an argument I don't want to have today

[adrian_turtle]

The word "opiate" does not mean "something that makes a person behave badly." It does not even mean "something that makes a person behave badly, and is also hard to stop using." Most especially, it does not mean, "something that makes a person agitated and short-tempered, and is hard to avoid because it's so pervasive."

I wish there was not so much stigma around the medicine that lets me be as functional as I am.

Comments

[redbird]

*hug*

[wordweaverlynn]

Last I checked, opiates were still some of the most important medicines in the fight against pain.

Pain, on the other hand, does in fact make people cranky and short-tempered, is hard to get rid of, and is hard to avoid because it's so pervasive.

[adrian_turtle]

You're right. Pain makes people cranky and short-tempered. Being stigmatized makes people cranky and short-tempered. Having one's experience dismissed makes people cranky and short-tempered.

My relatives were talking about kids who have tantrums when they eat certain food dyes (which are really hard to avoid because they are so common) and referring to the dyes as "opiates." Or arguing that it "proves the dyes are just like opiates." They were also talking about other food additives, none of them connected to literal opium poppies.

[amaebi]

Oooooowwwwwwwwwww.

I swear, pain and pain meds are wildly and ridiculously stigmatized in this country. :(

I'm glad you have meds that work for you.

[adrian_turtle]

Thanks. You're right about the stigma. All 3 of the people saying those things about food additives being "opiates" know I take meds for chronic pain. It just slips their minds when they're thinking about other things, because opiate=impossibly addictive, and opiate=bad, are such very strong memes.