Norco and Mrs. Jones

Lately, more of my nice patients, like Mrs. Jones*, come in and tell me they got prescribed Norco by their M.D.’s. Mrs. Jones has it in her handbag right now. She’s going to take a dose later on at the office. She might share one with a coworker who looks like she needs it. Mrs. Jones doesn’t know what she’s getting involved with, and I am mad at her M.D for not telling her all the facts. Norco is a combination of acetominophen and hydrocodone. It belongs to a class of drugs called “OPR” (Opioid Pain Relievers) that includes oxycodone and methadone, and it can kill.

(Note how the drug companies have subtly changed the name of the product from pain killer, to pain reliever. That’s good marketing.)

You might be alarmed if your best friend showed up with heroin or cocaine in her purse. Yet according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, OPR now account for more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. OPR drugs killed 36,450 people in 2008 alone, but the numbers are climbing, and are set to become the number one cause of injury death in the United States. Enough OPR was prescribed last year to medicate every American adult with a standard dose of 5 mg., every four hours, for a month.

People commonly obtain pain killers from friends and family instead of making a trip to the M.D., especially in these economic times. Mrs. Jones’ Norco may travel. Your teenage kids know one Norco pill sells for $10.00 on the black market.

Another patient of mine recently asked her medical doctor what he thought about her taking the herbs turmeric and boswellia for pain. The doctor seemed skeptical. There are multiple ways this doctor could have gotten reference information about these herbs. The standard response that “we just don’t know enough at this point” is simply not true. One thing remains true, though: when doctors prescribe drugs like Norco, patient safety is endangered.

*not her real name, of course.