Tell your story of living with chronic pain, by leaving a reply at the bottom of the page. Do not mention specific medications or dosages. Stories do not appear right away.
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Tell your story of living with chronic pain, by leaving a reply at the bottom of the page. Do not mention specific medications or dosages. Stories do not appear right away.
I’m tired of feeling like a pathetic beggar, grovelling for mercy and sip of water. It’s barbaric, oppressive, fascist and a grossly misguided, hyper-vigilante federal agency relevance and budget booster for the DEA, which felt threatened by a reduced war on drugs with the sweeping state legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana. Our government regulatory and law enforcers are desperately needed fighting the insidious grotesque methamphetamine problem, a re-emergent cocaine crisis, the true “opiate” crisis born from heroin and illegally manufactured fentanyl. Instead, they bully and marginalize those most unlikely to violate laws or abuse what is so effective and needed. It’s become a money grab for profiteering medical specialties and presumed alternative prescription drugs as though we don’t spend enough of our money on insurance, doctors, tests, imaging, surgery and medication of which the least expensive and therefore superior from a cost benefit standpoint happens to be appropriately dosed prescription narcotic medication.
Furthermore, I do NOT take any medicine to “make me feel good,” of God forbid! I use my medicine as prescribed so I function and don’t feel miserable, stressed out and impaired by chronic pain from raw, damaged and raw spinal nerves resulting from a combination of medical negligence, an ergonomic torture chamber in which I worked, and a rushed butchering billed as outpatient L-5 surgery. I’ve had three surgeries to clean up that mess left by a presumed top neurosurgeon at my state’s primary medical university hospital. And I’ve gone broke from my share of the costs from procedures, specialty referrals, imaging and now, doctors want me to take more medicines thought to relieve pain but in reading about them, create problems I currently do not have, and many of which are potentially fatal.
I dream of having again a doctor whose judgment I trust and respect, and one that is based on his/her diagnosis, trust and compassion for me, and a desire to help, treat, heal or make more tolerable and functional this aging embattled soul and frame.
Well, I dont feel it is only for Chronic pain users. You cant get relief even after having a surgery! I watched my son, in the recovery room after a surgery, being called a “Drug Seeking Patient” by the doctor! All he did was ask if he could have something for the pain! The doctor screamed at him like a maniac and walked out of the room. I know, I was standing there. I also just had carpel tunnel surgery this past week and was told to take (anti inflammatory) when I got home. Lets not consider the terrible consequences of taking that medicine all the time! This new law and medical ruling is way out of focus. Let a doctor be a doctor and help ALL patiens who are IN PAIN.
I am a Chronic Pain patient since 2008. I have MS, Fibromyalgia, and Degenerative Disc Disease of my cervical and sacral spine. Every morning when I wake up, I feel as if I were hit by a bus. I take both NSAIDS and a pain pill in order to relieve my pain to the point that I am a “functional” human being. If I do not take my NSAIDS, I am miserable. If I do not take my pain pill, I am miserable. It is the COMBINATION of both over the counter and a prescription that provides me relief.
I take my prescriptions AS PRESCRIBED every single time. I do not spend $200 every other month, how often I need to see my pain doctor, lightly because all my illnesses, combined, have caused financial devastation for my husband and I. I do not take medication that’s helping my pain “for fun”. Most pain patients do not abuse their meds. It’s when kids or other people in the house start looking for ways to get high that there are problems. I keep my meds locked in a safe to keep others from stealing them. I do MY part to prevent diversion of my prescription. Why can’t legislators give us pain patients the dignity that we deserve?? We don’t need doctors and insurance companies controlling OUR behaviors. We need them to tackle what the REAL problems are: heroin, meth, coke, illegally obtained fentanyl, crack, etc.
