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 was diagnosed with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Been to the doctor and ER many times. Last time I went to one of our local ER they told me they couldn’t treat my pain because I had two different people writing my meds. Both were ER docs because no one else will help. It’s horrible to be looked at as a drug seeker when you have real pain. I hope one day the people realize how cruel they are.
Ive been living with severe degenerative disc in my back and neck and knee issues for several years and cant get any help.
It’s not clear weather I have crohns or ulcerative colitis. I got my entire large intestine removed in 2019. Since then I have been in and out of the hospital er and doctor appointments. I get judged every single time I go in and am now forced to taper off my pain medication and only other option is for them to lie and misdiagnose me so my insurance will pay for suboxone.
I live with severe back, leg and neck pain. From deteriorating disc disease, fibromyalgia, and a form of auto immune deficiency like arthritic type (have to see another specialist for this diagnosis). It hurts me tremendously to get out of my bed in mornings, from opening my hands to putting my feet on floor then walking up/down my stairs. All I ever hear is if you lose weight you’ll feel better. How can I do this if I am in constant pain and exercising makes my pain worse. I’d love to be able to exercise or walk or even go grocery shopping without being in a ridiculous amount of pain.
I’m only 43 but seriously feel like my body is 93. I get told “if you’re looking for pain meds then you’re in the wrong place” OR “We don’t prescribe narcotics at this practice” before they even look at my chart. They see my tattoos and piercings and automatically assume I’m a drug user. Which I do not do drugs, smoke marijuana, nor do I drink any alcohol. I’m so sick and tired of being in pain and nothing/no one helps! I’ve gotten to the point of thinking I’ll never amount to anything else in my life because I just cannot do things like I used to! My depression and anxiety is worse than ever. I never want to leave my house. I don’t wanna hang out with friends anymore. I try so hard as a single mother every day just because of my 8 year old son. He’s my life!
I feel defeated! I’m hating the way the world has become! I hate the way doctors and nurses treat me. I have dond every single type of treatment they’ve suggested – example nerve blocks, radio frequency fusions, epidurals etc. but these procedures are painful experiences. And I don’t just ‘bounce’ back to normal anymore … it takes me weeks to recover! I feel so bad for my son… like not today honey Mommy’s hurting too bad! 😭💔
PCA Pain Care of Wallingford, Connecticut incorrectly interpreted dozens of drug test results as positive for drug use, when in fact they were expected results of impurities found in prescriptions made by PCA themselves. These false interpretations were then distributed to pain clinics throughout the State of Connecticut, preventing patients on state insurance from receiving proper care. These mistakes were made because PCA:
1. Did not report medication lists to the laboratory.
2. Did not consult the laboratory about the frequent low-level positives, despite the laboratory having a “clinician tools” page on their site that listed all the impurities.
3. Knowingly used the unauthorized cutoffs of Precision Diagnostics, that greatly increased the likelihood of false positives; cutoffs are ten to twenty times lower than any other laboratory in the United States.
4. Was not aware, as they are required to be, that THE OPIOIDS THEY PRESCRIBED HAVE IMPURITIES OF OTHER OPIOIDS IN THEM. From 2014 to 2016, 70% of their patients received some formulation of oxycodone. ALL OCYCODONE HAS HYDROCODONE IN IT. Additionally, MOST OTHER OPIOIDS CONTAIN IMPURITIES AS WELL.
The cutoffs can be found in Table 3 of this paper: Web page or PDF Document or Table 3. “Citation”: Pesce et al. Interpretation of Urine Drug Testing in Pain Patients. Published in Pain Medicine, Volume 13, Issue 7, July 2012, Pages 868–885, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4637.2012.01350.x
5. When they were made aware of their mistake by a patient with experience interpreting similar tests, they accepted this patient back and did their best to cover up the mistake.
As a result, patients were left to abruptly withdraw from high doses of medication. They were labeled as drug abusers and unable to find proper care thereafter. They were denied disability because of falsely documented drug abuse. They may have committed suicide. They may have turned to street drugs. They are likely enduring high levels of untreated chronic pain and PTSD. They are desperate. They don’t know why it happened to them. They are afraid to tell their story, as it is so easy to dismiss them as drug abusers.
Because the impurities were a result of the clinic’s own prescribed medications, and based on varying levels of prescribing and impurities within the medication, not all patients, but an alarming number, suffered this terrible fate. Worst of all, THE PATIENTS ON THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF OPIOIDS, WHO WERE DETERMINED TO BE IN THE MOST PAIN, WERE THE MOST LIKELY TO TEST FALSE POSITIVE.
