This is the place for practitioners to anonymously say whatever you feel constrained from saying in other places.
53 Replies to “Professional Input”
I don’t understand the sentence is being handed out tonight these judges. We are truly living in an unprecedented era where the police and the judiciary have decided to practice medicine. I have had judges as patients would say that I was a very good doctor but the propaganda machine is vilified physicians so badly
Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription. Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives. They also ignore the known conspiracy perpetrated by Big Pharma to create a population of addicted and vocal pain sufferers. Don’t Punish Pain is likely another “astroturf” advocacy organization. I suffer from chronic pain and can personally testify that opioids make you feel wonderful, but are merely a mask and they adversely affect neurological and cognitive function in the long run. I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.
@TMACK… We understand your motives, the problem is you not understanding our pain; that these liabilities of prescription opiate pain relievers you speak of, usually being more tolerable, are largely preferred over the pain! The benefits of the relief they offer for most far outweigh their risks and any side effects. IMO death is preferable over this!
I was injured in the line of duty with the army. I fell out of a helicopter and subsequently was injured later after all the surgery etc etc. I dont want to go into the 23 spinal surgeries and all of the joints that have been replaced or rebuilt. I want to try to convey my point of view to the people like this Pharmacist that wrote a paragraph.
I will first say that I’m married to a pharmacist and she has had her eyes opened just by taking care of me. I am a proud man, I learned to walk again as an adult. I have not been able to sleep in a bed for many years. I have a spinal cord stimulator and work out 4 days a week. I’m not fat.
Now, I only want some quality of life. I was an Army Ranger that fought for freedom and when a new pharmacist refills my meds I get treated like a junkie. I am not a junkie, but because of all of the injuries I have my quality of life is gone. My medication simply takes the edge off so that I can tolerate life. My feet have felt like blocks of wood for years. I love my wife but cannot feel my genitals fully. I cannot tell if I’m erect without looking. I just want some quality of life. I may have 10 or 12 years left being able to walk. The only way I can walk on the beach and hold my wife’s hand is by taking some medication for break through pain. I still can only walk about 200 yards with the meds but its something. I guess I’m trying to say that the people that think I should not have access to narcotics have never had to live like I do. I’m going to end up with the intrathecal pump but as a 50 year old man that has been an athlete my whole life and an Army Ranger that fought for this country I should not feel like I have to grovel for medication that simply allows me to have a small bit of normalcy. We lose 21 veterans every single day to suicide. Maybe we should put the compassion back into the care and yes help the addicts but I also believe I deserve compassion.
@Tmack “I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids”.
Well, that is quite a blanket statement without any references whatsoever. First, you are assuming like so many others that opioid consumtion automatically equals addiction for everyone, which it does not. So what is the “modern approach” you speak of? The continual stretching Ive always done anyway without a medical professional telling me to do it? Or the prescribing of motrin, as if that will even touch my pain and which in itself comes with risks in the long term?
Here is where you are COMPLETELY missing the point. MOST people do NOT WANT to take any medications whatsoever. Believe it or not most people just want to get up and live a normal life without taking meds or dealing with debilitating pain. But that is not a reality for a LOT of people. Most people are in control of themselves and do not need big brother watching them in order to not become addicted. Most people take ALL OTHER MEDICATIONS prescribed knowing the risks and benefits and manage both. I know people who have taken opioids on and off for periods of time for the better part of a decade and never suffer withdrawals or any addiction symptoms when not on them AND they are still only taking usually half of what they could. They, and their doctors, are able to manage all by themselves. Imagine that…
Most people have pain so bad that life-altering, permanent pain feels as though it ws written into their DNA. As for the “feeling wonderful” part of your statement, MOST people do not want, nor take, opioids to “feel wonderful”. Most people know they will never “feel wonderful” ever again. Most people just want enough medication to take the edge off, (and not even every day), because they know that reasonably, (most people are reasonable), that is as much relief as they will find, and they are not expecting a life altering substance, but rather some help. Thats all, just some help.
Taking the edge off an unrelenting condition that robs them of both life and dignity isnt much to ask.
