The Coroner's Report on Tom Petty and other Loose Thoughts

This is not going to be the post I want to write, but the time for that is not quite now.

As if the loss of Tom Petty was not bad enough, now the New York Times reports that it was accidental and unintentional:

Tom Petty, the chart-topping singer and songwriter, died in October from an accidental drug overdose as a result of mixing medications that included opioids, the medical examiner-coroner for the county of Los Angeles announced on Friday, ending the mystery surrounding his sudden death last year.  

The coroner, Jonathan Lucas, said that Mr. Petty’s system showed traces of the drugs fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam, citalopram, acetyl fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl.

The opioid crisis is everywhere we turn and I've been running into it more than I would like lately.

I have no clue what the answers are to this.  I know we have been at "war on drugs" for decades and I don't see that much has changed.  Politicians have feathers in their caps for passing this legislation or that legislation but we still have a terrible drug crisis.

There are a million rabbit holes to explore on this topic and I'm only beginning to try to learn more about it. I have heard the conspiracy theories about big pharma and while I am reluctant to accept those theories in totality, I do think there is some dirty business there that should be explored. (I just re-watched Dallas Buyers  Club on Netflix last night!)

That list of drugs that Tom Petty had in his system is staggering. The drug fentanyl has been in the headlines a great deal lately and I personally know at least one person who died from this drug in the past year, much too young.  Oxycodone was the drug in the headlines before fentanyl and has been tightly controlled because of its strong addictive properties.  At least two of the drugs in Mr. Petty's system are benzos and those are terrible drugs.  Alprazolam is Xanax and as far as I'm concerned, that one is as bad as fentanyl and oxycodone.

Obviously all of these drugs have medical benefit when used in a carefully controlled and monitored fashion, but the potential for abuse is so real.

That all of these drugs were in Mr. Petty's system is stunning.  I understand from the NYT article that he had a broken hip and was in terrible pain.  I get that.  And I understand that his overdose was an accident.  But wasn't somebody monitoring all these meds?  Who thought it was a good idea to take all of those together?

I'm in no way judging Tom Petty or anyone here -- I want to be clear about that.  His personal medical situation is not my business.

That being said, I do think that prescription drug abuse is a very serious problem.

As I said, I have no answers whatsoever.  I'm just ruminating and I'm starting to learn more.  I recently went to my physician for a wellness check and we had a conversation about this.  She shared with me how new regulations are cracking down on writing many of these prescriptions and that in Texas, she said, it is very difficult to get prescription pain meds.  I have done no research on that and am not sure what kinds of cases she is referring to, but I do hope that there is some truth in it.

Do a simple Google search on benzodiazapine, or xanax, addiction.  The stories are terrifying.  Do the same for fentanyl, and oxycontin.

I know nothing about this is particularly informative or news to anyone -- like I said, this is just on my mind.  I have some stories fairly close to home on this subject that I'll eventually write about, but not today.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experience on this.

Further Reading:
1 Son, 4 Overdoses, 6 Hours  (The New York Times )
Beautiful Boy:  A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction (Amazon link)

The Dialysis Diary

Linking to a new blog in case you, or someone you know, has advice or experience in ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease). If you do, please check out this blog and make contact.

Shinseki Shuns Vets

There I was at work today, having just read on my iPhone that I had miffed my friend William, all freaked out because I couldn't get to a computer to correct my offense (all blogs, and most other interesting sites are blocked by our filtering software), when I read about the Obama administration's proposal to stab our military in the heart.

I'm pretty sure the blood rushed to my eyes at that point. As reported by CNN, "Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance." I thought, "it's a good thing I CAN'T actually post something right now because I'm so mad it would probably come out incoherent." But, I'm still mad.

What an idiotic, insulting, demeaning, heartless, ignorant, callous, divisive, stupider-than-a-rock thing to suggest.

So let me get this straight. We can afford earmarks for Pasteurization of Shell Eggs, gang tattoo removal, lobster research, copper wire theft prevention efforts; we can afford to bail out AIG, GM, Citigroup, bad mortgages, FDIC, and anybody else that wants to stand in line for a handout, but our veterans don't deserve MEDICAL CARE FOR SERVICE RELATED INJURIES unless they pay for it with their own private insurance? Are you freakin' kidding me?!

"Charging for service-related injuries would violate "a sacred trust," Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the move would risk private health care for veterans and their families by potentially maxing out benefits paying for costly war injury treatments."

No kidding! And of course the next step is that no insurance provider would actually cover a soldier because, well, he would then be high risk. Oh wait, then he'd have to rely on the socialistic Obamacare. I get it. Not to mention that recruitment for those brave men and women who protect his sorry ass would plummet.

Well, as Ed points out: "Obama said he wanted to bring bipartisanship to Washington, and he may succeed here — by annoying both Democrats and Republicans." Both Democrats and Republicans are displeased with The Messiah on this one. Democratic Senator Patty Murray said the proposal would be "dead in the water" if the proposal ever reached Congress. Eleven veterans groups have already submitted a pre-emptive letter against the proposal.

Dumbfounded.

Note to Team Obama: if you wanted to find ANY issue that would tick the public off more, THIS would be it. Don't mess with our military. Don't mess with our soldiers, don't mess with our vets. You jerk.

Let There Be Light - Anodyne Infrared Light

For the past four weeks or so I've been taking my elderly mother to physical therapy twice a week for treatment on a compressed nerve which has caused neruopathy in her hands (and to a certain extent, her feet). I don't want to go too much into her personal issues here, but I did want to say a couple of things about the treatment she is getting because it was new to me.

I'm a real believer in physical therapy. After a car accident almost 10 years ago, I had to go to physical therapy for a while. The short version is that it took lots of tests and lots of doctors to finally figure out that a facet joint was knocked out of place in my neck. After a few weeks of physical therapy, which in my case included mild traction, my very gifted therapist one day said, "Here, hang on, I'm going to pop that thing back in now. I think the traction has done its job." And BAM -- he turned my head one way and pushed the other way on that joint with his thumbs and I was cured. It was miraculous. I believe in good physical therapy.

So as far as my mom goes, they've had her on something called anodyne therapy. The layman's explanation is that these pads are strapped to your hands and feet (where peripheral neuropathy occurs) and the pads emit what was described to me as "an almost, but not quite, infrared light" and the whole basic idea is to stimulate the circulation. There's no pain or discomfort, just a soothing warmth. We go twice a week and they alternate treatments from 30 minutes to 45 minutes and then back to 30.

After seven treatments, it seems to be working. I don't want to jinx anything, but for the past week and a half mom has been saying that the flexibility is greatly improved in her hands even though they are still totally numb. Yesterday she told me that she thought she could almost feel in her right hand (she bites on her finger to see how much pressure it takes to feel it!). She says she doesn't have to bite as hard to get sensation. Dubious, but still progress. After today's treatment, she said she could feel her toes for the first time in months. She said, "I'm a little excited!" Cautiously.

I'm not sure this will fix it all; there is still the compressed nerve to deal with, but for patients with neuropathies, this seems to be something hopeful. The girls at Tri-State Physical Therapy are awesome; they are compassionate, kind, funny, and skilled. I can't say enough good things about them. A patient really bonds with his physical therapist. I know this from personal experience and I see it in my mom too. Neuropathies are fairly common in diabetic patients (which mom is not) and I'm hoping that this treatment gains more widespread acceptance if it does, indeed, help. The research I've found on it is there, but there's not a lot of it. Lot's of places don't even offer it. Not all insurance companies pay for it because they see it as experimental.

But for us, for now, it seems to be working. Knock on wood!

(Photo credit: anodynetherapy.com)