.

I absolutely agree that doctors SHOULD be more careful about how they prescribe. But that is THEIR behavior that needs to change. Restricting those who need it doesn't bring about the right change!

We are not tackling the real problem.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

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rthom
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by rthom »

Here! here!!I absolutely agree with that!

ViewsAskew
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by ViewsAskew »

Dean Spitzer wrote an excellent book about how we often measure the wrong things and make decisions that cause erroneous results. I find it appalling that people at high levels can make these errors. I get how many of us do - it takes a very specific type of reasoning and we all don't have that skills. But, anyone making policy decision, in a corporation, company or a government, should be able to. It's mind boggling when you look at all the results we get from policy decisions that completely fail to meet their mark.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

badnights
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by badnights »

That's because the people making decisions did not get into those positions because they were good at making decisions. Most ended up there by chance or ambition; our systems do not pick people who are good managers to manage, nor wise people to make decisions. I first understood this when I began to work for the government in my early years - I came to understand how decisions were made, and found that I could influence the process; and I realized that the people who made decisions were all just regular folks like me, fallible and not necessarily wise or capable.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

ViewsAskew
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Re: FDA Panel recommends Hydrocodone drugs be further restri

Post by ViewsAskew »

Absolutely, Beth. Our system of promotions and rewards at the HR level is bogus. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to stay working in my field. It depresses me all the time :-(.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

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