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.
On Wednesday November 17th 2021 around 1:00 p.m. I was struck by a negligent driver while riding my bicycle. When the car hit me I was struck on the left-hand side. I didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries thankfully but I am currently suffering through a severe knee injury. When I was brought to Aurora BayCare in Marinette Wisconsin by ambulance after being struck by a moving vehicle, the way I was treated was downright inhumane.
While they were wheeling me into the building they asked a couple of brief questions on the situation at hand but immediately asked for the “rainbow” which is a blood test that tests for every drug known to man. They didn’t ask how I was doing, they didn’t ask how I was feeling, they didn’t ask if I was in pain. But they were quick to run and attempt to take my blood for a drug test. They treated me like I was some junkie, just there looking for a fix, not caring that I couldn’t move my left leg, and I’m having severe pain still in my left lower back.
I was conscious throughout the entire visit. I asked the staff repeatedly for my cell phone because they refused to call my family and tell them what happened. Once I was finally able to obtain my phone from the fourth staff member I had to ask, she immediately started getting very snotty with me while treating me like I was attacking her because I said I need my phone to call my family since you won’t do it. She rolled her eyes and screamed that she didn’t have to put up with my attitude, walked away, and yelled for security as I’m laying there suffering.
Then they moved me to the x-ray room and had a college graduate and the x-ray technician bending and twisting and turning and pulling and yelling at me because I was screaming in pain. We had security come up into the x-ray room to watch me like I was doing something wrong. I have never been mistreated like that by anyone, especially somebody from the medical profession before.
After about an hour of being in the x-ray room being used as a guinea pig for the new college graduate, they put me back in the hallway and left me there for another hour. I kept telling them that I was hurting and I was in pain and the ER doctor finally comes around the corner, tells me that there’s no broken bones and that I wasn’t going to get pain medication for abrasions/scratches. He then told me that I needed to get up and leave the hospital.
I kept telling him I can’t move my leg, it’s my knee, and he just looked at me and says there’s nothing wrong with you, you need to take your paperwork and go. I told him again that I just got hit by a car, that I wasn’t trying to get drugs. I was still unable to move my left leg due to all of my pain being in my knee where you will not be able to pick up the injury on an x-ray.
The ER staff along with security then proceeded to pull me off my hospital bed and try to force me up on my feet, the whole time I’m screaming for them to stop because the pain was so severe.
They didn’t even want to give me anything to put on to cover myself after the EMTs cut all my clothes off.
They very reluctantly gave me a pair of crutches, force-dressed me, and escorted me out of the building. I understand that there are people out there that do abuse pain medication, but that shouldn’t mean that everybody should be punished. They treated me like I wasn’t worth anything, as if I was less than human.
The reason why I am writing this today is because there are so many more stories from my community coming from all levels of social status. The mistreatment and negligence that is being done by this hospital has been going on for as long as I can remember, and for years before that. The staff in this hospital does not care about human life. If you were to come up here and do some research and ask around, you will understand exactly what I’m trying to say.
This is a small community, therefore all the doctors and lawyers and cops and judges are very well associated with each other outside of their professions, and everybody knows how easily corruption starts within that kind of circle. We only have one hospital within a 60-mile radius, therefore the medical staff here knows they can basically do to and treat people however they want without repercussions and it has to stop.
My whole community (this includes Menominee Michigan which is directly over the bridge from Marinette Wisconsin) is suffering because of it. When asked, the majority of my community will tell you they will risk their lives and drive to Green Bay Wisconsin before going to the hospital here. Just in the last three days I have heard so many different testimonies of the negligence of Aurora healthcare, which was previously known as Bay Area Medical Center.
There’s a huge blanket of corruption surrounding this area, and the entire community is suffering because of it. I just want people to be aware. I want this to be brought to light because I want this to STOP for my hometown.
I am a very honest and outspoken human being and will never hesitate to stand up for what is right. I cannot stand to watch anybody suffer for any reason, so I will always be the first to make sure everybody’s okay and everybody’s treated fairly. I know we still have a shred of humanity left and I want to rebuild it.
Not just myself, but all of us as a community are suffering and we want it to end.
I will go to the street to procure illegal pain medication before I ever undergo another tortuous dental procedure that’s meant to be managed with ibuprofen. I’d rather be dead than ever feel that pain again and I hope every legislator who reads this, if any, gets to know that pain.
Thank you very much for sharing your story. I love your use of the word “inhumane” in describing the actions of others who had the opportunity to help when you were suffering. My goal is to find a fix the problems like these in communities throughout the United States, aiming to prevent others from the horrific experience you have described. I am sorry this happened to you. We need everyone to know what has happened so we can understand what needs to be done to fix the problem.
My wife has had four neck and back surgeries. Her prescription is barely enough to ease the pain. On days when the pain is greater than bearable she needs an extra dose. Then at the end of each month there is no bridge to help until the next doctor visit. This is a huge burden to our lives and a very painful way to live. The other issue we are forced to drive three hours to a pain management doctor because her primary doctor isn’t allowed to write her medicine prescription. This doctor visit is not covered as he isn’t in network. How is this allowed?
In 2008 to 2010 I was treated with many antibiotics for Lyme Disease. Ever since then my GI tract has been in extreme pain, every day, and it comes with headaches, and sometimes nausea, and a Peptic Ulcer was created. The only medications that have helped at all have been what are considered very light narcotics. The doctor who prescribed these to me retired, and I began looking for another doctor who could prescribe one of them to me.