And please tell me, how many of those truly suffering that dont get help then turn to relief from something else, such as alcohol? Or maybe even crack? Who knows? Relief has to come from somewhere, period, because people can only take so much… so much pain, so much government and so much control. But the government can hand out needles to junkies and give them free reign of whole cities yet that seems to be okay. Poor life choices have resulted in alcoholics for eons, yet the government, WHOM ARE NOT DOCTORS I MIGHT ADD, does little to control the distribution.
The pendulum has swung WAY TOO FAR in the opposite direction because SOME people have made poor life choices but that should not mean that most people should have to chronically suffer just because some people could not control themselves. Addiction, or prevention of it, is a choice and MOST people choose NOT to become addicts.
Now, a person even mentions pain to a doctor and one, or a combination of three things happen; they are not taken seriously and are brushed off, are taken somewhat seriously but are just handed a pamphlet for counseling, or are taken fairly seriously by the physician but not so much by pathetic insurance providers.
Now we have a nation crying out in pain and the government has tied the hands of those who are supposed to br able to help them. Most people dont like asking for help. But sometime quality of life is robbed from them and they must ask. It is already an undignified, shameful feeling to most people to do so. Then when they finally reach thier limits and ask for help, they are treated like a 100% addict already, which is undignified and shameful in itself.
People just want to live as normal a life as possible without an overreaching and overbearing government entity continuously acting as judge and jury of both thier doctor and themselves. Let people have control. If some “hang themselves” in the process then so be it. That’s human nature that some will make that choice. Preventing most everyone from quality of life will not save some others from themselves.
“TMACK PharmD
MARCH 24, 2019 AT 5:34 PM
Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription. Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives. They also ignore the known conspiracy perpetrated by Big Pharma to create a population of addicted and vocal pain sufferers. Don’t Punish Pain is likely another “astroturf” advocacy organization. I suffer from chronic pain and can personally testify that opioids make you feel wonderful, but are merely a mask and they adversely affect neurological and cognitive function in the long run. I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.”
This attitude is exactly the problem; it’s dismissive and shows a profound ignorance of what patients are actually going through.
“Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription”
That this person is using this point to argue against prescribing opioids to Chronic pain patients shows he does not understand reality. Sure, there was a big pharma conspiracy, but there’s also a difference between presribing these medications to acute pain patients and chronic pain patients. They are fundamentally different things that shouldn’t be conflated.
If a chronic pain patient goes from oxycodone to black market heroin, it’s probably because that person needs to manage their pain and they’ve been denied the medication they need by their doctor. If an acute pain patient goes from oxycodone to heroin it’s probably because they got addicted. Addiction to a medication that you need to be taking is not really addiction. It’s pseudoaddiction, and a medical professional should know it. Most medications have a biochemical addiction that occurs.
“Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives.”
“I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.”
These two comments again show this person’s ignorance of real patient experiences. I’m 30 years old, and have been experiencing chronic pain since my early 20s. Compression fractured 3 vertebrae in my lower back in a car wreck, add on celiac disease, fibromyalgia, CFS, and now a bulging disc in my neck.
I’ve undergone the full battery of treatments that consitute “the modern approach”:
PT, chiropractic, deep tissue and bone massage, acupuncture, all kinds of supplements, TENS, ultrasound, whole body vibration, inversion, traction, strength training, yoga, pilates, mediation, therapy, ice/heat, CBD/essential oil balms, gluten free diet, Mediterranean/anti inflammatory diet, elimination diet, all organic diet, juicing, probiotics, fermented foods, dairy free diet, trigger point injections, steroids, lidocaine and novocaine nerve blocks, flexeril, lyrica, celebrex, meloxicam, gabapentin, tramadol, kratom NSAIDs, zanaflex, and many, many other supposedly safer and better meds I can’t recall at the moment. I have spent I don’t even know how many thousands of dollars on all these treatments doctors recommended but insurance doesn’t cover. The modern approach doesn’t always work. It hasn’t worked for me.
