[Alert] New Pain Pills Put Seniors at Risk

Dear Reader,

We have a big ol’ drug problem in the U.S. A.

But I don’t blame drug cartels. I blame well-meaning doctors who hand out prescriptions for highly addictive narcotic drugs as soon as their patients complain of a little pain.

Prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percocet have ruined countless lives and caused hundreds of thousands of overdoses.

It’s to the point where it’s been labeled an “epidemic,” and some government officials are wanting to declare a national emergency.

So now, some equally well-meaning doctors are turning away from opioids.

But their solution is just as dangerous… and potentially deadly.

More and more doctors are using epilepsy drugs to treat pain.

Yes, really.

Even though these are technically anti-seizure drugs, studies show that they can be somewhat effective at treating nerve pain.

So the FDA has allowed them to be prescribed for conditions like shingles, fibromyalgia, and diabetic neuropathy.

But doctors have started prescribing them for ANY type of pain.

There’s a name for this kind of drug use: off label.

But I’d say these doctors are off their rocker.

Newsflash, docs… not all pain is the same! Using something that works for nerve pain just isn’t appropriate for general pain management.

And what that means is that most the time these drugs aren’t going to do a darn bit of good.

So they may not be effective, but they’re still just as dangerous. In other words, you could STILL be in pain, WHILE being exposed to side effects like confusion, dizziness, impotence, fatigue, bowel problems, balance problems.

And the ultimate irony? Doctors are prescribing these drugs to help avoid problems with opioid addiction…but these drugs are addictive too, which can lead to deaths! Patients use them to get high, and there are severe withdraws when they try to stop them.

Sound familiar?

In the end, you’re only trading one set of problems for another.

When will we learn?

This alarming trend is going from bad to worse. The generic form of Neurontrin (gabapentin) was in the top 10 most prescribed drugs in the U.S. last year. And sales of Lyrica more than doubled between 2012 and 2016.

If you’re taking anti-seizure drugs for pain, talk to your doctor about safely coming off of them. And consider non-drug alternatives to manage your pain.

One I often use with my patients is low-level light therapy, or LLLT. I’ve seen this treatment relieve muscle pain, arthritis pain, neuropathy, and practically everything in between.

No side effects, and no addiction problems.

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.