January 21, 2018 Twitter Chat: Chronic Pain & Opioids

1/21 Twitter Chat: Chronic Pain and Opioids

#CripTheVote Twitter Chat

Chronic Pain and Opioids

Sunday, January 21, 2018

4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern

The co-partners of #CripTheVote, Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang, and Alice Wong, are delighted to have guest hosts Alecia Deon and Alex Haagaard join us for a discussion on chronic pain and opioids.

How to Participate

Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility @msdeonb @alexhaagaard

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Check out this captioned ASL explanation of how to participate in a chat by @behearddc

https://www.facebook.com/HEARDDC/videos/1181213075257528/

Introductory Tweets and Questions

Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat on chronic pain and opioids. We are excited to have guest hosts @msdeonb @alexhaagaard with us today!

Please remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet. If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote”

Background: Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids

Note: During this chat we will focus on the usage of prescription opioids for pain relief, not for recreational purposes.

Q1 Happy New Year! Community check-in. How are you doing and what are your expectations/hopes related to disability issues & politics this year? #CripTheVote  

Q2 For those who are comfortable sharing, what are the most misunderstood aspects of living with chronic pain? What are your thoughts on the media coverage of opioids and chronic pain?

Q3 People take opioids for all sorts of reasons. Regarding pain relief, please share your experiences with opioids. What is the difference between chronic pain and other types of pain? What myths, stigmas, criminalization, and surveillance are associated with opioid usage? #CripTheVote

FYI: gender and race major factors in chronic pain treatment disparities by healthcare providers. 2 articles from @Rewire_News

By Dr. Alexandra Moffett-Bateau:  https://rewire.news/article/2014/03/04/chronic-pain-denial-care-black-women/

By @sesmith https://rewire.news/article/2015/02/13/chronic-pain-overwhelmingly-experienced-women-trouble-getting-care/ #CripTheVote

States and pharmacies in the US are taking steps to curb the abuse of prescription opioids by limiting the amount of pills per script or the # of prescriptions a doctor can give.

Q4 How will these restrictions affect patients, sick people, chronically ill people & disabled people? What else have you observed in your local communities and in other countries? #CripTheVote

Q5 What are the consequences of stricter limits on prescription opioids and doctors shifting toward other forms of pain relief? #CripTheVote

Q6 There's also the concept of 'pain acceptance.' Doctors asking patients to live with a certain level of pain for the rest of their lives. What do you think of this idea? Is it acceptable to you? For more: https://www.vox.com/2017/11/13/16387320/pain-acceptance-opioid-epidemic-chronic-pain-treatment #CripTheVote

The current Administration declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency in the fall of 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/us/politics/trump-opioid-crisis.html  #CripTheVote

Q7 Clearly, there is a racial and class disparity (among others) in the way the US govt treats substance abuse. What are the main differences you’ve observed with the current ‘war’ against opioids and the ‘war on drugs’ in the 1980s? What differences have you noticed in the media coverage? #CripTheVote

Q8 What are some policy changes you would like to see that would support people who need treatment for addiction and protects access to prescription opioids to those who need it?

This concludes the #CripTheVote chat on chronic pain and opioids. Thank you to our guest hosts @msdeonb @alexhaagaard!

Please keep the convo going. A Storify of this #CripTheVote chat will be up shortly. Yes, we are aware Storify will be ending in May 2018.

You can find updates & info about our future chats here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/

Thanks again!!