Share Your Pain Story

1,000 Replies to “Share Your Pain Story”

1. I don’t typically like medication, but after being in the military for almost 20 years, the things done to my body have started to impact my quality of life. My once active lifestyle has become a burden. I read the stories of how people don’t get out of bed if they don’t have their medication and I now understand that. It is the same for me. The pain is real, needing pain medication helps alot and I feel that if we have to live 20 years in pain, rather than 10 years without pain, then it really isn’t worth it. All we remember is how horrible it is.

   I haven’t been treated badly, but I do think that it should be our own choice to be in pain or not. Some people like living in pain, but if we don’t have to then we shouldn’t. Alot of people who put a strain on this opioid epidemic probably dealt with someone who abuses drugs, but people who abuse drugs do it with everything, they’ll even breath wd40 if they have to. We shouldn’t all have to suffer because other people are doing what they do, regardless.

2. Pain is not a criminal offense-nor is treatment of pain by a qualified medical professional. Allow physicians to treat pain

3. I have had several chronic illness which I experience moderate to severe pain . I dont it like due to life experiences, being continually exposed to opioids or stronger pain medicines unless,my ability to function such as walking grooming, or working and bathing is grossly impaired.. I know what has happened in my city crime wise but the increase in the use of illegal opioids has skyrocketed and is directly related to violent crime in my area. Im more of a drain on resources because.I dont think we should make medical addicts out of people but I do believe that those who need pain medicines ought to have them. if it works dont fix it unless its for a more beneficial form of treatment instead of no treatment at all. FIRST DO NO HARM.

4. I watched my late husband of 33yrs suffer with severe chronic back pain.Dr prescribed opioids for approximately 20 yrs.when the “crisis hit the news”Drs stopped prescriptions added meds for depression and sleep for withdrawal symptoms.My husbands back condition continued to get worse.My husband had an MRI on a Friday then committed suicide the following Sunday.Some people really need that pain reliet!!!

5. I was rejected my pain meds for alternatives because a Doctor in Utah who doesn’t know me restricted me. I used hydrocodone and now I have to take oxycodone instead. I take a long lasting morphine and used the hydrocodone/ibuprofen as an equalizer. I have osteoarthritis (advanced), CPPD, diabetic, my back looks like a road map because of DDD. So far 2 surgeries on my backbone and my right knee is going to be next. We are already talking about hip replacement surgery. It’s not fair that a doctor representing a drug plan can dictate and overrule my doctor’s I NEED MY MEDS!

6. I was in incredible pain and seriously sleep deprived with a long list of health issues. My doctor said he wouldn’t prescribe narcotic pain killers because he was afraid I would become addicted. I asked him if he was aware people can die from sleep deprivation and that I had no quality of life. I told him being addicted to a pain relieving drug was the least of my worries and concerns. I’ve been on narcotic pain pills for 29 years now. The prescription needs to be renewed each time I’m almost out of pills and while the Rx says I can take 6 pills per day (every 4 hours or as needed) I never have. I always go past the 30 days because I take them as needed for pain and I keep a log what time I took the last pills and how many hours it was between taking the pills. I have discussed this method with my doctor and she highly approves. I never take any pills if it hasn’t been at least 8 hours since the last time I took my pills. Depending on my activities I can sometimes go 24 hours before pain is intolerable but during the times when I take longer than 8 hours before pain causes me to take pain pills I never experience withdrawal symptoms. I know people that self medicate and have run out of pills before their Rx can be renewed because they expect instant relief and they do become addicted. That is called “drug abuse”. Like my doctor has said to me, “nobody ever got into trouble with pain meds following the directions on the pill bottle”. What I see in this whole “opioid crisis” is totally political. Politicians have never had an opportunity to “sue” anyone for drug abuse since drug dealers are never blamed for what happens to people that buy and abuse illegal drugs. This is an opportunity for the politicians to dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back telling people to “sue” drug companies for them having abused drugs. Without my pain meds I would have no quality of life. Unlike drug abusers I will endure a certain amount of time between taking the meds and I make it a point to follow the instructions for my meds. I don’t self medicate and have NEVER used up the total Rx before the time period of the Rx. We recently had a situation where I live a high school student broke his arm. The attending doctor wrote an Rx for narcotic pain killer and gave it to the parents with instructions for the parents to give pills to the teen. After a short time the parents were irritated with the boy asking for pills so they (illegally) handed the bottle over to the boy (drug abuse). The boy told a school mate the pills didn’t work fast enough to relieve his pain. His school mate told him to grind the pills into powder (drug abuse) to take them and he would get faster relief. The boy did as his friend told him, took the powdered opioid meds, immediately went into shock and died. BIG headline in all the local newspapers was “Opioid Crisis Strikes Bradford County Again”. BS, so many violations of drug abuse and of course the parents went along with everything because the should have been charged with child endangerment and weren’t. It was too easy to blame the drug company. I’m very involved in politics in my state and county and time after time I have asked politicians and people that say we have an opioid crisis to give me an example of “opioid crisis”, that I don’t want examples of “drug abuse” which has been a problem in America for many, many decades. Just one tiny example, I don’t need 2, 10, 27 or 100 examples of opioid crisis. Everytime they give me examples of “drug abuse” and they hate it when I shoot back at them that they are telling me instances of drug abuse because you can insert the name of any drug besides opioids and what they said to be is clearly instances of “ABUSE”. We have a serious “drug abuse” problem in America. We’re told its an opioid crisis totally for political purposes. Attorney generals all across America have set up sting operations to entrap doctors trying to help people with intractable pain and no quality of life as if legal pain med users are somehow criminals and contribute to the “opioid crisis”. I don’t care what the government does with drug abusers, but the government needs to stay out of the healthcare of legal users and their healthcare providers, PERIOD.

