Chronic Pain Thoughts: Volume 12 Dopesick V Painkiller

 Dear Reader,

As someone who deals with chronic pain, I am directly invested in the issues around the medications to treat chronic pain. Currently I get next to nothing to deal with pain most people wouldn't be able to function with. This is probably true for most people reading this.

I watched Dope Sick when it came out and I watched Pain Killer. Both shows get to the root of the pharmaceutical company who started this all. What they don't touch on is the millions of people who are affected daily by chronic pain who can't get relief. These shows touch on the greed and lies told by the drug makers. They touch on the lives that were ruined because of it. What we need is a show that touches on those of us who have to suffer because of the ignorance and lies told to doctors. These are truly one-sided stories.

The news tends to show us the worst of the worst, fear mongering is what I refer to it. Along with the stop smoking commercials. The worst possible thing that could happen is shown. Each time, no middle ground.

Yes, this show how the pharmaceutical reps were lied to, they intern lied to the doctors. People got addicted because they were given the drug for things, they didn't need it for. It was over prescribed. The same goes for drug commercials, it shows all that's wrong with US.

It's because of all this I need to have to pee in a cup, have my pills counted in front of me and be treated like an addicted all to have less pain. I've been subject to lab tests, MRI's, X-Rays and CT scans all to prove that I actually have things wrong with me. Yet, I am still treated like this every month, it's humiliating. I know I'm not the only one.

Dopesick

Came out; 2021

Watched: Hulu

Rated: TV-MA

IMDB Rating; 8.6/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Michael Keaton as Dr. Samuel Finnix

Peter Sarsgaard as Rick Mountcastle

Michael Stuhlbarg as Richard Sackler

Will Poulter as Billy Cutler

Kaityln Dever as Betsy Mallum

Rosario Dawson as Bridget Meyer

Story Line;

The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA.

Thoughts:

This series was both hard to watch and hard NOT to watch. So many extra parts were added for story that didn't need to be there. This was about Purdue and not about the millions of pain patients. This showed how easy doctors were persuaded into prescribing medications that they didn't know anything about. It showed how easily people can be persuaded by money and freebies.

Painkiller

Came out; 2023

Watched: Netflix

Rated: TV-MA

IMDB Rating; 7.5/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Uzo Aduba as Edie Flowers

Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler

Taylor Kitsch as Glen Kryger

Dina Shihabi as Britt Hufford

West Duchovny as Shannon Scaeffer

John Rothman as Mortimer Sackler

Story Line;

Painkiller exposes the roots of the most pressing health epidemic of the 21st century. Powerful narcotic painkillers, or opioids, were once used as drugs of last resort for pain sufferers. Purdue turned OxyContin into a billion dollar blockbuster by launching an unprecedented marketing campaign claiming that the drug's long-acting formulation made it safer to use than traditional painkillers for many types of pain. That illusion was quickly shattered as drug abusers learned that crushing an Oxy could release its narcotic payload all at once. Even in its prescribed form, Oxy proved fiercely addictive. As OxyContin's use and abuse grew, Purdue concealed what it knew from regulators, doctors, and patients.

Thoughts:

As with Dopesick, this shows how the drug came to be and how the pharmaceutical reps were led into believing they were doing good things. This shows all the same thing as Dopesick and also has real people share the loved ones they lost.

What both of these series don't show is what happens to the people who are truly in chronic pain and how they were treated after everything came out about the addictiveness of OxyContin. Both shows depict real people who had a reason for their pain, how because of what doctors were told, OxyContin was prescribed in large doses and the patients became addicted.

Both shows only show the worst part of the whole thing. Nobody seems to want to focus on the plight of actual chronic pain patients who just want to go along with their daily lives without pain. Stop telling the same stories and change the narrative