The Pain of Pain Killers

By Fr. John Rausch
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 9/2/04)

Danny knew pain most of his life from a chronic ear disease affecting his right eardrum. He found relief from his periodic ear infections with antibiotics, but he lived with a dull pain inside his head. In 1990, he suffered a gunshot wound, and his doctor prescribed a pill containing the opiate oxycodone to treat the pain. The pain killer unwittingly gave Danny his ticket to a life-long rollercoaster ride.

He never felt better, he told his wife; even his ear pain quit. But, when the medicine wore off, the pain returned, and with it Danny's eight-year quest for more and better pain killers began.

As his addiction advanced, Danny visited four, perhaps five, doctors seeking pain killers for one malady after another — stomach trouble, insomnia, ear pain, the gunshot wound, vertebrae or nerve problems. He even bought pills off the street. In his final hours, Danny locked himself in the bathroom and snorted OxyContin, a potent time-released oxycodone hydrochloride. Then, with a single blast from his 30-30 hunting rifle, Danny administered his last pain killer.

Nearly a half million people in 2000 — 43 percent of those coming to hospital emergency rooms from drug overdoses — were treated for misusing prescription drugs. In 2001, 16 percent of persons aged 12 or older (36 million Americans) had used prescription drugs non-medically at least once in their lifetime. Federal statistics in 2002 estimated that 6.2 million Americans misused prescription drugs, compared to 2 million misusing cocaine and 700,000 misusing ecstasy. The number of new users of pain relievers has increased steadily since the mid-1980s from about 400,000 initiates to 2 million in 2000. With that trend comes the increased possibility of misuse and addiction.

Part of the increase of prescription drug use lies with the pharmaceutical firms whose relentless marketing creates an appetite for the promised nirvana of pain-free living. The largest drug companies now spend nearly three times more money marketing and promoting their products than doing basic research and development. Since 1995 the R and D staff of major U.S. pharmaceutical companies has decreased by 2 percent, while marketing staff has increased by 59 percent, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. Currently, R and D employs 22 percent of the staff of the larger firms, while marketing commands 39 percent.

A major part of American medicine revolves around pain. Doctors receive training to treat it, journals promote advertisements to address it, universities accept grants to defeat it. In today's medical climate, patients expect a pill to relieve their pain. The pharmaceutical firms respond with more potent drugs that, used correctly, stave off the most acute pain, but always with the threat of complications and side effects. The culture of instant gratification seizes on the allusion of no-pain to deny the life struggle from birth through death.

Given that harsh pain might require chemical intervention, an increasing number of folks are seeking holistic alternatives to drugs with their unwanted side effects and possible addiction.

Judy, a woman with severe allergies, quit Western medicine for acupuncture and herb therapy. Jeanie, suffering with lupus, found pain relief through feet and hand massage. Agnetta, suffering acute pain from lymphadema, abandoned morphine for reflexology, the application of alternating pressure causing a physiological change in the body.

Alternative folks train themselves to accept the daily pain of life by visioning a serene place without pain rather than sedating themselves with chemicals. Manufactured compounds seemingly treat one aspect of pain without addressing the whole human situation. Treating pain apparently requires a balance of mind, body and spirit.

Copyright ©2004 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.