Finding Fixes

InvestigateWest
  • 5.0 (48)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • WEEKLY SERIES

A podcast about solutions to the opioid epidemic. Each episode we focus on a different solution, including prevention, treatment and harm reduction. Season Two drops October 15th, 2019 with a new episode every Tuesday. A project of InvestigateWest, hosted by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch.

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  1. EPISODE 1

    Preventing Youth Addiction

    SOLUTION: The best ways to prevent young people from getting addicted don't necessarily focus on the drugs themselves (forget "Just say no.") Research shows the more young people are surrounded by risky environments, including stress, poverty, and violence, the more likely they'll get addicted. But other factors in their environment can protect young people and stand in the way of addiction, such as mentors, clear limits and expectations at home, and supportive communities and schools. STORY: The community of Bellingham, Washington, near the U.S.-Canada border finds that the more people focus on strengthening communities and families, the better young people are at staying away from tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Data shows it's making a dent.  We meet soccer moms and dads, and hear from young people themselves, including an outspoken group of eighth-graders and their mentor, Chelsea.

    30 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Treating Acute Pain To Prevent Opioid Dependence

    SOLUTION: The more opioids you get after surgery, the more likely you are to be dependent on them down the road. And it doesn't take very long to become dependent on opioids – days to weeks. The solution Washington State and others have enacted are tighter guidelines advising doctors how many pills can be dispensed following surgery, getting them to counsel patients on the risks of the medication, and encouraging them to recommend alternatives for pain relief. STORY: How changes in Washington State law around opioid prescribing played out through two major surgeries. Reporter Eilís O'Neill follows a mother, Megan, through the birth of her second child. Two and a half years earlier, when her first child was on his way, Megan had a totally different experience.

    19 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Treating Chronic Pain

    What's the appropriate role of opioids in treating chronic pain? For years doctors have used opioid painkillers as the go-to solution for all kinds of pain. Now that U.S. society is saturated with these pills and so many people are dying of overdoses, medical consensus and even laws are changing. Doctors are getting the message to cut back. But some patients with chronic pain say they're being cut off – all of a sudden – from the medicine they depend on.  So what's the solution? Answering that question means we have to re-examine what we *think* we know about chronic pain.  On this episode we zoom out and get a more complete picture of chronic pain, so we can understand where opioids fit in. We find out about one solution that helps people feel better while voluntarily scaling back on opioid painkillers. Doctors, nurses, and therapists are working to give their patients with chronic pain a whole new set of tools.

    30 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain

    Medical marijuana is now legal in dozens of states. Some chronic pain patients now rely on it in place of opioid painkillers. But, in the absence of formal medical guidance, many patients are going it on their own, with informal guidance from their peers. Some experts are not convinced though. They caution against potentially harmful side effects. Reporter and Finding Fixes contributor, Anne Hoffman brings us this intimate look at medical marijuana.

    25 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    Treating the wounds of trauma

    Trauma and pain and addiction are tightly woven together. But, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is treatable and treating the wounds of trauma can help treat pain and addiction, too. We must pay attention to the toxic effects of trauma if we really want to help people stay away from drugs, if we want to really help people with chronic pain.  In this episode, we hear personal stories from three women that show just how tightly woven together trauma, pain and addiction are. Also, we hear their stories of post-traumatic growth, and their strategies for moving beyond the pain of the past to fully embrace the present. Links to resources for help with PTSD or sexual assault: The National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800.656.HOPE (4673) Find a clinician who can help with PTSD The VA has a tool to help choose what kind of treatment you want for PTSD The VA's PTSD coach website  The VA has a lot of apps to help people getting treatment for PTSD

    33 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Treating addiction from the ER

    Emergency rooms are the last safety net for the sickest, most marginalized people. People with addiction often end up in emergency departments following an overdose, during withdrawal, or with other health problems. A new approach is linking people with addiction to drug treatment from a hospital emergency department, instead of just sending them out the door when they're well again. Two doctors, one emergency department, a social worker, and a person with addiction in recovery show how emergency rooms can become the gateway for people with addiction to access evidence-based drug treatment and other help they may need.

    28 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    Helping family members of people with addiction

    Addiction is a family disease and family members of people with addiction need help, too. Research shows that helping family members helps their loved one who has an addiction. We look at an approach that is more effective than an intervention or Al-anon to get family members into addiction treatment. It's called CRAFT, or Community Reinforcement and Family Training. STORY: A book group turns into a support group for parents of addicted children. They turned away from "tough love" and, without knowing it, stumbled on evidence-based ways to help addicted family members access treatment. Also, we have an update on the chronic pain patient at the mini boot camp for pain, Kimberly. We check up with her a month after the program ended.

    31 min

  8. EPISODE 8

    Needle exchanges and harm reduction

    This is the last episode of Season 2. For people addicted to heroin and other drugs, how do we keep them safe and prevent them from overdosing? We look at the idea of harm reduction and focus specifically on needle exchanges. Those are hundreds of places across the US that hand out clean equipment, the overdose reversal medicine Narcan and other help to people addicted to heroin and other drugs. But needle exchanges are still controversial in many parts of the country, including Tacoma, Washington, where Finding Fixes contributor, Amber Cortes, brings us the story of the oldest needle exchange in the United States. That exchange started during the AIDS epidemic. Now, it and needle exchanges like it are finding they have what it takes to respond to the current opioid epidemic.

    22 min
See All Season 2 (8)

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About

A podcast about solutions to the opioid epidemic. Each episode we focus on a different solution, including prevention, treatment and harm reduction. Season Two drops October 15th, 2019 with a new episode every Tuesday. A project of InvestigateWest, hosted by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch.

Information

  • Creator
    InvestigateWest
  • Episodes
    17
  • Seasons
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Finding Fixes 2018
  • Show Website
    Finding Fixes