7. People are suffering. Give them their quality of life back to them. We deal with chronic pain syndrome, we are not pill-seeking addicts.

8. I had an injury almost 20 years ago and began taking pain meds to be able to function. I had no problems getting them until the crackdown began. When that happened, I had a much harder time getting what I needed to be able to lead a normal life. Since the crackdown I have had only half of what I need to take to function. My daily life is now so hard and I am unable to take care of my housework, shopping, cooking, and I can’t even *think* about any type of physical exercise. I now wake up in pain and live in pain all day every day! The quality of my life is so much less than it was when I had the pain relief I need.

9. I am a 62-year-old registered nurse that just retired in March. I could not handle the 12 hour shifts where some days I walked 5 miles and when I wasn’t walking I was standing. Most of my pain is in both of my legs and feet. I have started having a lot of back pain. In the last 15 years I have gone to every type of doctor and have tried everything that they have suggested. I’m really kind of a mystery because they really don’t know what’s wrong with me. Several of them believe I have fibromyalgia. With the studying and reading about that I believe I probably have that among other things. I have degenerative disc disease and I don’t know why. It’s just there! I have had injections, a cervical fusion and I have a spinal nerve stimulator that helps about 25% When I started having pain, Tylenol or ibuprofen relieved it. Through these last 15 years I’ve had to increase and try different types of medications to help control my pain. My pain is Only controlled by taking Norco now. Without that I could not function and live a semi-normal life, be able to do my activities of daily living. My PCP sent me to a pain center to see what they could do for me. Basically, I am down to taking medications. Do you think I like them?! They give me no high or buzz they just help my pain! They also have side effects that aren’t fun in the least!
   The regulations that have been set are making it so hard and difficult. You’re putting strain on us and the physicians that we go to because our insurance require all of this crazy stuff now. The doctors are constantly having to send the drug companies and insurances explanations, getting pre-approvals over and over again! They don’t have time for this craziness!

   I am on my husband‘s insurance and they recently changed to blue cross and blue shield of Oklahoma. I went to my scheduled pain management appointment they tell me they don’t take that insurance. They say they’re too hard to work with. So now I have to pay cash $125 a visit. I can’t afford that but I have to make it a priority or I can’t get my pain medicine. I called 33 doctors offices that Blue Cross Blue Shield gave me that were under pain management. I was so humiliated and felt like a drug addict!! NONE of them would take me as a patient that just need my prescription every month. They would only do injections. I told them I had already been through all the tests, injections and surgeries and medications were all that helped!

   As I said, I am an RN. I worked in a women’s center. I can tell you that meth is probably the number one problem in Oklahoma. It is so cheap to make and I guess it gives them such a wonderful high that they can’t even give it up when they’re pregnant. Then they have a baby that’s also addicted. It is ridiculous! There is not enough foster homes to take in all of these babies because their parents do meth and more!! There needs to be a solution to this problem because it affects so many families. It also leads them to criminal activity where they will do anything to get money to buy their drugs.

   Please don’t punish us who really have chronic pain that have done everything that the doctors suggested. We are trying to make it better and go away and it doesn’t! We need our pain pills! I honestly think your laws and rules that have been made are going to backfire because people will go on the streets and get them illegally or will commit suicide! I am serious about that because no one can live with pain like that! We wish we were dead! Please think about these laws and rules that have been made. What if you are in a car crash on the way home today and have multiple severe injuries that cause chronic pain? The only thing that helps you is a pain pill but you can’t have any or you might get addicted! Think it through!
   DON’T PUNISH US!

10. I’ve had six spinal surgeries, I have severe nerve damage especially the whole right side of my body. I’m old. They want to do more surgeries but I’m not going back under the knife unless absolutely last resort. I am in constant pain, sometimes can’t get out of bed. My pain was somewhat controlled by opioids, I could function. Since the government started playing doctor, my meds have been cut and limited to where I used to be painfully moving but not functioning to the point where I can contribute to society. The pain brings on depression which doesn’t help. I’ve been seeing my same physician for years and don’t doctor shop or take more of my prescribed pain medicine than prescribed. There is nothing to completely take away the pain but they could make it bearable if the government would stick to their business and leave medicine to the doctors.