| HN Mirror

https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/16/against-against-pseudo...

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This paper lists signs of drug-seeking behavior that doctors should watch out for, like:

– Aggressively complaining about a need for a drug

– Requesting to have the dose increased

– Asking for specific drugs by name

– Taking a few extra, unauthorised doses on occasion

– Frequently calling the clinic

– Unwilling to consider other drugs or non-drug treatments

– Frequent unauthorised dose escalations after being told that it is inappropriate

– Consistently disruptive behaviour when arriving at the clinic

You might notice that all of these are things people might do if they actually need the drug. Consider this classic case study of pseudoaddiction from Weissman & Haddox, summarized by Greene & Chambers:

> The 1989 introduction of pseudoaddiction happened in the form a single case report of a 17-year-old man with acute leukemia, who was hospitalized with pneumonia and chest wall pain. The patient was initially given 5 mg of intravenous morphine every 4 to 6 h on an as-needed dosing schedule but received additional doses and analgesics over time. After a few days, the patient started engaging in behaviors that are frequently associated with opioid addiction, such as requesting medication prior to scheduled dosing, requesting specific opioids, and engaging in pain behaviors (e.g., moaning, crying, grimacing, and complaining about various aches and pains) to elicit drug delivery. The authors argued that this was not idiopathic opioid addiction but pseudoaddiction, which resulted from medical under-treatment [...]

Greene & Chambers present this as some kind of exotic novel hypothesis, but think about this for a second like a normal human being. You have a kid with a very painful form of cancer. His doctor guesses at what the right dose of painkillers should be. After getting this dose of painkillers, the kid continues to “engage in pain behaviors ie moaning, crying, grimacing, and complaining about various aches and pains”, and begs for a higher dose of painkillers.

I maintain that the normal human thought process is “Since this kid is screaming in pain, looks like I guessed wrong about the right amount of painkillers for him, I should give him more.”

The official medical-system approved thought process, which Greene & Chambers are defending in this paper, is “Since he is displaying signs of drug-seeking behavior, he must be an addict trying to con you into giving him his next fix.”

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