Thread by @HappyWarriorP

There's no friendly way to put this:

The new CDC Opioids Guidelines are a farce when it comes to saving patients' lives.

usatoday.com/story/opinion/… #chronicpain #opioids #opioidcrisis #fentanyl #lawenforcement #drugs #politics #health #disability #disabled #cancer #addiction #pain

The CDC 2022 update is not meant to reform the guidelines

It's meant to absolve the CDC of guilt & wash its hands of an opioid prohibition & crisis it helped create

usatoday.com/story/opinion/… @elizableu @yashar @chadfelixg @conor64 @lhfang @stillgray @joerogan @TaylorLorenz

Christopher Jones, acting director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention & Control

Said the guideline is about "improving the lives of patients living with pain.”

Then why did the CDC push further & deeper restrictions against patients?

In reality, new CDC opioids guidelines are much more restrictive than the previous set, for example:

old restrictions came at 90 MME,
this one comes at 50 MME

That guideline had 2 pain categories for regulation,
this one has 3
reason.com/2022/11/04/the… #chronicpain #medtwitter

The whole document is like that,

Tell nice things at the front,
recommend harsher regulations at the back.

Jones may say they want to save patient lives, but not at the cost of letting patients access their pain medications

stats on suicide & abandonment are staggering,
stories like this are becoming commonplace in patient discussions:

a double suicide after DEA took away their physician & instead of showing compassion, gave em a flyer for addiction & mental health services
vice.com/en/article/wxn…

Law Enforcement, in particular, has run rampant with the CDC guidelines, & actively attacked physicians & in the case of the DEA, mock abandoned patients.

Please don't believe me; read the flyer👇

https://twitter.com/StefanKertesz/status/1590008811133501443

Put aside the needs of 8 million chronic pain patients that use long-term opioid therapy,

Digest the stats on Cancer patients & tell me this situation with the CDC & opioids is okay

What is possibly the justification for denying dying cancer patients access to pain medication🤔

Journal of Clinical Oncology found the number of opioids prescribed per decedent on Medicare declined 38% while the number of emergency room visits for these patients increased by over 50%.

Translation: dying patients were not allowed pain medication & ER visits shot up over 50%

What's possibly the justification for this continued attack on patients by the CDC?

Why does suffering & deaths of so many mean so little?

if this isnt enough to make them stop the madness. How bad must it get before they repent?
usatoday.com/story/opinion/… @Timcast @CassandraRules

As @maiasz reported,
there's a real problem with pain patient suicide

It's getting harder all the time to talk people down & beg my pain patients to hold on.

for them, it feels like there is so little hope & the CDC's antics do not help
nytimes.com/2023/01/03/opi…

I wish i had better news,

difficult to read it another way & Ive made an effort to give them benefit of the doubt

But CDC got all this data & more, they know what's going on & rather than take political or career flack they CHOOSE to let patients suffer
usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

the silver lining,
I know in my gut history will side w/ the abandoned

Whether CDC admits its mistake & changes course now, or in 10 or so years & it's foisted upon them

there will be an accounting,
I pray my fellow patients & I will be here to see it
usatoday.com/story/opinion/…