This Blog
The tagline for my Steemit blog is "an Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders," which pretty much means I talk about the various ways I fulfill my insatiable amounts of curiosity. It's a welcome change from my YouTube channel, which is more health & self-help oriented. That being said, at the moment, I'm much more compelled to blog about the following discovery, rather than create a video on the topic (there's also the fact that YouTube likes to delete my videos when I talk about pharmaceutical dangers and possible natural alternatives.) One last thing: I'm not a physician and nothing in this post or on my blog should be considered medical advice.
Opiates may not be the safest method of pain relief
Yesterday, I came across several citations to a study that suggest buprenorphine (an opioid painkiller) may significantly worsen the symptoms of Alzheimer's & Depression.
Normally, I wouldn't bother to blog about an issue like this - however - I am currently taking Codeine (prescribed) for some tooth pain (I have a root canal that was performed over 20 years ago that is infected.) Furthermore, a few months ago I had an issue with some inflamed muscles displacing segments of my spine (also very painful) in which I was prescribed to take Hydrocodone. Both Codeine & Hydrocodone are also opioid painkiller.
Now, I don't have Alzhiemer's nor Depression (I don't think) but this is the newest in a slew of studies that suggest that taking some painkillers (as prescribed) may not be so hot for our health.
What's the Alternative?
The U.S. Government says there is an "opioid epidemic" in our country. There are also many politicians and other government employees that make the claim that prescription use of opioid painkillers can lead to heroin addiction. I'm not here to dispute either of these claims. I would like to ask the question, however, if that's the case - why are the DEA and many state governments cracking down on Kratom: a plant related to the coffee family that has been historically used to provide pain relief.
Enter Kratom
While I'll admit, the science on it's pain relief properties is not completely solid, I can offer my subjective experience of using it when I could no longer tolerate the negative side effects of using Hydrocodone for my back and, yeah, it's pretty damn effective.
Could one little plant, not manipulated in a lab, lessen the Opioid Crisis?
If governments want to spend money and resources investigating Kratom (which as a Libertarian, I don't think is necessary,) why not focus on its medical use & safety, rather than working to make it illegal? It's pretty clear, to me, that prescription opioids are not something I want to be using outside of something akin to an emergency room visit.
What do you think?
Have you used prescribed opiates? Have you used Kratom? Do you disagree with or have anything to add to my perspective? Let me know in the comments below! And if you enjoyed this post, please consider an upvote and/or following my Steemit blog!