Tell me something...tell me how you can say that some side effects to different meds are not that meds responsibility?
Tell me...please...how do you really know?
How can a doctor, (like yourself), tell their patient that the medicine they're on (the medicine you put them on) is not to blame for their teeth slowly or suddenly beginning to rot/decay? Your pt is unwilling to accept your answer because he knows better. He's suffering from one of the side-effects of methadone.
If you've never been a methadone "test subject" for at least 3yrs (or any length of time for that matter) Tell me...how do you know what the long-term effects (or any effects) are on our bodies?
Scenorio #1: Tell me...
When you treat a pt for a UTI...do you need to ask them what the pain feels like? -OR- do you already know because you have felt that same discomfort from having one yourself?
Scenorio #2: Tell me...
When you write scripts for Amoxicillin and Vicodin to treat a pt with kidney stones...do you explain that the antibiotic could upset their stomach if not taken with food and the Vicodin will ease the pain caused from the passing of the stones? How do you know what advice to give?
My Opinion is there's only 2 ways to truly understand.
- More than one pt complains of the same side-effects from the same meds -OR-
- You experiened the same side-effects (once treated for a UTI or somthing else) so you know this to be a FACT
So, do you only believe certain "kinds" of patients?
PLEASE help me understand here --- (now back to reality)
You've been prescribing a pt Methadone and for some years now (per pt) this RX has been causing the patient's teeth to rot/decay very rapidly. Your RESPONSE to this was "IMPOSSIBLE"!!! How can you say this? How do you know?
How dare you!!!
Why not tell the patient that you'd look into it? Then actually do some research to check for other patients with the same complaints while being on Methadone? It's easier to assume that it's just impossible, huh?
When methadone was tested on patients through clinical trials, (or whatever it was back in those days), there's no records of the patients being on the methadone for any long-term periods, such as; three or more years and what side-effects showed-up from the process.
Which means, "we" the addicts, (for whatever the reasons), are the "rats in the lab".
All of this fustration that I've typed was started by a blog I read yesterday that was written by the doctor herself. **(I'm pretending that she'll be reading this)** She spoke about her patient complaining that the methadone has caused his teeth to severely rot and she bluntly denied the methadone's responsibilty.
This doctor blamed methadone users, (her patient and myself included), of not practicing good hygiene. She explained that this was why our teeth were rotting. Tell me...doctor...how do you know??? Were you on methadone for a long time and your teeth are still as they were before the medicine?
Well...well...well...let me end by saying that you don't know ?%#! about the medicine you've been prescribing. We, (the addicts), are the only research out there and maybe you should try becoming a FRIEND TO YOUR PATIENTS FIRST...AND LISTEN!!!
I have always been told that the first thing people notice about me is my smile/teeth. My teeth are still nice and you can't see that something is wrong when I show my smile...but my teeth are decaying from the inside out, and I have no doubt that the methadone is to blame. Just a note to explain that my addictions have not stopped me from brushing and flossing, nor has it increased my sugar intake in a way which would make me stop brushing or flossing. Being an addict is why the "doctor" said "we" stopped taking care of our teeth and personal hygiene...but methadone is supposed to keep us from behaving like addicts. It's supposed to help us, not hurt us...
DOCTORS: try offering advice through life experience...your life...not someone else's.
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