Cimorene

I agree with your view on Finnish pain meds policy. Guess what my mother was offered after a hip prosthetic surgery? Ibuprofen. Yeah, right. (Thankfully she got better meds after she threw a fit) Toothache is especially what it seems like the doctors are *instructed* to deny prescription medication. Maybe it's their way to try stop people for jonesing drugs, as toothache is one of the pains that is extremely subjective experience and difficult to "prove".

On the other hand, after my wisdom teeth were pulled out and my request of prescription pain meds were laughed at, I found out that I actually didn't need anything, not even Burana. If they would have given me the recipe, I would have taken the drugs without listening my body if they were really needed.

But yeah, I feel sorry for Finnish chronic pain patients who are expected to survive with like, taking up yoga or something. On a larger picture, I feel like the pain meds policy follows Finland's general drug policies. When drugs can't be advertised straight to the consumers, drug companies have to advertise straight to the doctors. It's not financially profitable to advertise pain meds because they are cheaper than drugs for blood pressure and diabetes and such and their patents are so old that the meds are interchangeable. So no point advertising. So there is no force lobbying the use of pain meds. So the situation doesn't change from what it was decades ago.

Personally, I'm one of those annoying "You can't pop a pill for every illness and sorrow"-people who have never even experienced excruciating pain in my life, so. I wouldn't want to see the medication policy to change to what it is in the States.