Monday, June 16, 2008

Please help America's race horses!

*I was sent this via email. Please read it over and please sign the petition to help race horses!*

America's Race Horses Need Protection

Every year, hundreds of race horses suffer career ending and even fatal injuries on race tracks across the country. The recent, high-profile deaths of Eight Belles and Barbaro put a spotlight on the high risk faced by these majestic animals, who are literally "run to death" in some cases. Take action to protect America's race horses.

Currently, only a handful of states ban the use of steroids in horse racing, but most states do not. Decisions regarding track surfaces, young horses racing while their bones are still developing, and other horse welfare concerns are made on a state-by-state basis, resulting in widely varying degrees of protection across our country.

Fortunately, Congress is considering the formation of a national commission to address these concerns and provide uniform regulation of the horse racing industry.

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative, Pete Stark, at (202) 225-5065 to urge support for a national commission to protect our race horses.

When you call, you will likely speak to a staff member who will pass your message along to your legislator. Remember to be polite and professional, and leave your name and address so it is clear that you are a constituent. You can say:

"Hello, my name is [your name] and I am calling from [your city] to ask Representative Stark to support the formation of a national commission to oversee horse racing. Thank you."

After making your call, please send a follow-up email to Congress in support of national oversight of the horse racing industry. And don't forget to tell your friends and family how they can protect horses, too.

Go online and sign the petition: https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2008_horseracing/5ubuu3r07wddn5w?

Thank you for all you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Mike Markarian
Executive Vice President
The Humane Society of the United States

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Pain medications and 'addiction fears'

This is an issue that hits close to home for me, as family and friends have long since continued to express fear about my pain meds or the amounts that I sometimes have to take, as being an issue later on and possibly causing me to be addicted to them. Due to this 'fear of addiction' I have met many people, including family members & friends, who are in so much pain that they should be on regular pain meds but refuse to take them because they are scared of becoming 'addicted' to their prescribed medications. Not only does this do more harm in the body, but it puts those people in great amounts of stress and ultimately makes them worse in the long run. I'm a big advocate of trying to educated the public and also ignorant medical professionals about the fact that those in pain need the meds that helps the pain and their medication access should never be taken away because of some stereotype that has been placed on pain meds. Your doctor knows what is best for you and when he/she prescribes a powerful pain relief medication, it's for a reason. As long as you take your medication as directed, as I do, you're going to be fine. This also applies to those who may have the so-called 'addictive personality' running in their family; I don't believe that this causes a higher risk for addiction to pain medications or any other medications. People who are in real pain are not trying to get 'high' from their medications, they are getting relief for their pain. Research has shown that even people who have suffered long term chronic pain, sometimes most of their lives, are able to slowly go off of their medications under the direction of their doctors and then they don't need the medication anymore because they are not in the same amount of pain when they have gotten much better. Please read the following article, which has new research about this same issue. Please don't listen to every stereotype that you hear of and rather try to think for yourself, get the facts before you judge. This article includes great information about how to prevent addiction and how medical doctors should always watch their patients closely for any signs of oncoming addictive behaviors. When asked, I explain to people that yes I'm on some very powerful pain meds, some every day and other on an as-needed basis but I also have to see my doctor once every 3 months in order to obtain new prescriptions for those medications. So my doctor is constantly monitoring my progress and we discuss everything that is going on with me at each appointment. This is so important for the pain patient. So if you are in pain and are considering asking your doctor about pain medications, don't be afraid to ask. Tell your doctor your concerns around addiction and how to prevent it. Don't ever hide those types of fears from your doctor. He/she is there to help you and to provide the care and treatments you need to get better and to be in less pain. Thank you!

Whitney :)

Chronic Pain Meds Unlikely to Cause Addiction
By MedHeadlines • May 9th, 2008 • Category: Drugs, Headlines, Medical Research, Neurology, Pain

The general population and many in the medical community alike harbor the popular opinion that using strong pain medications, including opioids, for long-term, chronic pain puts the patient at high risk of developing an addiction to the pain medications. A report presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Pain Society (APS) reveals evidence to the contrary.

pain medsSrinivasa Raja, MD, a professor of anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, reports that less than 3% of all patients suffering from chronic pain and who have no history of abusing drugs of any kind may eventually show signs of dependence or abuse when taking these medications pain relief. He urged the medical community to keep this very small percentage of risk in mind when establishing policies for prescribing such medications to patients who are far more likely to benefit from them than be endangered by them.

Raja also points to media attention surrounding an increase in the abuse of such medications but says these drugs are easily obtained from unregulated internet pharmacies and through theft and forgery of prescriptions, not just from within the legitimate medical establishment. While the established medical community is not the sole source of supply for these medications, Raja urges diligent communication between physician and patient, with patient screening procedures to identify addictive or potentially abusive behaviors becoming a routine part of the prescription and follow-up phases of treatment.

Raja further calls for uniformity in state and federal drug regulations and praises the teen drug awareness campaigns underway across the country as a means of preventing abuse of this type of drug. Raja says collaboration from the healthcare community, law enforcement agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry is needed to ensure people who need them will be allowed continued access to these medications, especially in the many cases where the benefits far exceed the risk of dependency.

Alternative treatments such as cognitive behavior and physical therapies should be used to supplement pain medications whenever possible, according to Raja. He says using this multi-faceted approach to pain management is much more effective than relying only on pain medications as the sole means of relief in most cases.

In his address to the APS, Raja cited past beliefs about pain that have been disproved by scientific evidence, such as that babies didn’t feel pain and therefore didn’t need anesthesia and that cancer patients should eschew the most potent and effective pain medications due to the supposed risk of addiction. These outdated beliefs have been proven wrong and he feels the fear of addiction should be abandoned as well in favor of effective treatment for pain management without the stigma of potential addiction influencing treatment options.

Source: American Pain Society