Back in May 2002 I was invovled in a bad motorcycle accident. I was fortunate to survive, but now I'm left to deal w/ the aftermath of what happened to me that day. Due to all the fractures in my left leg,and all the hardware that is left inside,my problems now extend to the rest of my body. My hips on both sides are starting break down. My lower back has been severly painful. And also my neck has been a huge problem, causing severe migrains and shoulder pain. I wish there wasn't such a stigma placed on pain medication. It seems so far the only thing to help me through a long day.

US and Australian research team which has made a breakthrough in revealing how opioid drugs such as morphine both relieve pain and also cause addiction.

The scientists tested a new drug called AV411 that blocks morphine’s effects on glia cells but not on neurons, resulting in effective pain relief without the side effects of addiction.

Currently, AV411 is in clinical trials at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. And it is being developed by Avigen Inc., a Californian biopharmaceutical company.

Pain Therapeutics said it would start testing Oxytrex in the second half of 2007, enrolling into the "Extreme Study" about 120 patients who depend on large daily doses of oxycodone -- or doses greater than or equal to 120 mg -- to treat severe chronic pain, whom the company said are particularly prone to physical dependence and withdrawal.

There is reason to believe that Oxytrex will produce greater analgesia, while producing lower levels of tolerance and dependence, than oxycodone.

A report, published in the online "Early View" edition of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, listed 4,451 deaths for opioids without cocaine or heroin, while cocaine alone caused 2,569 or heroin alone 1,061 deaths.

The deaths from opioid-based painkillers -- including oxycondone, hydrocodone, fentanyl and methadone -- have increased in recent years, as the drugs themselves have become more popular on the black market.

An Oregon woman suing her doctor and his medical clinic for $4 million. She said that his medical treatment included intercourse which was needed to help alleviate her lower back pain.

The doctor, Randall Smith, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the stateís Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute ìtreatmentsî involving the woman.

Two men suing physician Dr. Robert Harned, claiming he over-prescribed painkillers, causing them to become addicted. Each suit seeks $1.5 million for the plaintiffsí pain and suffering. Also named in the suit are Chatham Medical Associates, where Harned practiced, and Stop & Shop Pharmacy, which filled some of the prescriptions.

Dr. Ian Gilron, an anesthesiologist at Queen's University in Ontario studied using painkillers morphine and gabapentin in patients with diabetes or shingles-related pain. On their own, each drug reduced pain by about one-quarter or one-third. Used together, they worked simultaneously on different areas of the brain, and reduced neuropathic pain by 45 per cent.In addition, patients didn't require as much medication to get an effect.

The results of Gilron's study will be published on April 5, 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

News 10 has an article about Prolotherapy, which is use a dextrose (sugar water) solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas which then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to repair itself.

Part of the theory is the injections cause an inflammation that causes healing, and anti-inflammatory drugs stop healing process.

I thought this was weird. The girl was prescribed Duragesic for chronic headache and was "discovered unresponsive and with respiratory depression" 21 hours after the patch was first applied. The boy, who was prescribed the drug for throat pain due to mononucleosis, was found in respiratory arrest 14 hours after the patch was first applied. This is from Health Canada.