The killer combo docs are still handing out

It’s a combo that makes about as much sense as fanning a fire to put out the flames or setting off in a sailboat during a hurricane.

But despite the fact that doctors know full well how dangerous this pair of drugs can be, it hasn’t slowed down the prescribing one bit.

And the most frightening part? Most patients have no idea that their lives are in grave danger.

That’s why knowing exactly what you’re being prescribed has never been more important.

‘A dimmer switch’

You would think that with all we know at this point, no doctor in their right mind would ever prescribe an opioid along with a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, or benzos.

Benzos, such as Valium and Ativan, are risky meds given out like candy to treat anxiety. Put one together with an opioid and it easily can become a poison pill.

But shockingly, doctors do it all the time!

According to a report just released from Pinney Associates, a pharma consulting firm out of Pittsburgh, over 50 percent of 1,214 doctors surveyed said that they’ve prescribed that killer combo.

Okay, but that was an assessment of the way things were in 2015. Might the situation have changed since then?

In fact, it has. By 2016 over 60 percent of the docs questioned were doing it!

And when the Pinney researchers crunched the data for over 43,000 patients given a particular kind of opioid in 2017, up to 44 percent also had scrips for benzos – and over half the time, those came from the same doctor who prescribed the opioid drug.

As a former assistant surgeon general explained it, the combo can “act like a dimmer switch on the central nervous system,” causing your breathing and heart to slow down and “ultimately stop.”

And that’s not all – over two years ago, we told you how opioids and benzos are practically the same formula used to execute prisoners on death row. Yet doctors are still prescribing these two drugs together!

The Pinney report focused on a specific kind of opioid called buprenorphine, which is used to treat pain as well as help wean people off other opioids. And watching out for this drug is something else to put on your radar, because some doctors are calling it the “safer” option.

But honestly, a “safe” opioid is like “jumbo shrimp” — a classic oxymoron!

Even though buprenorphine is said to have a lower potential for addiction, its side effects can still kill. That’s especially true for the patient whose first encounter with this kind of med comes after surgery or an injury that puts them in pain.

And even the feds have made it easier for docs to write prescriptions for buprenorphine by designating it as a “schedule III” drug. That means that an Rx can be phoned in and refilled numerous times, unlike one for the opioid oxycodone (which is listed as a “schedule II”).

The crucial bottom line is: If you find you’ve been prescribed an opioid (any opioid) and a benzo, your life may depend on finding out how to safely get off of at least one of them, if not both.

So, the first thing to do is check your medicine cabinet. The big names you might recognize include Vicodin, Nocor, OxyContin, Percocet, and Demerol… but as I said, you also need to be aware of buprenorphine and the brand names it’s sold under, which include Cizdol, Suboxone, Buprenex, and Belbuca.

These meds can come in many forms, including pills, liquids, skin patches, and strips that dissolve in your mouth. Benzo drugs also go under many names, some of the top ones being Xanax, Valium, Halcion, and Ativan.

It’s impossible to know how many lives this combo has already taken, but by sharing this information far and wide, perhaps we can stop this deadly duo once and for all.

“Despite OD risk, opioid-benzo Rx continues” Ian Ingram, April 15, 2018, MedPage Today, medpagetoday.com