Why some of us need opioids

Re “Not every opioid user is an addict,” Opinion, Oct. 25

I agree with cancer survivor and opioid user Melissa Sanders-Self.

The cancer treatment I received a few years ago saved my life and at the same time exacerbated the chronic headaches I have had since childhood. I am a 72-year-old man who suffers from daily headaches and, with the consultation of my doctors, have tried over-the-counter and prescribed medications (including mild opioids) and other remedies.

What is needed, in addition to supportive friends and family, are dedicated doctors who listen and communicate carefully with their patients (from my experience, this does not always happen), multimodal pain management and education, risk assessment that responds to the whole person, and policies that allow for realistic, monitored opioid usage when other measures are not providing relief. Frank Ferrante Rancho Dominguez

Several years ago, my 83-year-old father was taking liquid morphine and Vicodin for his bladder cancer.

After a fall at home, he was taken to a hospital where his medications continued. Two days later he was transferred to a skilled nursing facility, but his medications didn’t follow him and had to be reordered. Because of the special triplicate subscription form, not all pharmacies carried the drugs, and because his transfer was at night, there were few local pharmacies open.

I’ll never forget the screams of pain my father cried out for hours until a courier could get his medications many miles away.

My father fought in World War II. He went down in two torpedoed ships and never complained, yet his last days were spent crying in needless agony because of the shortsightedness of lawmakers who don’t consider the effects of drug legislation enough. Linda Alkana Seal Beach

The most important method of dealing with this crisis is treatment. No question education is important, but those already addicted are the reason for the needed action.

Beyond that, it is important to remember that the current epidemic is an example of unintended consequences.

The move to opioids began as a response to calls for greater attention to pain management, an important issue that should not be forgotten. But opioids are not always the answer for patients, and more research needs to be done. Michael Solomon Canoga Park