New tonight: Marketplace, The Fifth Estate

3 thoughts on “New tonight: Marketplace, The Fifth Estate”

1. GREAT SHOW! I am expecting a denial of claim any day.
   Can you provide the name of the Senior’s advocacy on the show, please.

2. It’s common knowledge that “anyone” that takes this drug long enough does indeed get addicted and also this drug has brought about a new syndrome aptly called “Narcotic Bowel syndrome”. I was 17 when I was first placed on this new miracle drug (oxycontin), I was a sophomore attending at the University of Guelph studying Psychology and Anthropology. I went for a weekend trip to go skiing and got into a terrible accident. I had a lot of pain in my lower back (slipped disks) and was subsequently placed on narcotics. After a couple months, I began to see that my grades were dropping, I was slow to respond and I couldn’t keep a clear head for my exams, so I went back to the Doctor and relayed my summation and conclusion; that I wanted to stop this medication so I can advance properly in my studies. He listened and took my advice and discontinued the Oxycontin. I stopped on a Saturday and by the time Monday came, I was at home in bed with what I thought was the flu. That next day, I barged into my Doctors office in complete peril, I told him I was in a mass amount of pain and that I was extremely sick, I relayed to him that “maybe” I should go back on the Oxycontin to fend off the pain. He looked at me for a long time and said to me “I can’t prescribe these for you anymore, you are now an addict” in turn I have to refer you to another Doctor. He promptly gave me the address and I went there straight away that day. What I didn’t know is that he had referred me to a Methadone clinic. As I sat there in the office I began to look around the room and what I saw wasn’t right, it should have alerted me to run, to leave this place and never look back, but I stayed for I was one of them now; I was “an addict”. I was given a large amount of Methadone to curb the pain I was in. I thought this was utterly amazing that I only had to take it once a day and no pain, so I continued until one day I ended up in the hospital with “severe” abdominal pain.. Long story short is this: I never finished school (3.4 G.P.A), I have been in and out of hospitals twice a week for 7 years, going for colonoscopy after colonoscopy until I finally lost it. Any Doctor I saw could not find anything wrong with me, it was then I became hopelessly angry at everyone that I thought could and should help me. After that incident (keep in mind its been 7 yrs of pain 20pnds lost) I demanded to be referred to a pain specialist. I got the referral that was much needed. In the first 10 minutes he had deduced what was happening to me and got visibly upset. He told me he had written a brief to the Ontario School of Physicians and Surgeons on the inevitable results one gets from taking any opiate pain reliever (no matter what the pharmaceutical companies stated), which is Narcotic Irritable Bowel Syndrome, he was shocked and dismayed that I had suffered for so long at such a young age struggling with this; he began the road to recovery with me and has stayed with me every step of the way. He inferred that a lot of Methadone Doctors long indeed knew about the problem I was going through BUT kept giving me more higher doses of the drug ($to make money$) which in turn made the pain unbearable in my lower left/right quadrant of my abdomen; “It was the narcotic pain reliever, that was actually giving me pain”. I am positively sure that my Methadone Doctor knew of what was going on but instead of a cessation program he decided to just give me more of it. Any pain specialist “does” know what happens, but they keep on prescribing it anyways?. I am trying to find a lawyer that will take this case as I know for a fact that “all the Doctor’s” that specialize in this field of pain management” DO” know the end result, they were briefed many years ago on the knowledge of Narcotic Bowel Syndrome and yet none relayed that vital information to me. If you take opiates for longer than 14 days 3 times a day you will become addicted to the drug; after years of taking it you “will NO DOUBT” get this syndrome. I am one of the first few people to be diagnosed with this syndrome but may very well, not be the last.

3. It is an out and out lie that the Doctor’s didn’t have a clue what was happening to their patients; that they were duped by the pharmaceutical company. My Doctor is at the fore front of his field dealing with pain management and he told me first hand that he himself informed the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons that these were indeed very addicting as “any” opiate is and that if taken for a long duration will initiate Narcotic Irritable Bowel; it is inevitable. If there is a class action lawsuit, I would like to petition as I’m sure many others do as well. People with pain are being targeted and have been for quite sometime, the pharmaceutical companies have made false claims that in many cases, have resulted in overdose or worse,fatality. Lives have been ruined and a lot have died from these false claims of a so called miracle pain drug. If I knew before; that “any” opiate would have this much affect on my future, I wouldn’t have taken “any” I was not informed that this was an opium derived medicine which in my mind would have been a red flag!. We have all had mandatory drug classes in school with our local OPP officer, informing us of the many types of drugs that there are. I was a young woman at the time (presently 32yrs of age) with a 3.4 GPA, I had a bright future until I was referred to a Methadone clinic for there was no real pain management for non-malignant pain so at this time it was the only place one could go to get daily pain relief. The patients that attended these clinic’s were partaking of a different lifestyle choice that I myself had decided to befriend, but I’m sure for a lot of people that was the beginning to a complete lifestyle change shortly thereafter. All opiate’s are derived basically from the Poppy plant; the Poppy gives off a whitish milky oil that turns black when exposed in the sun to dry; that is called Opium which in turn is refined into Heroin. Even I knew at a very young age living in a small town up north in Muskoka, that using Heroin is highly addicting and result’s in Death so in lieu of that I don’t really understand how the Pharmaceutical companies even advertised that it wasn’t addicting and far less than it’s predecessor. Many people were taken off of Percocet and placed on OxyContin which is far more addicting. What’s worse is that we are beginning to see a trend emerge due to these Narcotic Opiates; for when taken for a long duration results in Narcotic Irritable Bowel, a very debilitating and painful illness, which is much worse than the pain they were previously exhibiting. Some people like me have been diagnosed with this illness but few people know it is the very pain reliever there receiving that is causing the pain (don’t worry I didn’t see the connection either) which results in costly ambulance trip’s at a whopping $45.00, hospital stay’s, time off work and some end up on unemployment insurance, welfare/workfare or worse are not able to ever work again and are supported by O.D.S.P the Ontario Disability Support Program. The rest now call the street, their home’s.
   It’s terrible that the ramifications of this are far reaching including drug rehabilitation expenses as well as the problem of people diverting the said medications and they end up on the street. I have heard many stories on this epidemic and am surprised that it has only just begun to be seen and heard in the public eye, when

   Signed; Very Concerned Kelly

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