Blogs

Covid Vaccine Summary

Hey there Here is my summary I’m sending around to everyone as we are getting hundreds of questions that are pretty similar. I hope this answers most of your questions.

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 relationships. It’s no wonder we are suffering from this stuff.

Medicare Now Makes It Harder To Prescribe Suboxone Than Opioids

So, in 2007 90% of all insurers covered Suboxone. in 2018 only 35%

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...

Rapid Detox’s Don’t Work Stop It

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

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...