Animal tranquiliser added to opioids causing 'steep increase' in deaths
Medical researchers have called for greater education about the rise of an animal tranquilliser, xylazine, in the US’s illicit opioid supply that is not only contributing to deaths but causing severe ulcers and open wounds requiring amputation. The authors of a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine have warned of insufficient awareness about the drug now widely found mixed in with heroin and the even more deadly opioid fentanyl, which has driven up overdoses to record levels in recent years.
The paper said that “exposure to xylazine mixed into illicitly manufactured fentanyl has been associated with prolonged sedation … and a steep increase in deaths”. Xylazine can increase the potential for fatal overdoses as the drug further suppresses breathing on top of the effect on respiration caused by opioids. The combination of xylazine and fentanyl, known as “tranq dope”, has been identified in 48 states. The study estimates that one-quarter of the fentanyl powder supply has the tranquilliser added.
The study, Xylazine Adulteration of the Heroin-Fentanyl Drug Supply, was led by Dr Joseph D’Orazio, an addiction medicine specialist at Cooper university hospital in Philadelphia. D’Orazio said xylazine is a psychoactive medication that acts like Xanax and other benzodiazepines that reduce anxiety. But he said they also create their own dependency alongside that caused by the opioids and that some of his patients have told him that xylazine made it more difficult to break their addiction to heroin or fentanyl.
“In the Philadelphia area most people who are using opioids are getting exposed to xylazine. They don’t want to be exposed but they really don’t have much choice because more than 90% of the supply in this area is contaminated with it,” he said. “They’re looking for the opioid experience but they end up getting a good dose of xylazine and are unconscious for hours at a time. Then they wake up and they’re in withdrawal so they’d love to avoid it. But things have evolved, and now people really can’t go without it.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/10/animal-tranquiliser-opioids-deaths-study-xylazine
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I got a call from my doctor's office early this morning. She'd been trying to call my pharmacy to no avail (CVS) to put in a script for my hydrocodone. No one would answer the phone. She passed it over to me to try to get in contact with them. I sat on hold for 20 minutes before a really brusque guy answered. He told me he could have the med ready in an hour. When I told him I needed it in 10 days, he said he couldn't guarantee it for then and wasn't at all apologetic about it. I've only dealt with this stupid pharmacy for 10 years. I'm in the slow process of moving my scripts out of there. I've had enough of them.
I called Dillons, which is where I'm moving my scripts. My brain is fried with the process, but at least the person I talked to was sweet about it to this old lady. Being a first script, I can only get 7 days worth for the first script, and then the doc has to call in a 2nd script for the next 30 days. What a hassle!!!! And still, no absolute guarantee the med will be there without advance notice.
This is ridiculous what us chronic pain sufferers are having to go through. CVS makes us makes us feel like more like druggies than customers. All we want is to be able to live our lives with a modicum of painlessness. Is that too much to ask? To be able to move around do what we need to do during the day? To be able to sleep at night and not wake up crying in pain? I have lupus, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and my back has seen two operations. I have enough metal in my hips and spine to set off metal detectors going INTO stores. I was forced out of work and into early retirement because of my disability and now I still fight pain through the retirement!
I understand there are addictive personality types that screw things up for everyone. But there are people like me and others that need medication for real issues. I'm probably a low man on the totem pole example. I'm doing okay today. I've still got some medication. Give me 7 days, and I'm going to be a screaming mess with pain levels surpassing 11. When the pain levels kick up that high and stay at the level, the flares from lupus and fibro kick in and stay kicked in. That means all life stops for me. It's all bed all the time for me. As you can imagine, depression sets in, too. Why wouldn't it?
Something has to be done to shield us chronic pain sufferers. The fact that women suffer pain more acutely than men is one of the main issues, I believe. Women also suffer from autoimmune diseases more than men. I have to wonder if both of these are reasons why we're seeing nothing being done to help us, and everything being still about illicit opioids.
Well... that's my rant for the day! 
This is how Hydrocodone and other opiates are doled out nowadays. I n tiny dribs and drabs.
In Fall of '21 I went in for a (2nd) Laminectomy. (that's where they remove bone from your spine at the neck.)
Post surgery I had to BEG for pain meds requiring a subjective 7 of 10 scale of pain to get the second 5mg
of Hydrocodone so I could go to sleep!
After Oxycontin lawsuit this is the new normal...
Sorry it's so crazy now..
iow, not much. Never could see what the hype was with it... not even when I had a uterus for cramping issues.
Like I said, I luckily don't have to worry about any clotting issues, but I did want to bring it up in the message. The only thing I have about these is the size of the capsules. It's as bad as potassium pills... except these are gel capsules, at least. (LOL)
