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 have chronic shoulder pain as well as arthritis . In many cases I can use ice and Motrin. However during fall clean ups and winter it is especially painful . I had shoulder surgery about 15 years ago and was told I would eventually be a candidate for shoulder surgery. In my case the ability to obtain a prescription of one of the perceived problem opioids for occasional use is virtually impossible , when i have a 30 day supply will easily last me 5 or 6 months My plan is to have shoulder surgery when I retire next year to avoid the pain but wonder about the initial recovery pain.
Because of those (no different than alcoholics) who have an addiction we all must suffer . The media and government attention ( also now vaping which I never have done ) will force people to buy the illicit product like heroine and other black market products causing the majority of these issues . People should not be penalized for those with no self control. Ban alcohol to stop drunk drivers ? The media has focused one sided on this issue .
I suffer the affects of chronic pain from multiple illnesses that all lead to one thing… pain! I have been through every test, surgery, therapy, procedure, and Specialist to seek relief in order to live some sort of tolerable life. Now, because of some that abuse drugs, I am being punished for needing pain meds to live. The pain I suffer from prevents me from having any kind of normalcy.
Don’t punish all for some. They can be monitored…. I am!
I was diagnosed with a blood clot four months ago and was also diagnosed with severe arthritis in the shoulder and elbow of the same arm was given a five day prescription for pain medication ok so I try to begin working with my doctor to continue with pain management he sent me to a pain management doctor this doctor refused to help because I had thc in my system but this doctor is a medical marijuana doctor so i begin to try and work with my doctor again he refused to help only telling me to go to the emergency room after several visits the doctors in the ER are getting feed up with me go to your primary care physician after calling once a week for over three months he still refuses to help well in this time I also had to go see my therapist several in emergency state I will admit I have contemplated suicide because the pain is so bad I am also a care giver for my fiance and three days ago I get a letter stating he was dropping me as a patient but would see me for emergencies for 30 days while I find another doctor at 2 am this morning I am wide awake and in tears because the pain is so bad so I take a chance and call said doctors office and ask in tears and barely able to speak I ask for some non narcotic pain relief because I was close to a bad poisoning from an OTC medicine I was told that that would not be possible at all. SO please add my voice to the battle cry of WE ARE PATIENTS NOT ADDICTS
Wednesday October 9th, I just watch a report on kezi news concerning the use of opioids and the importance of use by many people living with chronic pain.
Unfortunately I am also in need of prescription painkillers. I take oxycodone each day.
I’m 64 years old and still work 40 hours a week and hope to continue working as long as possible, primarily because I enjoy my job and perform an important skill that is crucial to my employer.
Trying to tell my story in a few paragraphs my be challenging. But I will give it a try….
In 2005 I was involved in a head on car accident where a young man crossed the line and hit me head on at a combine speed of 110 mph.
With multiple injuries including a doubled compound fracture to my right leg. I spent three weeks in the hospital and six weeks in rehab, my wife was experienced in caring for terminally ill patients and eventually nursed me back to health.
I was heartbroken when she passed away from breast cancer in 2013.
She was able to saved my life but I was unable to help save her!
Within six months I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, went through chemotherapy twice along with radiation and three surgery’s.
With a titanium rod remaining in my leg and sciatic pain from spinal surgery, the oxycodone is necessary to get up and make it through each day.
I have three dogs that I love and keep me company but struggle to care for each night as the pain is intense after working a nine hour shift.
I plan on staying in contact with this website and will participate in any event possible!
Sincerely,
Les
I started having pain back in 1995 for a workplace injury. I have a bulging disc at the L3 and L4. I also have fibromyalgia and degenerative disc disease from in my neck all the way down to my tailbone. I am in pain 24/7. With these new “guidelines”, my doctor tried to wean me down on my opioids. That was about 5 months ago. I finally just last week got him to put me on the old dose, but he refuses to go any higher. Also does not believe in medicinal marijuana. I would love to be able to relieve some of the pain, but they don’t give you any options. It’s frustrating and it angers me. I can’t even get on anything stronger that Hydrocodone. The government does’t care about the people that NEED it. The only way the see it is stop all the opioids and then there will be no addicts to take care of!
I am great full to see a group like this to try to fight back. My husband was cut off his meds . When he was given 5 years or less to live . & He has lived over 9 years with A.L.S. But now he feels he got punished for not giving up and not dying !!! So now he is in bad pain and has to suffer for how ever long he has left. Since he was cut off. His disease and health has actually gotten so much worse since he has to suffer daily. We would like to help in any way possible.
