In the ninth episode of The Saving Dose, Dr. John Hsu and William Pedranti are joined by Sandy Eulitt, a software engineer, data architect, and technology professional based in Southern California who has lived with chronic pain since 1986 and undergone 17 surgeries, including 7 spine surgeries and bilateral total knee replacement.

Sandy is not a clinician, a researcher, or a policy expert. She is a patient who made a deliberate, decades-long decision to manage severe chronic pain without opioids, and who built an entire system of ice packs, CBD, prehab, physical therapy, and community research to do it. This episode is the patient's side of the conversation that John and William have been having from inside the clinic.

This episode covers what chronic pain actually looks like from inside a life, why fear of addiction shapes treatment decisions in ways providers rarely see, what patients do when the healthcare system tells them there is nothing more it can offer, and what Sandy built when she realized no one had given her a plan.

In this episode:

How four car accidents beginning in 1986 set Sandy on a 40-year journey through chronic pain, 17 surgeries, and a determination to manage her condition without becoming dependent on prescription opioids.

Why hearing Rush Limbaugh admit to opioid addiction in the early 1990s became the defining moment that shaped every treatment decision Sandy made for the next three decades.

What Sandy actually used instead of opioids: ice packs, CBD cream, THC gummies, TENS units, acupuncture, massage tables, a mini bike for prehab, and a carefully researched list of which specific medications she would and would not accept.

How she drove a stick shift convertible 17 days after bilateral total knee replacement, what she did in the weeks before surgery to make that possible, and what her surgeon thought about it.

What multimodal pain therapy is, why Sandy had never heard of it despite 17 surgeries, and what it says about the gap between clinical best practice and what patients are actually told.

Why fear of addiction causes some patients to undertreat pain in ways that create their own health consequences, and what John sees in his Asian patients who tell him they cannot become an addict because it would shame their family.

The Life Backup Plan: what Sandy built, who it is for, and why she believes every person managing a chronic condition needs a documented plan for what happens when things go wrong.

What Facebook groups for surgery patients taught Sandy that her doctors, hospitals, and nurses never told her, and why patient communities are filling a gap that the clinical system is not.

Sandy's advice to anyone living with chronic pain and afraid of opioids: what to ask your doctor, how to research your options, and why being prepared going into surgery changes everything about recovery.

About the Hosts

John Hsu, MD is the Founder and CEO of iPill and a practicing anesthesiologist with 25 years in pain management and addiction medicine. He has taken multiple products through FDA approval and commercial launch. Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hsu-md-300a8b2a/

William Pedranti is the COO of iPill, a Georgetown Law graduate, and co-founder of PENG Life Science Ventures. He has taken a biotech company from founding through FDA approval, commercial launch, and exit. Connect with William: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williampedranti/

About the Guest

Sandy Eulitt is a software engineer, data architect, and technical project manager with four decades in technology. A Southern California resident and chronic pain patient since 1986, she has undergone 17 surgeries and developed a personal framework for managing severe chronic pain without opioid dependence. She is the creator of the Life Backup Plan app, designed to help people manage health crises and chronic conditions.

Website: thesavingdose.com

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any treatment decisions.

#ChronicPain #OpioidUseDisorder #PainManagement #AddictionMedicine #TheSavingDose #HealthcarePodcast #ChronicPainAwareness #PatientAdvocacy #OpioidCrisis #SpineSurgery #MOUD #BehavioralHealth #SubstanceUseDisorder #PublicHealth #PainPatient #MultimodalPain #RecoveryPodcast #HealthcareInnovation

In the eighth episode of The Saving Dose, Dr. John Hsu and William Pedranti are joined by Ernie Dole, a pharmacist by training, former clinical professor at the University of New Mexico, and someone who spent decades treating opioid use disorder in patients while quietly living with it himself.

Ernie had 30 years of continuous sobriety. Then he relapsed. He is now on buprenorphine, which he credits with saving his life. This episode is one of the most honest conversations The Saving Dose has had about what OUD actually looks like from inside a career built on understanding it, and why expertise and professional arrogance can be their own form of risk factor.

This episode covers the relationship between adverse childhood events and OUD, why healthcare professionals develop opioid use disorder at higher rates than the general population, what it means to lose the art of medicine inside a 15-minute appointment structure, and why compassion is the single most important thing a provider can bring to a patient with OUD.

In this episode:

Why Ernie believes his childhood asthma hospitalizations were an adverse childhood event that shaped his relationship with substances decades before he would have admitted it, and what the connection between ACEs and OUD risk actually looks like in a real life.

Why healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, anesthesiologists, and nurses, develop OUD at rates higher than the general population, and what access and professional arrogance have to do with it.

How 30 years of sobriety ended with a pint of Jack Daniels one afternoon, what Ernie thinks stopped working in his recovery, and why he believes putting a time limit on buprenorphine treatment is a mistake.

What the Pharmacist Clinician Act in New Mexico made possible: how collaborative practice agreements between pharmacists and physicians created a model where every provider practiced at the top of their license and opioid patients got more accountability and better care.

Why fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and OUD are connected through untreated trauma, and what Ernie observed in nearly every female chronic pain patient he treated over the course of his career.

