- more.com/migraine-medication-painkillers-addiction
- migraineresearchfoundation.org/announcements-events.html
- more.com/migraine-medication-painkillers-addiction?page=4
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Nancy Stedman, deputy editor, MORE
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
October issue, 2010
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
It’s been known for decades that painkillers commonly used to treat migraine pain not only cause rampant addiction. They make this condition more severe by changing pain receptors and the very nature of the illness itself. Yet frustrated and time-pressed physicians continue to prescribe these drugs to their migraine patients at alarming rates, despite the fact that newer, nonaddictive and effective alternatives are available. This article explores why almost 20 per cent of the narcotics and barbiturates prescribed in this country are still being dispensed to relieve the pain of migraines, despite what is known. And how the disabling cycle of addiction, increased migraine frequency and the need for ever more medication has destroyed lives and left many to suffer in secret.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Numerous studies were accessed for this story.
Explain types of human sources used.
Reporter interviewed patients and did rounds with physicians at the Michigan Headache and Neurological Institute’s inpatient facility, where 70 per cent of those admitted must first go through withdrawal from addictive painkillers before their migraine condition can actually be treated. Reporter also appealed to and ultimately interviewed Shawn KIng, the wife of Larry King who has been maligned in the media as a pill popping addict but who has suffered for decades with chronic migraines and the addiction that has come in their wake.
Results:
Numerous migraine sufferers have responded, thanking MORE for bringing this hidden issue to light. Reporter also provided consumer service by helping readers identify if their health care provider is equipped to treat their condition and by providing resources that can help sufferers understand their condition and find qualified specialists.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
none
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Very often, I’m tossed an assignment that can easily result in a typical “all about” or “update” sort of article. I always try to find a more specific story, even if my editor hasn’t asked for it. I do this by listening carefully to my sources and doggedly pursuing anything that may sound odd or unusual–even if it requires more time and effort than has been demanded of me. In a story I was asked to write about hysterectomies for MORE (and which ultimately made me an ASME finalist) an offhand reference to a brochure about hysterectomy alternatives that was seldom given to patients despite a law requiring doctors to do so, led me to use the FOI act and discover that thousands of physicians in New York State had in fact been denying their patients their rights. With this latest story for MORE on migraines, I was instructed to write about “new thinking” on the condition. While interviewing the head of the Migraine Research Foundation, however, I learned about her migraine-afflicted daughter’s addiction to painkillers and the addiction of other patients at the inpatient center where she was eventually treated. This dovetailed beautifully with a study that revealed that a huge percentage of migraine patients were being given the wrong medication, despite the fact that effective medication for their condition was available. I dug right in and came up with a story that could change lives. And that’s what can still make reporting rewarding today, even in this tough journalistic climate.