Well it has happened again. A group of providers has discovered another way to stop the raging abuse of drugs. Music. That’s correct. The very first sentence in a paper by a group at the University of Pennsylvania, published in, Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Volume 44, Issue 8, states, “Music medicine is a non-pharmacologic intervention that is virtually harm-free, relatively inexpensive and has been shown to significantly decrease preoperative anxiety.” Really? Please say it ain’t so!! When I am laying there waiting to be sliced open by a surgeon holding something that could be found in Bob Villa’s toolbox, I am sure that listening to Lionel Richie sign “All Night Long” will take me to a place that a milligram or two of Versed won’t. Uh huh, sure it will. NOT!!
The FDA has now gotten hold of this well studied and thought out paper and decided to deliver a megabuck grant to study mice prone to falling asleep when listening to Led Zepplin, or maybe it was Whitney Houston. Okay, not really. What happened to appropriate, well thought out medical care. Yes, abuse of a benzodiazepine can cause respiratory depression, however surgery is done in a hospital or surgery center where patients are routinely knocked out and breathing is done for them, not in a garage. Additionally, how many of you reading this, have heard of an incident where abuse of Versed in a surgical setting has caused respiratory depression?
I realize, and hopefully you do too, that I am being mildly, maybe even moderately sarcastic, however I have to wonder has the medical world gone bat#### crazy? Where has the ability to think for oneself gone? How about this one: A 2017 Journal of American Medical Association paper reached this following conclusion, “To treat emergency room patients in acute pain, a single dose of oral opioids is no better than drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen.” I kid you not. Perhaps the authors of this study were using their own products? I have to ask, who in the world goes to an ER in legitimate acute pain and receives an aspirin for that pain? This is another example of how the opioid hysteria has influenced the medical society. I am not saying that distribution and use of controlled substances should not be appropriately done, however, keep me away from the ER provider who wants to slip me 1000 mg of Tylenol vs one 15 mg Oxycodone for a kidney stone. That would be like claiming the Boston Red Sox are better than the New York Yankees. Everyone knows that would not be true unless the Yankees played with blindfolds on.
Anyway, welcome to fall everyone. Please enjoy your weekend. Say hi to someone you haven’t seen in a bit. It will do you both good. Thank you for using Industry Lab as your toxicology lab. We do appreciate your business.
Lance Benedict
President/CEO Industry Lab Diagnostic Partners
10/18/2019