I was a fit 63 yr. old female, riding my recumbent trike 12-15 miles a day and traveling as I pleased, enjoying life to the max. I’d had back pain over the last 20 some yrs. but I still backpacked, hiked, etc. Then, as I was getting ready to exercise one morning, I bent over to put up my slacks and boom….a mild snap in my sacroiliac joint and I had the most unbelievable pain from the upper lumbar region of my spine all the way down to my feet, and my left arm was painful and achy and tingly too. I had a fusion in 2015, and the pain continued. I had a spinal cord stimulator placed at the thoracic 9-10 level to try and reduce the 24/7 pain…there was perhaps a 20% reduction in pain, far less than I had been told the implant would do. I couldn’t sit without immediate pain, it hurt to lay down and my feet were increasingly painful due to all the standing I did. I had a peripheral nerve stimulator, 4 -3inch long leads, place in my buttocks to relieve the peripheral pain so I could sit…again the pain didn’t ‘go away’ as hoped and I still find it so painful to sit, I get some relief by sitting on cold packs, but this is temporary relief. So having neuropathic pain from the thoracic region down to my feet, and in the left arm, is overwhelming. It feels as if my buttocks and legs and feet have been beaten with a baseball bat, and the constant burning is devastating. My life has changed dramatically. My long dreams of traveling to distant places has vanished. Having to travel to doctors and endure the 12 hr. trip laying in the back of our SUV and praying we don’t have an accident, as I am not restrained as I lie there…laying on severely injured nerves is unbearable at times. The multiple neuropathies messes with my strength, my balance, my patience, my endurance and the stress of pain has produced, I think, the development of a chronic, incurable oral disease called oral lichen planus. Oral lichen planus causes ulcerations inside the mouth and on the lips which are incredibly painful. So the pain is multilplied. The stress of pain, I think, can trigger such autoimmune diseases.
Ive been a chronic pain patient for over 15 years now due to getting run over while walking to work and having mutiple back surgeries since. It all started when I was on 23 years old and never even heard of opiods let alone taken any. A few years after my accident, I finally gave in and took the advice from my orthopedic surgeon and went to the pain clinic. After a little trial and error, they got the right combination for me to have somw quality of life! I went back to school to get my degree, went camping, my husband said I was myself again, went to family functions, went to dinners and movies with friends, I was living my life that I thought had been stolen from me for 11-12 years! Then they changed laws and scared all thr doctors to where they cut me way back and when I moved to Kentucky almost completely off! Mind you, I always passed my random drug tests, always had the right amount when they counted them and I never called for early refills. I took them as prescribed. Now I had to drop out of college, I just stay at home in bed and will myself not to load my shotgun to take myself out of all this pain, my husband of 19 years and I are separated because I’m just horrible because of the pain I’m in.
Things HAVE to change! I in Michigan when it first started and moved to Kentucky a little over a year ago. Things were bad with the doctors in Michigan but really bad here in Kentucky.
I don’t know how much longer I can do this! Please help us change this, not all people that take them are abusing them, some of us really need them to live their lives.
I have suffered from severe back pain for over 10 years due to hard work and sometimes doing stupid things ..lol. I have been to therapy (not much help). I have taken Hydrocodone off and on for 6 years and finally found a doctor in the last 4 years that will prescribe me Hydrocodone and believes me that my pain is for real. In the meantime, I’ve had an MRI done showing that my spine has a bad disc that has rubbed the lining off the nerves that run done my spine causing a severe case of Sciatica. I live with pain and it’s constant. Hydrocodone doesn’t totally relieve the pain but takes about 75% of the pain away (I also do stretching exercises and some yoga. I’ve had 2 Cortozone shots that did absolutely nothing but screw up my blood sugar( I’m diabetic). So now at 70 years old, my next option is what I call experimental back surgery because there’s absolutely NO guarantee that it will work. I’m an active 70-year-old and refuse to die in front of the television. But what really pisses me off is this attempt by politicians to make doctors who prescribe pain relievers criminals. I take my prescribed medicine, I don’t overdose and I can read. All those who supposedly overdosed and died, it’s to bad, but you can die from overdosing on about anything. And it’s always been the person who died thoughts, More must mean better. But are so-called Hydrocodone Cops are puffing up in front of the camera and thinking they have done a good thing by ruining a good doctor’s career and taking old people down who need medication for pain. We need to stop this stupidity and realize a person’s pain and prescribe the medication that works.
I was diagnose at 58 years old with degenerate spin and anxiety from painting cars all my life the bad news came back in last November that they would not treat me for anxiety with pain pills low dose so long story short im battling anxiety and also i believe there wont be doctors to treat pain except for injections that dont work very well after 8 years of them I pray that you can change it Good Luck and God Bless