What happens to the clinical relationship when a provider is stuck in a 15-minute appointment structure, and why Ernie regularly ran an hour behind because his patients needed the time.

John's frustration: why physicians have lost the art of medicine, what it means to be accused of practicing Chinese medicine for using multimodal pain therapy in 1999, and how Medicare now penalizes hospitals that do not use that same approach.

Ernie's closing message to every pharmacist, anesthesiologist, and nurse who is struggling: compassion, treatment works, and buprenorphine saved his life.

About the Hosts

John Hsu, MD is the Founder and CEO of iPill and a practicing anesthesiologist with 25 years in pain management and addiction medicine. He has taken multiple products through FDA approval and commercial launch. Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hsu-md-300a8b2a/

William Pedranti is the COO of iPill, a Georgetown Law graduate, and co-founder of PENG Life Science Ventures. He has taken a biotech company from founding through FDA approval, commercial launch, and exit. Connect with William: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williampedranti/

About the Guest

Ernie Dole is a pharmacist, former clinical professor, and patient advocate based in New Mexico. He developed and led the clinical pharmacy program at the University of New Mexico's outpatient chronic pain center, pioneering a collaborative practice model under New Mexico's Pharmacist Clinician Act that allowed pharmacists to manage complex opioid patients alongside physicians. He speaks from both professional expertise and lived experience with opioid use disorder and recovery.

Website: thesavingdose.com

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any treatment decisions.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use disorder, contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357. Free, confidential, 24/7.

#OpioidUseDisorder #AddictionRecovery #BehavioralHealth #TheSavingDose #HealthcarePodcast #Buprenorphine #MOUD #AddictionMedicine #PharmacistLife #ChronicPain #SubstanceUseDisorder #MentalHealth #RecoveryPodcast #OpioidCrisis #ACEs #TraumaInformedCare #PublicHealth #HealthcareProfessionals

In the seventh episode of The Saving Dose, Dr. John Hsu and William Pedranti are joined by Ed Mahon, an investigative journalist at Spotlight PA who has spent years covering how opioid settlement funds are being allocated across Pennsylvania and who actually has a say in those decisions.

The opioid epidemic has generated one of the largest legal settlements in American history. Billions of dollars have been distributed to states and counties with the stated purpose of funding addiction treatment, recovery services, and prevention programs. What is actually happening with that money, and whether the communities most affected by the crisis have a seat at the table when spending decisions are made, is a question most media coverage has not answered.

That is what Ed covers. This episode goes inside the accountability gap at the center of the settlement distribution process, why the voices of people directly affected by addiction are still being left out of policy decisions, and what investigative journalism is doing to close that gap in Pennsylvania.

In this episode:

What the opioid settlement funds are, where they came from, and why the distribution of billions of dollars to states and counties has not automatically translated into better treatment access for the people who need it most.

Who is making the decisions about how settlement money gets spent, why those decision-making bodies often do not include people with lived experience of addiction or recovery, and what that absence costs in terms of policy effectiveness.

What Spotlight PA's Voices of the Epidemic series uncovered about the gap between how officials describe the settlement spending and what is actually happening on the ground in affected communities.

Why Pennsylvania is a useful lens for the national picture: what the state's experience with the opioid crisis, from rural counties to Philadelphia, reveals about the structural challenges that no amount of settlement money fixes on its own.

The intersection of chronic pain and addiction: why 25% of Americans living with chronic pain and nearly 50 million Americans with some form of substance use disorder are not entirely separate populations, and what treating both in the same patient requires.

John's multimodal pain treatment approach: ultrasound-guided pain blocks, anti-seizure medications, acupuncture, TENS units, and physical therapy — a framework he has been using since 1999 when a colleague accused him of practicing Chinese medicine on American patients.

Why 75% of patients do not take their medications correctly, why complete medication transparency is essential to individualizing care, and what happens to treatment outcomes when that transparency is missing.

What people who want to make a difference on the opioid crisis can do, and where to follow Ed's ongoing investigative coverage.

About the Hosts

John Hsu, MD is the Founder and CEO of iPill and a practicing anesthesiologist with 25 years in pain management and addiction medicine. He has taken multiple products through FDA approval and commercial launch. Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hsu-md-300a8b2a/

William Pedranti is the COO of iPill, a Georgetown Law graduate, and co-founder of PENG Life Science Ventures. He has taken a biotech company from founding through FDA approval, commercial launch, and exit. Connect with William: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williampedranti/

About the Guest

Ed Mahon is an investigative journalist at Spotlight PA covering opioid settlement accountability and addiction policy in Pennsylvania. His work focuses on how settlement funds are allocated, who has a voice in those spending decisions, and elevating the perspectives of people directly affected by the opioid crisis. Follow his work at spotlightpa.org.

Website: thesavingdose.com

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any treatment decisions.

#OpioidSettlement #OpioidCrisis #AddictionRecovery #BehavioralHealth #PublicHealth #TheSavingDose #HealthcarePodcast #OpioidUseDisorder #InvestigativeJournalism #DrugPolicy #AddictionMedicine #ChronicPain #PainManagement #SubstanceUseDisorder #Pennsylvania #OpioidFunding #RecoveryPodcast #MOUD