I am a 62 year old mom of 5 boys, wife to my husband for just about 35 years. About 20 years ago, I was being treated for chronic bilateral back pain with sciatica, herniated disc, and lumbar degenerative disc disease. I was prescribed a strong pain reliever, extended relief and a shorter acting pain reliever for break through pain. It was life saving!!!! I was able to function, work at our business with my husband, take care of my family and do every day tasks. Now with this “Opiod Crisis”, my Dr. tells me she has to cut my meds down. I have gone down to way over half of what I was taking and I’m told she has to take me down more yet. I have thought about ending my life. More than once or twice. Now since my original diagnosis I have Scoliosis of Thoracolumbar Spine and Postural Kyphosis of the Thoracic Region. So, from someone like myself, I don’t abuse, sell, or give away my medication, why do I along with so many people like me, have to be taken off a medication that offers us to live a somewhat productive life with almost bearable pain????!
Even though I have had 2 very severe horse-related accidents decades ago & have had long, hard years of excruciating chronic pain and some 22 surgeries over all that time, I am a devout Christian & have always still considered myself blessed, especially after I found my current chronic pain doctor, whom I’ve had for almost 16 years. I pray daily to God & thank Him so much for allowing me this much control of my pain.
My pain doctor has had to perform many different outpatient procedures each year to help control the pain from the nerves which have grown back after radiofrequency cutting under fluoroscopy (x-rays), and he has done both anesthetic & steroid injections into my neck & lower back to help control my pain. In addition he has had to prescribe several different medicines to help control my daily onslaught of pain, including opioid medications. I have always followed through carefully with my pain doctor’s regimen & instructions, & have never had even 1 instance of over-dosage with them.
Now, however, is a different story, since regulations placed on my pain doctor have made him have to severely cut down on my usual dosage of the pain medication, to a level which cannot even allow me the comfort of the normal life I once knew.
Since the pain medications have been so drastically reduced, I now dream at night of being in such severe pain, & when I wake up from that dream it’s because I AM in such severe pain; and as I arouse to consciousness, tears automatically start to stream down my face without my consent, because my mind is once again realizing the pain which is coming to my reality again, before I get up to take the minimal insufficient dosage that is now allowed me by new regulations, which are NOT my doctor’s fault. He himself is being pressured & forced to reduce his pain patients’ medications to a one-size-fits-all dose for everyone, & he cannot protest or his license & practice will be imperiled by the authorities forcing this, all due to the current opioid drug crisis.
I know there is indeed a true opioid drug crisis in society right now, but for Heaven’s sake, please put the blame where it belongs most—on ILLEGAL drug importations, manufacture, & sale—NOT on us wretched poor sufferers of legitimate chronic pain & surgeries due to legitimate, real-life accidents! I follow the law, my doctor’s requirements, buy at legal pharmacies, & watch my prescription dosages carefully. Please—not every person’s body requires the same dosage of medication—that is the art of medicine left to the medical doctors to prescribe—NOT to government regulations!
I am literally at my wit’s end at this minimal and already insufficient dosage right now—and I just found out that a “committee” has already agreed to lower this minimum dosage drastically again in the fall! I had tears automatically streaming down my face as I was crying for real in my doctor’s office when I was told this latest news!
I cannot attend this Don’t Punish Pain Rally physically myself because I cannot endure the torture of trying to drive for hours & walk around in the rally with the minimal pain meds allowed me now, but I desperately beg of you this:
*Please have a heart & a conscience for us desperate pain sufferers who, through no fault of our own, have had serious severe accidents happen in the past & have had to give up so much already—my career, any physical activity, & enjoyment of even sedentary activities like reading because it’s too hard to think for long through so much pain. Please, it is already unbearable to have to live & suffer with this minimal dosage of pain meds as it is now, and if these extreme reductions continue we will be forced to also give up even more—any quality of life at all!
*Please try to understand the desperate plight I & others are going through now, and please reach out & help—let the chronic pain doctors decide on our individual pain medications—it’s what they are trained to do, & it is NOT one-size-fits-all!
