Hydrocodone no longer Oklahoma’s top prescribed drug
http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=9456
The main reason that hydrocodone is no longer being prescribed is because they closed down more than 250 pain clinics in Oklahoma:
https://painkills2.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/1282014-addicted-oklahoma-profiting-from-pain/
Other reasons include PDMPs:
http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/05/02/drug-overdoses-fall-in-states-with-required-prescription-checks/
5/2/2014, Narcotic Prescriptions Fall in States With Required ‘Doctor-Shopping’ Checks
The full roster of controlled dangerous substances includes dozens of drugs that are not highly addictive and rarely pose overdose risks, such as hormone supplements. King said it would make sense to exclude those from the mandatory check roster.
Oklahoma doctors also want to ensure that any new legislation authorizes physician staff members to run PMP checks, he said. Existing law does not explicitly do so.
In addition, the association wants enforcement of the PMP check requirements to be shifted from the state narcotics bureau to the medical licensing boards that already oversee doctors’ professional practices…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837287
(2010) Increase in unintentional medication overdose deaths: Oklahoma, 1994-2006.
Methadone was associated with the highest number of deaths per equianalgesic dose sold (23.3), whereas hydrocodone and oxycodone had the highest increases in deaths per equianalgesic dose sold (threefold increase each)…
Another reason there’s not as much hydrocodone being prescribed:
http://oklahomawatch.org/2013/12/18/the-silent-march-of-suicide/
12/18/2013, The Silent March of Suicide
On most days in Oklahoma, one to six people kill themselves. In 2013, at least 617 people committed suicide in the state, far more than homicides.
Homicides get all of the headlines and news footage. Suicides take place invisibly, cloaked in shame, fear of intruding on privacy, fear of inspiring others to take their own lives. Mental-health experts, however, call out almost in anguish for more attention to be paid to the problem, especially in a state with one of the nation’s highest suicide rates…
Oklahoma Watch invites you to look through a list below of 2013 suicides recorded by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner — not as an analytical exercise, but as a reminder of the constant, often only ritually and privately acknowledged toll of lost lives, which experts say is preventable…
2/4/13 Inola, Acute Combined Drug Toxicity (Alprazolam, Ethanol)
2/5/13 El Reno, Mixed Drug Toxicity (Ethanol, Tramadol, Morphine, Amantadine)
2/13/13 Bartlesville, Probable Complications Of Acute Drug Toxicity (Verapamil) [blood pressure]
2/13/13 McAlester, Acute Drug Toxicity (Doxepin) [anti-depressant]
| 3/1/13 | Checotah | Acute Drug Toxicity (Hydrocodone) |
| 4/18/13 | Muskogee | Acute Combined Toxic Effects Of Fluoxetine, Hydrocodone And Bupropion |
| 7/14/13 | Tulsa | Acute Combined Intoxication (Alprazolam, Ethanol, Quetiapine, Citalopram, Hydrocodone) |
| 8/8/13 | Tulsa | Acute Combined Drug Toxicity(Trazodone, Ethanol, Hydrocodone) |
| 8/20/13 | Kiefer | Acute Combined Drug Toxicity (Alprazolam, Hydrocodone) |
| 9/10/13 | McAlester | Acute Combined Drug Toxicity (Hydrocodone, Alprazolam) |
All Things Chronic 