The Fibrochondriac

Yesterday I received a  copy of the “Pain Community” newsletter in the mail. It is put out by the American Pain Foundation…yes, there is a foundation for pain. I think the newsletter is free. Anyhow I browsed through it and found an article on disposing prescription drugs that made my jaw hit the ground.

If you have fibromyalgia, then you probably have had quite a few drug prescribed, because that’s what doctors do. I know I’ve been through a lot of them. In between 2006 and 2008 I have been prescribed (in no particular order) Amitriptyline, Nortiptyline, Lyrica, Celexa, Cymbalta, Risperdal, Neurontin, Provigil, Ultracet, Percoset, Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Baclofen,  Guaifensin, Ambien, Lunesta, Doxepin, Trazadone, Flexeril, Oxycodone, Oxycontin, Morphine Sulphate ER, Xanax and Remeron. Oh, and Lidocaine patches.

Sometimes, like with the Risperdal, I’d only take two or three pills and the side effects would be so awful I wouldn’t touch them again. So that’s a whole lot of left over pills.

When the pill bottles started to accumulate I asked my pharmacist what to do with the left over pills. He was sympathetic but said government regulations prohibited him from taking back the unused pills. He said that the government hadn’t come up with a safe plan for disposal. I couldn’t throw them in the trash or flush them down the toilet.

Just imagine all the pill containers I was starting to accumulate. And I was scared to leave them where someone could get a hold of the drugs, so I had to lock them up in my safe. They pretty much took up all the space in the safe!

After doing a little research, I understood the reason why it was unsafe to dispose of the drugs. Throwing them in the garbage meant the however slight possibility that they could be scrounged and taken by people, or ingested by birds or animals at the dump.

And you probably have heard of the statistics for the Associated Press’s findings that at least 46 million Americans are drinking water “tainted with minute concentrations of a vast array of pharmaceuticals”. It made sense not to flush the drugs down the toilet. I figured I was stuck with those drugs forever and considered it collateral damage in the quest to overcome the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

So imagine my surprise that posted on the front page of the newsletter that there was an official method of disposing of prescription drugs. I was all ears. It turns out that in October 2009 the FDA “unveiled its Safe Use Initiative”. Unused drugs, with a few exceptions, are now to be thrown in the trash.

Oh but wait, you can’t just throw the pills, bottle and all, in the trash. You have to empty the pills out of the container and then mix them up with “undesirable substances” such as kitty litter or coffee grounds.

Then the pills and undesirable substances must be put in a “nondescript” (One that does not say “Drugs in here!”) sealable bag and then thrown in the trash.

The FDA is also recommending that you remove all identifying personal information (aka the prescription label) from the containers before you recycle them. Have you EVER tried to remove a prescription label from the bottle? Wow. We’re talking super glue.

But here’s the kicker. Some drugs are not to be thrown away. Some drugs must be, per the FDA, flushed down the toilet. What drugs are those? Most, but not all opioids and Xyrem (otherwise known as sodium oxybate, This drug is infamous as a “date rape drug”, but is prescribed as a sleep aid)

Can anyone guess why we can’t toss narcotics out with the kitty litter (in the nondescript bag)? Because there is concern regarding abuse. Of the drugs or the kitty litter?