Share Your Pain Story

999 Replies to “Share Your Pain Story”

1. I have been wondering for months why my quality of life should be compromised because the government has determined that pain medications are bad and doctors in general don’t have the sense to regulate which patients truly need help to tolerate their pain and which ones could or would abuse their prescriptions. I have arthritis in just about every joint of my body and they tell you that you have to keep moving or you could lose the ability to move, well my question is how can I move when doing so causes so much pain that you just feel like giving up especially when you know there is something that has helped you cope in the past but now you are being told you can not have help because this is how the government has decided to control drug abuse by taking away the medicine that was helping you get some relief from pain and thus helping restore your quality life.

2. My name is carolyn im 42 for about 10years ive been suffering sever tmj pain my jaw is deterated i can hardly open my mouth theres no soft tissue left around the condlye this pain is so bad my insurance wont pay for the surgery that i destpertly need in oder to function i use to be on oxycodone but when my doctor died i cant get no help im so close to give up i cant function at all its terriable pain i dont no how long i can last i feel like im a animal at a slaughter house waited to die

3. I am a 71-year-old female and live just outside Austin Texas. Last June I was forced into detox by the pain management group I was with since 2010. I never broke the contract or asked for early refills, I was just being managed with pain medication. I believe they were under investigation and I got thrown under the bus for that reason. I now am without any medication to manage my pain and a new doctor will not give me anything because I have been through detox. I no longer have any quality of life and never imaged at my age I would be “collateral damage” to our medical system. I am pretty much homebound now and really under great duress from the pain and my mental state.

4. I was a professor for 30 years until stricken with Small Fiber Neuropathy. Now it so difficult to obtain the only medication that is able to relieve enough of the pain to give me any semblance of quality of life. Never abused my prescription meds. My doctors are now afraid to help. So fed up with the system that throws out the baby with the bath water. Seriously have considered the worst. Please help us take plan B off the books and help true pain sufferers with chronic conditions acquire their much needed relief. Shame on our government for doing this to us.

5. I’ve had a chronic pain issue for the last 25 years. I was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver when I was young. After multiple spine surgeries I ended up with Arachnoiditis. After many years of suffering I finally found a pain specialist who got me on a pain regime that gave me back a quality of life that was manageable.
   For over 20 years I was on the same dose of pain medicine. I will never be pain free but it made my pain tolerable. During those 20 + years I’ve never needed an increase or an early prescription refill. At my pain clinic we are given mandatory, random drug tests to insure patients are not taking medicine that is not prescribed to them or illegal street drugs. It also insures the patient has the correct levels of his/her prescribed medicine in their system. I have never had a bad drug test in over twenty + years.
   About six months ago my Doctor explained because of new laws my pain meds needed to go down substantially. Instant panic set in because I was petrified my severe unmanageable pain would return. I’ve gradually reduced my pain meds and my quality of life has changed as well. I can not understand how the government can dictate how a Doctor treats a patient. I understand there is an opioid problem but it’s not a problem caused by chronic pain patients like myself or the professional pain specialists that treat us! Why, after being on the same dose of meds for TWENTY plus years am I being punished because of irresponsible Doctors? Not all chronic pain can be managed with the same dose of medicine. It should be up to a professional pain Doctor how his/her patient should be treated. My quality of life is being threatened and it is wholly unfair. You are going to see an increase in suicide and elicit drug use because chronic pain is a real problem and when you start taking patients lifeline away after all this time when it’s been working you are just asking for trouble! It’s not fair that a certain group of people are being targeted because of the mistakes of others! I deserve to continue the same dose of medicine I have been on for the last TWENTY + years! I am not the problem!!

