Use of 3 painkillers quadruples in Ohio during past 8 years

The trends in Ohio and in the nation are a match.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Laura Krietemeyer would gobble down ibuprofen and Tylenol at the same time. Use heating pads. And go biking to get that euphoric rush from exercise.

Anything to ease the chronic pain brought on by neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves. She didn’t have the option of taking painkillers because her doctors didn’t believe that she was really hurting.

That was 10 years ago. Today, Krietemeyer, 42, a Columbus-area former neurologist who’s on disability because of the condition, said Ohio doctors are more likely to ask their patients about pain and prescribe drugs for pain.

The use of three major painkillers more than quadrupled in Ohio between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The figures include nationwide sales and distribution of drugs by hospitals, retail pharmacies, doctors and teaching institutions.

Oxycodone use in Ohio rose 689 percent, while morphine and hydrocodone use both increased 149 percent. Oxycodone includes OxyContin and Percodan. Hydrocodone includes Vicodin and Lortab.

Columbus leads

The oxycodone and morphine figures were boosted by phenomenal growth rates in Columbus, where oxycodone use skyrocketed 1,227 percent and morphine use jumped 302 percent. No other area posted such high rates, with Cleveland and Cincinnati having some of the lowest increases in the state.

The national average increases for oxycodone and morphine were 591 percent and 154 percent.

Meanwhile, Ohioans’ use of codeine and meperidine — better known by the brand name Demerol — declined at a greater rate than national averages. Codeine use fell 33 percent, while meperidine dropped 37 percent.

The Ohio results mirror a nationwide trend: People are using more oxycodone, morphine and hydrocodone and less codeine and meperidine.

Doctors, pharmacists, patients and medical groups said there’s a confluence of reasons. They include a major educational push about treating pain, aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies, patients being more educated about potential treatments, and drugs such as codeine and Demerol falling out of favor because of negative side effects in some patients.

“Historically the treatment of pain has not been well taught in medical school, pharmacy school, nowhere,” said William Winsley, executive director of the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy. “It’s been primarily learned through practice.”

Rating pain

But pain now has become the “fifth vital sign” — joining heart beat, breathing rate, temperature and blood pressure. Doctors are encouraged to have patients rate their discomfort. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations now assesses pain treatment in its reviews.

Though doctors are taught to ask about a patient’s pain and told to listen, “half the time they don’t,” said Krietemeyer, who had to have a leg amputated because of her nerve condition. She originally took morphine and now is taking other opiates.

She’s not pain-free, but she sleeps and concentrates better, she said.

“I know there is no way 10 years ago I would have gotten some of the pain meds that I got after my amputation,” Krietemeyer said.

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