I have scoliosis and suffer near constant back/hip pain. I’m now being denied my pain medication due to the changes in the laws regarding the meds. I’m a middle-aged woman with no history of any type of drug/alcohol addiction, am a contributing member of society, educated and responsible with taking medication. None of this makes a difference though. I still cannot get prescribed my medication for pain. I’ve been made to feel guilty any time I’ve asked for pain medication and my pain complaints belittled. I’ve tried other routes for pain control – over-the-counter meds, physical therapy, chiropractric intervention, etc. to no avail. Please help get the laws changed so I (and so many others) don’t have to continue to suffer needlessly even though the pain medication I need is being manufactured but is not available to deserving patients. Thank you for finally giving us a voice
I have degenerated discs in my lower back as show on an MRI. The pain has been with me for at least 15 yrs. My prescription was recently classified to a class higher making it a controlled substance. I receive No refills and now my Doctor is asking not to take the prescribe dose but to lower it. I have been hearing terrible stories of Doctors worries more about their license than treating patients in pain. I am 63 yrs old and paint houses for a living. Climbing ladders and stairs every day. I can’t work without pain management. I have anxiety every time my refill comes due. I need support from this site. I don’t drink or use any other drugs.
Hello, I’ve been a chronic pain patient since age 13 diagnosed with juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis along with 80% body coverage with psoriasis. Growing up wasn’t easy being in pain while all of your friends are running around playing and you can’t bear to walk never mind play. I managed to get tough and get into hockey cheer leading and that helped to combat the symptoms for the most part until 2004 when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. That’s when my life changed forever. I was still coaching competition cheerleaders and had to stop. Then came back surgery #1, the Dr clipped my sciatic nerve which left nerve damaged for life with severe nerve pain, numbness, and tingling from my waist down to my toes! 7 surgeries later ( back and neck) I’m now 49 years old. All of the drs I’ve seen in Rhode Island haven’t got a clue what to do with me so I’ve been bounced back and forth for my whole life. I now have a pain pump in my stomach threaded to my spine and it delivers constant pain medicine directly to the nerve root and I’m not getting the relief I should be getting. I now see a Dr in Massachusetts and because of this opiate epidemic she refuses to listen to my pain issues or give me pain pills for breakthrough pain. I also suffer with Major Depressive Disorder and by not controlling my pain it has sent me spiraling backwards to the point I’ve been bed ridden for over a year and have lost 35lbs and all muscle mass! This Dr just wants to peg me for being a drug seeking liar when she won’t even acknowledge my issues or do an MRI to figure out what’s going on!! I’m completely frustrated and I get suicidal because of the pain and frustration. This epidemic is literally killing me because the doctors are too afraid of losing their licenses!! Its BARBARIC is what it is!! I’ll be attending the next rally in RI. I feel for anyone in a similar situation and I pray for you as well. Stay strong!! ❤
Is a synthetic (you know the one, it begins with a U and sometimes a T) at its lowest dose all we can get..??? Really?? Because of losers that ruin it for us and fascists who will hopefully never ever have to know pain anywhere near close to mine, making the rules? That’s fucking asinine and sad at the same time
I have reason to believe I am being discriminated against due to a family member’s accidental death involving a very powerful opiate, and I’m livid about it to say the least. Livid isn’t even the word – it’s an understatement. Next time you give me papers and lectures about the opioid crisis after my not routine at all colonoscopy because I’m so young, I’m going to give them back so you can shove them right back where they came from. Stop telling me it’s such a shame, because lady, don’t I fucking know it. When I have a god damned oncologist telling me she has end of life patients who have it worse than me that she can’t write scrips for because she has to jump through hoops due to laws… When I have her telling me I need to find a doc comfortable enough to prescribe SYNTHETICS, let alone the real deal prescriptions, you know there is a fucking problem. When CVS only offers you 20 or 40 at first and divides your prescription, there is a fucking problem. When there are notes that you are somatoform/idiopathic in your records, there is a problem. I cannot figure this out on my own because as much as I’ve learned, I’m no professional. I survived a semi-cancerous huge thing and lost an organ, at what cost. Only for people to tell me it isn’t that bad and that someone with CP who needs their butt wiped has it worse. Just what I needed to hear. I’d truly rather have CP and not be consciously aware of my misery/what’s going on… If anyone’s wondering, I’ve been fed gaba meds and steroid injections for my chronic MS hug and sharp pain, constricting around my body and aching every single joint. Extremely high CRP and sed rate ever since my semi cancerous ordeal. I’m not professionally diagnosed because “no one would touch me” BUT My spine and body are literally breaking down due to inflammation that they refuse to find the cause of… So, until then. Whenever the hell that may be, if ever