If you know anyone who attended this clinic during 2014 to 2016, received care from Ben Robinson, L’Erica Williams, Dr. David Marks (the fall man so far, fined $7K and currently serving probation on related charges of not following opioid protocol), or Theodora Fraser McPherson, please contact me at 203-805-2545. Let’s hold them fully responsible.
Just had to wait 9 days WITHOUT any pain meds. Fry’s pharmacy said my Belbuca patches were not ready, then they said I could not have them on the day I came. Then, I was not able to get meds because opioids are in a timed locked box. What is the rule. Let me tell you 9 days with none of my regular medications is a slow horrible, agonizing wait! This has been happening for the past 6 months. CVS pharmacy will not carry any opioids for me. I have Lupus, M.S. and kidney disease. Can only use a scooter, and have been this way for 30 years. Why now do people think I am some kind of drug seeking addict? It is cruel. Do I need to seek counsel?
Five major spinal surgeries. Countless procedures. Fusions at L4-S1 and C3-6. Five additional bulging discs. 10 kidney stones with 3 surgeries for removal. Prostate Cancer.
Constant, stabbing, penetrating, radiating pain. I am required to see my pain specialist monthly to receive my medications. I have to provide a urine sample during each visit. I don’t want to take pain medications. I try to minimize the use of pain medications. But, I know pain. It is my constant companion. My pain specialist is afraid that he will not be able to provide the needed medication to patients like myself due to a few bad apples.
Why do politicians, pharmacists, insurance providers all want to determine how I am treated for pain? They don’t know my situation. They aren’t qualified to prescribe. How is this allowed to happen?
I badly shattered my ankle and had a complicated surgery without of metal. My pain was horrific initially after surgery, and (due to the opioid crisis) they didn’t provide much pain relief. I had to beg and plead for Tylenol and ibuprofen with my percocet. Bone pain is the worst of all the pains, and yet, they wouldn’t even give me morphine. I’ve never had any history of drug use. Not even marijuana. They made me feel like a junkie begging for relief.
I had a minor back surgery go wrong that led to an infection and a double laminectomy. I am in my early 50’s and walk like I am 90. I still do normal things but I know that I will barely be able to crawl later. If I keep doing things like shoveling, the dishes, and sweeping it makes doing easy things possible. There are really really bad times where a painkiller would be really good. I spent years on them after my surgery and have no desire to go back on them but some times I could really use one. When I explain this to my doc he looks at me like I am some kind of junkie looking for a fix. Why should I feel like a criminal just for wanting help on bad days?!?!?
Years ago I had multiple back and leg surgeries after a bad car accident. While recovering my doctors understood I was going to be living with a lot of pain. They had me on a trial of several different opiate/opioid medications with varying dosages to find effective relief. Finally they discovered what type and dose helped to reduce the pain enough for me to have some quality of life. I was doing well for a few years then CDC guidelines and DEA enforcement began.
Because I had medical documentation of my illness the DEA was fine with my doctor prescribing my medication treatment. When my doctor retired I couldn’t find another doctor who was willing to continue to prescribe the amount of medication I had been taking because it was beyond the CDC guideline limit. To them my documentation and perfect record didn’t matter. I now get 1/4 the medication I was getting and no longer have a quality of life. I’m not sure how much more pain I can endure. I have begun to reach my limit.
If I was a drug addict wanting to get high I could get plenty of Buprenorphine medication from the doctors but I don’t want to get high and that medication doesn’t help my pain. I learned the doctor would even get paid by the government to prescribe that medication and would make thousands of dollars more to include back injections. I also learned that the people who helped with creating the CDC guidelines own drug rehab businesses and have been making huge fortunes by cycling patients through them. These patients would also receive Buprenorphine medication.
The more informed I become about this, it seems to me there’s a self serving situation happening with those that created the CDC guidelines. I have begun to see this with the Covid vaccine situation as well, learning politicians are receiving stock profits from it. If I ask for help from the hospital, they’ll take my insurance and my money but I will only be told how they can’t help me as they don’t give pain medication. Pain patients and patients in general have become only something to profit by not to be cared for.
How are we going to get enough pain medicine? The type I take isn’t likely available on the streets. What is it going to take to stop this madness before all of us die from the suffering? Or is this what the government wants? It certainly looks that way.