In the mean time, unbeknownst to me, our DEA has made it almost impossible to get the pain relief that I need. I have called many doctors, including pain medicine doctors who have said that they would not prescribe it. While I have been looking for another doctor, I was prescribed a Biofilm Disruptor by an MD that essentially stripped the lining of my GI tract which caused burning pain on top of the other pain that I have. One MD has just given me a 30-day supply of the pain medication but refuses to give me any more.
I am trying very hard to find the help that I need. I am furious with the government’s policy that has created situation where I am suffering. I am not an addict or abuser, and I am a high functioning, well educated person. The government policy is putting me together with hard-core abusers, which is totally absurd and inhumane. The DEA is so upset by the deaths caused by heavy narcotics that they have shut off the entire supply line to people who need pain relief. I cannot say strongly enough how totally wrong this is and the policy must change!!
After years of testing and being poked and prodded because I couldn’t figure out why I am constantly exhausted and throbbing pain was running through my body. First lupus cells were found, and all my scans were showing swelling in my joints; I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I can’t take ibuprofin, Naprosyn, acetaminophen, physical therapy, shots in my joints (which put me in MUCH more pain), trying gabipentin, and every other anxiety and antidepressants under the sun – I am literally left to suffer. I feel like my life has been taken over. Doctors have left me unmedicated and in constant pain because they refuse opioids. I work from home and lose my focus, I can’t go for walks with my kids without my ankles and knees swelling. I’ve never cried so much in my life until recently.
I go to the ER for some kind of help and relief, they find out what I have, shoot me up with morphine and send me on my way as if I’m a druggy in for a fix. This whole “crisis” is becoming patient negligence. The addicts are still getting to their drugs no matter what doctors do. It makes me so angry because for someone like me who can responsibly take medication as directed by a physician gets treated horribly and neglected because of those who take advantage of these meds to get their high. I’m tired, I’m in a horrible amount of pain daily and I’m left untreated because of this, I get treated like someone looking for drugs for a high. Guess what? Just like any other medicine if you’re taking it the way you’re supposed to, those people aren’t running around high. Any meds take getting used to!
I am 42 years old and have been on pain meds for more than 10 years. When I was taking more than double what I take now, I had a full-time job and went out and had a life. Then the DEA decided I and others were “drug seeking junkies”, so now I [am given] less than half of my meds and do nothing and go nowhere. I HATE THESE [jerks] AND PRAY FOR THEIR PAINFUL, SLOW, and TEARY demise. [Get rid of] them all, God will know his own!!!
I am a 55 year old woman who is ready to give up on living like they want me to. I have scoliosis that was never diagnosed as a child. I worked 30 plus years as a nurse then a nurse practitioner in pain. In 2017 I had to quit working. I had a L4, L5, S1 spinal fusion (after several years of ineffective procedures including two nerve ablations) that did NOT relieve my pain. I also have PTSD with severe anxiety.
Not only have my medications been slowly decreased since 2016 but I was reported to the Board of Nursing and investigated because I was in pain management on opioids. That was humiliating but the complaint was dismissed without even a single hearing, but it was costly financially and emotionally. I am not only forced to endure severe daily pain but was instructed to immediately discontinue my benzodiazepine that I had been on for many years. I suffered a seizure for abruptly discontinuing that drug. We are forced to choose between treating pain or anxiety. I exist, I do not live. I am exhausted from hurting, having panic attacks and not sleeping. My doctors say their hands are tied. I am hopeless.
Since March 21, 1999 I have survived with severe pain in my chest like a knife stabbed under my left ribs. I awoke in recovery after simple laparoscopic surgery to resolve Heyerdahl hernia and lifelong acid indigestion. Several esophageal ulcers and bleeds preceded this solution. Unfortunately the surgery suffered a failure which caused my stomach to press on the vagus nerve causing the pain.
This was not discovered until late in 1999 and trans-thoracic surgery was required to repair. Scar tissue continues to press on the nerve causing severe pain. Managed to remain a productive worker with daily use of narcotics to control pain. Since meds were cut off have become disabled, depressed, and unable to function. I want some quality of life back.
I have needed and must take prescription pain medication for twenty years now, the search for medication was not a short one. My doctor faithfully worked to find a medication that would allow me to finally get off my couch (a pain restriction) and not only get off my couch but to find a job and perform it at (non-medication dependent) person quality.
Pain is not always an easy thing to verify. However, I was given three EMG tests over a three year period and all three were identical. I have a severe ridiculopathy affecting my lower back and legs. An EMG test cannot be faked as it uses a small amount of electricity to follow nerve pathways. My results were off the charts.
I can no longer get the medicine I need to exist. I am taking a different medication now and it does dull the razor-sharp pain signals but does not work anywhere near what the correct medication did. My doctors agree I do need that medication, but due to no insurance company covering the right one and I can’t afford to purchase it. And with the current medication, they are now trying to limit one of my daily doses despite my doctor stating I need the dose that I am currently taking.
I am tired of the government telling the doctors that I should be under some number made up to accomplish their end. I am barely living any type of life now but I am not going to be trapped by pain so I will leave to end the pain. This is no cry but a final decision I have come to, being of sound mind and decaying body. I only see disaster coming as they push even harder to deny people that medically need a medication.
I have never parted with any of my meds and have been urine tested for over 15 years with not even a single negative finding. I want to follow the law and I will not buy anything illegal. Instead, I will do what I must to escape this life of excruciating pain. I can only imagine how many other law-abiding people are being denied the help that does exist, in the same or even worse than my situation. I wish you all luck and strength to continue to fight against this incredibly invasive law structure and end their ability to deny good people the medicine they medically need.