Reader Remarks on:

Clinical Management of Opioid Dependence in HIV

Clinical Management of Opioid Dependence
Too little, too late
Too Little, Too Late

Clinical Management of Opioid Dependence

G Florentin-Lee, 6 Oct 2009 8:57 AM EST

Competing interests: None declared

The progress made over the last 50 years in pain management can best be described as no progress at all. Opiates of one form or another remains option one; effectively there is no option 2. We know a great more about consequences and management but there is totally unfulfilled need for a workable alternative. Surely when one considers the wondrous progress in other fields one wonder why there is no advancement. The study referred to confirms and tinkers at the edge.

Too little, too late

Alan Wartenberg, MD, 9 Oct 2009 1:59 PM EST

Competing interests: Previously served on the speaker’s bureau for Reckitt-Benckhiser, the maker of buprenorphine

I am pleased to see the management of a patient's opioid dependency take center stage, and even called the "next frontier." I must admit, as an addiction medicine specialist, that I have been appalled that it has taken more than 20 years to come to this realization.

I have watched with wonder while HIV physicians have developed expertise in areas important to the care of their patients, such as endocrinology and cardiology, while for the most part leaving the care of their patients' addiction issues to others. Unfortunately, these others are often underfunded, undertrained and underresourced, and frequently work in almost complete isolation from other clinicians.

Bravo to this effort. May it spread and succeed. But you should know that for some of us, it is way too little and way too late.

Too Little, Too Late

mark eisenberg, 17 Oct 2009 9:39 AM EST

Competing interests: None declared

I can't agree more. I was amazed when the new HIVMA clinical guidelines for managing patients with HIV were released this fall to see that NO mention of addiction was made.

Your Remark:

Reader Remarks are intended to encourage lively discussion of clinical topics with your peers in the medical community. We ask that you keep your remarks to a reasonable length, and we reserve the right to withhold publication of remarks that do not meet this standard.

The editors of Journal Watch may respond to Reader Remarks, but we cannot promise to respond to a particular remark.

Remark subject:*

Your remark:*

Fields marked with an * are required.

Name as you'd like it to appear:
First & middle initial:*

Last:*

Email address (will not
be published):*

Professional specialty:*

Place of work (optional):

Submitting a comment indicates you have read and agreed to the remark guidelines and declare:*

No competing interests

Or, the following competing interests (for example, financial stakes or professional relationships):

PRIVACY: We will not use your email address, submitted for a comment, for any other purpose nor sell, rent, or share your e-mail address with any third parties. Please see our Privacy Policy.

CLEAR erases anything you've added in any part of the form. CONTINUE allows you to check your entire post (and edit it if necessary) before submitting.

To ensure that your Reader Remark is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.

Search

Sign-In

Forgot your password? Login via Athens
or your institution

New to Journal Watch?