Professional Input

This is the place for practitioners to anonymously say whatever you feel constrained from saying in other places.

53 Replies to “Professional Input”

  1. It is my experience dealing with chronic pain patients that commonly the source of suffering is not adequately recognized (both by patient and provider). This leads to inappropriate use and the development of physical and psychological dependency on opioids. Clinical evidence is clear that the use of opioids for long-term treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain is a failed treatment strategy. This “grassroots” organization may not be operating in the best interest of people using and dependent on opioids for managing their painful condition and that by focusing on the effort to promote opioid use, you would serve people more effectively by promoting alternative therapies known and proven to reduce pain, improve life, and increase safety.

  2. Dear TMack PhamD

    Well you sound like if we havent tried
    Its not up to us to find other ways to treat our pain Opioids were given to us because the medicial feild has Failed on find other pain relief
    We are not doctors or are we chemisits or in the medicail field
    Thats up to people Like You
    Here you are punishing us (Again )
    For not knowing other means of reliving our pain
    Get to work on it Bud if you think there are other ways what i feel is stopping you is your lack of education and self ego,, easy to point fingers ,,
    And while your blaming us for our lack of knowing other methods to relive our pain Have you tjought about the Insurance that dosent cover alot of the cost for other remedies
    If you read most posts many have had injections, over half have had surgery So where is this our fault ?
    We can only use wjat avaiable to us
    Any other Ideas are great if we all can benifit from them
    Your more mouth then knowledge ?
    You want to help ? Go find ways for us to be with out pain and pills
    Thats not really our profession We paid for a doctors opinion and they gave us legal drugs

    All i can say more to you is , Find a better way for us Maybe you have not thought out your thinking before you posted

    They can send a man to the moon
    Still cant cure common cold
    Or relieve pain Go figure !!

    So Mr TMack PharmD
    Thanks for your comments but it sounds like ahain we are being attcked because we arent doctors or have the knowledge to cure our selves
    Your comment should be in every medical school Ask them to find ways to fix us
    Amazing
    Not very encouraging are ya !

  3. TMACK PharmD, I have to disagree with you. I am a patient who has used opioid therapy for 15 years, it continues to provide relief with no need to increase dosage or strength. There is a difference between addiction and dependency. I suffer from polio, Post polio, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, neuropathy, pain from failed bone realignments from hip, tibia/patella fractures. I have tried alternatives pain therapy’s & some are not an option for me because of my diagnoses. Each patient is different & how dare we put into a one size fits all, how dare any government official or even physician assume that they know my body and pain more than I do. I have been proven to be a responsible legitimate pain patient, was once a contributing member of society until accidents & age has played havoc to my body. Opioid therapy had allowed me some quality of life now with force tapper I’ve been sentenced to a life of misery, insomnia, unrelenting pain & depression. I contracted polio from a US military base at 18mo of age, how dare my government now again inflict more pain & misery with their inhumane guidelines. This opioid crisis is now due to illegal drugs, illicit fentanyl & not because of responsible legitimate pain patients.

  4. Notice that he is a pharmacist not a pain md. If he has experience actually working with pain patients, one on one, he would give examples to support his argument. Possibly, like most pharmacist, he is far removed from actual patient engagement and projects his prejudicial ideas onto complete strangers he knows nothing about.

  5. TMACK your entire post is a joke. Insurance companies and government health organizations have given you a false sense of knowledge and entitlement. Sure you know a lot about medications, but you completely lack empathy, compassion, and knowledge of the people using these medications. Do you really think chronic pain patients haven’t tried “alternatives”?! Most have tried distraction, relaxation, meditation, topcals, injections, surgeries, NSAIDs, OTC options, TENS units, cannabis, injections , steroids, seizure meds and antidepressants with off label uses, hypnosis and more. I’d love to hear more about what else they should be doing and using…. Do us all a favor and stop pretending you know more about the bodies and treatments of those suffering daily with pain, whos only relief, despite all efforts are opioids. Everyone isn’t an addict and all who take opioids don’t abuse them. You should really stick to counting pills, monitoring interactions, and advising on adverse effects rather than thinking the war on opioids isn’t a war on pain.

  6. I am a pain Dr. in Caldwell Idaho and I am appaled at the DEA as well as their bosses who have basically ordered myself and other physicians to force my patients to drastically reduce their rather inexpensive pain management medications and or switch to other, extremely expensive alternatives, which increases their out of pocket expenses by about 400% to 900%. Tell me, who is really benefiting from these forced changes, my patients or the pharmaceutical companies and their political puppets who rake in the money, all the while doing nothing to actually help those with chronic pain?

  7. This organization doesn’t reveal its funding sources and this needs to be made public. The massive organization and web presence appears too professional to be grassroots.. if anyone can share the funding sources of this organization, I encourage you to do so.

  8. I have submitted a comment previously and have yet to see it posted. My question is where is the support and funding coming from this group. I have seen the power of the pharmaceutical industry manifested by patient advocacy groups numerous times and usually the support is couched in legal jargon and kept fairly low-profile to give the impression that this is all about the patient. With the Don’t Punish Pain website, we see none of that and only a brief bio of the initial organizer, yet the website and numerous events and lobbying activities indicates a more powerful and well-funded background support. I would really like to have DPP step up and deny they receive any funding or support from the pharmaceutical manufacturers of opioids, and what their true agenda is. People need to understand that this is a multi-billiion dollar industry and it is quite simple to provide shadow support and use patients and providers as shills to advance a profit-motivated agenda.

  9. Pain in adults with sickle cell disease is the rule rather than the exception and is far more prevalent and severe than previous large-scale studies have portrayed. It is mostly managed at home; therefore, its prevalence is probably underestimated by health care providers, resulting in misclassification, distorted communication, and undertreatment.

    I read this in a review article 2008. It is worse today.

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