6. Hi, I’m posting here because my “pain is punished”. Had 2 fusion surgeries (failed) for lumbar spine. Started with L4-S1, both titanium screws in L4 snapped about 10 months after surgery. Revision surgery needed to go up to L3 because the snapped screws could not be removed. My x-rays now show cracks in both sacrum screws. Bone never “grew” to complete the fusion. So now there’s 8 screws and 4 are broken, and it hurts, to varying degrees, all the time. I figure that you have an issue too, maybe worse, maybe better. If I had another surgery, I’d be doing what has already failed twice, RIGHT? Primary care doctor is very caring and would like to help me, but she is afraid to. She prescribes what the surgeon was allowing when he dumped me and passed the buck to her. Surgeon was treating pain rather conservatively and pushed the organ damaging NSAIDS and Tylenol. These meds help a bit, but opiates WORK WELL. What else is there? The pressure being put on doctors is sad, as they likely were taught to let people be at least comfortable. There must be an answer to this problem. Especially for those with absolute proof of a bad condition. Thanks 4 reading

7. I HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FOR OVER 10YRS WITH BACK PAIN 2 DISK’S GONE IN MY BACK NOW I’M IN PAIN FROM 2DISKS GONE IN MY NECK AND BACK SURGERY TOOK 2HRS WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN 45MINS NECK NOT DONE YET I STILL SUFFER FROM THE WORSE PAIN IN YEARS SO I DIDN’T ASK FOR O.C. THE DOCTOR PUSHED THEM ON ME NOW NO RELIEF FOR THE PAIN N STILL ON THOSE MEDS WHICH I NEED EVERYDAY AT 67 NEXT MONTH SO WE CAN NOT STOP OR I CAN’T MOVE TO LAUNDRY DISHES VACUUM AND RELAGUER SHOWERS

8. I wakeup everday hoping I can walk and not fall on my face.Struggling to make it to ladies room.Then coffee pot.Pain hot,burning,running down nerve pathways from head to toe.Try my best to fix something to eat.Clean kitchen,do things in spurts as able.Alot of things Im not able to do anymore. Family doesnt invite me out to beach,functions,due to very embarrasing seizures are back with a vengence.Due to recent cut backs,just waiting for nursing home at 63! Muslces so atrophied now wont be long.Did I mention I cant sit? Wheel chair will be a nightmare for me! I was in good shape just 6 months ago.Now bed bound,house bound.Not being punished being tortured is more like it. Ex broke the neck with a sucker punch,took them 20 yrs to fix that!I know I broke back twice doing very hard work,totally my fault. Always worked like a man trying to make as much as a man! Had three lovely mouths to feed.Then there was five more for 20 yrs,grandkids! Did not go down without a fight!! Joanie…former roofer,cement finisher,meat wrapper,siding installer,dance instrutor!

9. 40 years of chronic pain from multiple conditions; with new CDC guidelines and my GP (PC Doc) being persecuted by license board, he turned me over to PM (pain management service)– which gives me conflicting mandates on what I need to withdraw from, every time I go; my body is going nuts from all the med changes! Why couldn’t they leave well enough alone? I was able to function on those meds… now, I’m being forceably tapered, and am unable to keep up with my normal activities, because of pain and malaise. I am also unable to sleep well, and am often suffering anxiety or depression from pain and inability to function.

10. Broke my right leg about ten yrs ago, surgeon fixed it and hacked it, three more surgeries later still in pain, became diabetic in between, can’t walk right, seeing a pain management doctor, due to working outside all my life I developed arthritis in my spine, neck and both my hands, I have horrible pain that run down both my legs, my head hangs down because I cant hold it up, my hand are in constant pain, I sped everyday and night in pain, I can’t get more than four hours of sleep at a time, spinal injections worked for awhile but don’t anymore, pain doctor keeps pushing for me to get more injections in my spine that I can’t get yet due to being on blood thinners for stints that were put in my heart, I tell him the injections don’t work for me and they are painful but he does not listen, he tells me he can’t increase my pain meds because the government will pull his license, people who depend on their meds can’t get them because of people who abuse them, I sit here in miserable pain with doctors who hands are tied.!!!!!!!!!!