Blogs

Synergy Synergy Synergy...How Many Of You Suffer From Depression? Anxiety? Bipolar? I bet it's a lot. With all of the stress it's so common to have this kind of stuff these days. We are all over worked and over stressed. We have demanding jobs and neglected...

THANKS to our amazingly inefficient and now “medically negligent” medicare system. So this is always such a contentious point in my practice. SO many of you come in wondering why I'm such a hard nose about NOT drinking or using benzos when we are treating you with sub...

THANKS to our amazingly inefficient and now “medically negligent” medicare system. So, in 2007 90% of all insurers covered Suboxone. in 2018 only 35% In the past 10 years where the opioid epidemic soared medicare REDUCED its coverage by 60%. I guess they weren’t sure...

Hey good morning everyone.. did you sleep well??? if you are like most of my addiction or mental health patients up all night worrying about stuff then chances are no. Am i right? Have you asked your doctor for sleeping pills yet? keep in mind that even though...

Hey everyone, Hey this keeps coming up… “I just want to do a rapid suboxone detox”. Guys, i get it, we live in a world of instant gratification right? My obese patients just want the quick weight loss thing and THEEEEN they’ll be cool. My diabetics just want to go...

So the latest and craziest chatter right now is safe sites for heroin injection. (THANKS Marty for bringing up this topic) So as usual there are lots of pros and cons with everything and heroin injection sites are no different. On the pro side it offers a safe and...

The New England Journal Medicine concluded that we have doubled our suicide AND overdose fatalities since 2000. Not just overdoses. I know we are all talking about patients accidentally overdosing and that's a huge prob and that's whats in the news. Im afraid one of...

Hey guys so we are heading into the holiday times. Not the easiest time for anyone with addictions. not only is it stressful dealing with family members, in-laws, ex-spouses, and the ever mounting pressures of work deadlines but there seems to be more and more...

Remember how the epipen increased their price to such a crazy hi level that no one could afford it? Well one of the companies that creates naloxone called EVZIO is now doing the same thing. They just jacked the price up to 4000 bucks for one unit. Do not get me wrong...

Vicodin and Percocet over to heroin in the first place??? They became tolerant and the heroin is MUCH cheaper. That's why!. Makes sense right? We all go the path of least resistance. NOW that we have some treatments does it make sense that patients will all of a...

By the way quick note: I just had a family practice group in the mountains call me and ask me: “Hey Doctor Edrich, can you help us get a Suboxone clinic going up here? [i was intreagued initially- wow are they showing interest??]. Anyways, their next phrase caught me...

So for a long time I really did believe that Suboxone was the only way to go. That was before even I, an addiction specialist, began to learn more about methadone treatment. I began to read, learn and experience while serving as medical director that methadone is a...

WOW, just before I thought the pharmaceuticals couldn’t get dumber, they leave me dumbfounded! NOW they approved another short acting (short is the worst when it comes to narcotics) fentanyl for anesthesia. In fact, there is a great article in NCBI that just looked at...

This is a question i get almost daily. Guys, so you are patients just like any other patient ok? My promise to you is that we will treat you with the same level of appropriateness and respect as any other human we treat. If you come in with an infection, we will treat...

WOW…. they came up with that all on their own???? That was an article in “the fix.com” Our legislation is so far behind the 8-ball that they dont see the writing right in front of their noses!. Patients who initially got pain meds from their doctors, then realized...

GEEZ… where does this end??? The situation is so dire that our patients are now having to take their cats pain killers. HEY here’s the legitimate part and the problem. We HAVE legitimate pain needs in both animals and humans right? Problem is that when desperate,...

HEY everyone, hope you have all heard about the upcoming restrictions and cutbacks on medicaid. I know many of you rely on this for your healthcare and have probably already heard that the administration plans some serious cutbacks. In Arkansas, in particular, the...

So imagine you have finally taken the courage to begin treatment with methadone or Suboxone. You have mustered up the courage to walk in the door and say I have a problem, can you help me out? We get going on the methadone, we are increasing the dose, you are using...

Newsflash for all of you guys out there working in the construction industry. It looks like you guys working in the construction occupations have the highest rates of death from Prescription painkillers and heroin. Interestingly, healthcare workers are at the highest...

Awesome news !!! -How many of you are scared of losing your jobs? -How many of you are scared of losing custody of your children because you are on methadone or Suboxone? -how many of you afraid that your bosses will find out that you have substance use problems and...

Hey guys, so there is a lot of hype out there about these implants that will solve all of your problems right? Like with any new product there are always pros and cons. Most of us just want cheaper, simpler, easier, and more convenient but definitely the cheaper is...

Hey guys, interesting new study that shows a much higher risk for addiction when patients are given painkillers for wisdom teeth. This is amazing. A new study showed that when younger patients get opiates for wisdom tooth extraction they were 2.7 times more likely to...

So have you guys heard what is next? You know how we call this the opioid epidemic? So what happens when patients cannot get a hold of opioids and no doctor is willing to treat their chronic pain legitimately? ( By the way legitimately means with all non-opioid...

Here is the trouble. We are seeing a ton of connections between these things. Hallucinations, feeling paranoid, persecuted, irritable, feelings of grandiosity. Does weed really cause these problems or does it just “uncover” something that was there from the beginning?...

Fentanyl Guys Hey everyone. So looks like fentanyl is now making it to our own beautiful state of Colorado. I have just seen it in my clinic a few times. Keep in mind that the stuff is mixed in with everything else that is used in so you will never be able to sort it...

NEW study shows that death risk DECREASES in patients who are on methadone or Suboxone This is big news!! We ALL Know that NO disease is perfect right? Diabetics will eat boxes of Oreos and cholesterol patients will chow down on cheeseburgers right? Well, addiction is...

One of the main difficulties I have in my practice is treating legitimate chronic pain patients with the respect and compassion that they deserve. With the pendulum that has wildly swung into the wrong direction most physicians are avoiding treating chronic pain at...

Are you sure you actually know what’s in the stuff you are smoking? Keep in mind that “synthetic cannabinoids” are actually NOT a natural kind of plant. The stuff you smoke is actually just some random plant stuff they found in their backyards the drug itself (the...

So…. looks like gabapentin that we use a LOT for withdrawals and for mood disorders might actually be precariously dangerous with taken with all the opioids and benzos. Kentucky has classified it as a schedule 5 and is now on the PDMP. The longer we go the more...

So real interesting question since the NRA and the president is blaming mental health on all of this school violence. "Its mental health, thats what it really is.. Bad bad mental health" So lets look at this claim. 1. The mental health issues that contain violence...

The Death Penalty??? Really???? I thought the opioid crisis WAS the death penalty. Now he is suggesting another one. Why doesn’t he realize that many of the folks that get addicted do so from medical prescriptions and not heroin? Is he failing to recognize the simple...

Scripps is doing it again and is going to town on their new invention, the HEROIN vaccine. Its passed a lot of the testing and is soon ready for human trials. How does it work??  The vaccine basically forces the immune system to make antibodies that attack the heroin...

YES, so even patients with addictions are real humans who deserve care when they get injured or have surgery. Earth shattering concept isn’t it?? So what do we do when you have an injury. Thankfully the medication itself (suboxone) is a great tool for pain management...