This page focuses on accidental overdoses with prescription pain pills (hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine sulfate, etc.) rather than overdoses on illicit opioids such as heroin or fentanyl.
The graph below from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrates a few important points that many people do not realize.
The graph below from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrates a few important points that many people do not realize.
- Prescription pain pills kill more people than all illegal drugs combined
- The age group at greatest risks for accidental overdoses is actually 45 to 54 years of age.
Prescription pain medications are, in my opinion, the most dangerous drugs that doctors prescribe because they killed more than 50 people a day in the US in 2014. In Indiana alone, there were 1,172 fatal overdoses in 2014, which translates to over 3 deaths every day! Can you imagine the outrage you would feel if you found out the cholesterol medication or antidepressant your doctor prescribed for you was killing 3 people a day in Indiana? (illustration only - no cholesterol medication or antidepressant kills 3 people a day in Indiana) Why is it not okay to kill you with cholesterol drugs but okay to kill you with pain pills?
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This graph shows the risks of fatal overdoses by dosage. The higher the dose, the greater the risk of accidental overdose.
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Prescription opioids are most dangerous when mixed with sedatives such as benzodiazepines (xanax, valium, klonopin, ativan, etc.) and/or alcohol. There are many doctors who will absolutely refuse to prescribe pain pills and benzodiazepines to the same person.
Patients sometimes feel they are safe because they do not drink very often, but this may be a false sense of security. It is perhaps the occasional drinking binge that is the most dangerous.
Patients sometimes feel they are safe because they do not drink very often, but this may be a false sense of security. It is perhaps the occasional drinking binge that is the most dangerous.
New Developments
In recent years, the media has turned the focus on fatal opioid overdoses from overdoses on prescription painkillers to overdoses on illicit opioids such as heroin. There is no question that drugs such as heroin are very dangerous. Yet, as the graph at the top of the page shows, legal prescription opioids still kill much more often than illegal drugs. I cannot stress enough that the perception that prescription painkillers are safe is not correct.
Recently, there have been new developments that markedly increased the risks with prescription painkillers -- this is the introduction of counterfeit pills that first showed up in the summer of 2016. These are pills that look like authentic pain pills available through pharmacies, but are "fake pills" manufactured by illegal entities, and laced with much more powerful and dangerous opioids, such as fentanyl. They can look so much like the real pills that even a pharmacist would not be able to tell that the pills are counterfeits. When patients turn to non-medical sources for their pain medications, they might end up with a pill that is much more potent than they had bargained for.
This may be the reason that the pop music icon, Prince, died. Autopsy showed that Prince died of a fentanyl overdose but a search of his residence showed pain pills that look like Hydrocodone pills, even marked "Watson 385", which is the marking on hydrocodone/acetaminophen 7.5mg pills. Yet, lab analysis showed these pills contained fentanyl, a drug 80-100 times more potent than hydrocodone.
When patients decide to take pills from non-medical sources, they may now be flirting unknowingly with potentially deadly consequences.
In recent years, the media has turned the focus on fatal opioid overdoses from overdoses on prescription painkillers to overdoses on illicit opioids such as heroin. There is no question that drugs such as heroin are very dangerous. Yet, as the graph at the top of the page shows, legal prescription opioids still kill much more often than illegal drugs. I cannot stress enough that the perception that prescription painkillers are safe is not correct.
Recently, there have been new developments that markedly increased the risks with prescription painkillers -- this is the introduction of counterfeit pills that first showed up in the summer of 2016. These are pills that look like authentic pain pills available through pharmacies, but are "fake pills" manufactured by illegal entities, and laced with much more powerful and dangerous opioids, such as fentanyl. They can look so much like the real pills that even a pharmacist would not be able to tell that the pills are counterfeits. When patients turn to non-medical sources for their pain medications, they might end up with a pill that is much more potent than they had bargained for.
This may be the reason that the pop music icon, Prince, died. Autopsy showed that Prince died of a fentanyl overdose but a search of his residence showed pain pills that look like Hydrocodone pills, even marked "Watson 385", which is the marking on hydrocodone/acetaminophen 7.5mg pills. Yet, lab analysis showed these pills contained fentanyl, a drug 80-100 times more potent than hydrocodone.
When patients decide to take pills from non-medical sources, they may now be flirting unknowingly with potentially deadly consequences.