Surgery…

So, I had to have surgery recently, and I found myself pondering how much medical procedures have changed since back in the day. What was once considered major surgery is now done outpatient thanks to laparoscopic methods that have been developed over the years.

After surgery, I was sent home with drugs…Lots of drugs. Pain medication, nausea medication, muscle relaxers…You name it, I had it. Luckily, I have a high tolerance for pain, so the most I had to use was the prescription strength Motrin, which I only took twice. So, we disposed of the hard-core medications safely and properly at our local Walgreens, and didn’t think much of it.

But then I did start to think about it. I mused about the opioid crisis we face in America. A patient used to stay in the hospital for a few days after procedures with pain medications doled out by the nurses. By the time you were discharged, you only needed the prescription strength over the counter pain reliever that I used. A person was sent home, more than likely, with a much smaller quantity of pain meds to get through recovery.

Do you think that the advances we’ve made in medicine actually contributes to the opioid problem as we spend less time hospitalized with our pain medicine usage closely monitored? Is our decision making about how much pain medicine we need contributing to addiction? Something to think about…

Stay groovy…

–Susie