This pain has completely derailed every aspect of my life. I had to quit my job, give up my career as a welder because the pain of simply wearing the welding hood and looking down is intolerable for more than a few minutes. I haven’t been able to maintain friendships because when I’m in bad pain, which is most of the time, I’m just a downer to be around. When I wasn’t in pain I made people laugh and we had a great time. But now I have a hard time even sitting through a movie or going to any event where I have to stand or sit longer than an hour. Driving for any length is hard. Some days I get flare ups and I can’t do anything. The pain feels like it’s inside my brain and every other thought process is ‘how can I make this stop’.
I’m trying to build a music production business that will allow me to work from home, but even with my convertable desk and all my ergonomic stuff, when I get a flare up or even just a day of background level 5-6 pain, it becomes almost impossible to juggle the dozens of complex multi-dimensional considerations that are required to produce music. Becaue every other thought becomes ‘my God this really hurts’ .
And I know most of it is unnecessary pain. My understanding of fibromyalgia is that because of the original trauma of breaking my back, my body is now grossly overreacting and overcompensating for small injuries. I understand that my bulging disc isn’t bad enough to cause this level of pain according to the medical texts. It doesn’t matter because the pain is real and there is more going on than just an injury, and it’s dibilitating.
I don’t have a low pain tolerance. I’ve broken bones, had bone deep lacerations, drilled a hole through a finger and had to wash it out with salt water, third degree burned myself on thousand-degree pieces of metal, crushed my thumb in a bending break. I didn’t cry or scream any of those times. Most of those times I kept working and finished my shift, went back the next day. Over a decade ago I trained in martial arts, and pain tolerance was part of the training.
I’m not just a whimp who can’t stand a little constant pain and wants to feel ‘wonderful’ all the time. When I say my neck pain is an 8 or 9 out of ten constantly and I cant function, it isn’t BS. I can’t “modern approach” my way out of it. What happens is I lose days to weeks of my life, because none of those treatments are effective for me. I’m just laid out in pain the whole time, usually not sleeping very much, using ice or acupressure to slightly numb an area for a minute or two. I massage until it becomes counterproductive. None of it works for long.
I left my home to move closer to the city, where I hoped there would be more options for treatment. I was hoping to get into a pain management clinic, but my new doctor down here found a couple new medications I haven’t tried yet, so now I have to go through most likely more months of pain before he will consider referring me. He wants to try the modern approach again from the beginning, only this time I don’t have the income to pay for all these extra treatments that do help a little. I don’t have high hopes.
I’ve never had an addiction problem, I actually have been opposed to the idea of painkillers for a long time. I believed the modern approach was far better. But it hasn’t worked, and now that I want to just reduce my pain and get on with my life, I can’t get a doctor who is willing to prescribe more than codeine. Anything weaker than vicoden makes me violently nauseous at
a dose that begins to bring pain relief. I need stronger stuff that nobody is willing to give me. I used to know a guy that could get heroin, and I can’t honestly say I haven’t been tempted to get a hold of him. It’s the last thing I want to use, but I feel hopeless and I’m running out of willpower and just will to live.
I don’t want to feel wonderful all the time, be high all the time. I just want to control the pain to a level where I can get work done on the computer, exercise to get my heart rate up, because that helps a lot over time, and actually go out with friends and enjoy activities again.
This irrational demonization of opioids and crackdown on chronic pain patients is founded on misinformation and just ignorance. If you crack down on the opioid epidemic by directly indiscriminately attacking the people taking them, and you don’t address the chronic pain epidemic, don’t treat chronic patients differently, the results are not going to be desirable. You’re just hurting patients. Doing harm, which is supposed to be the first thing not to do, right?
@Tmack “I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids”.
While I’m not a professional, I definitely am a professional at suffering the pain and torture that is being done now. Didn’t know you that many of us have tried physical therapy, we have tried many other things & it didn’t work. PT rarely works on stenosis. Some of us are rural, can’t drive from either the illness or effects of meds we get.
Hey, if I were you, I sure would study about dependence upon medicines vs addiction. Addiction is very rare. Did you know this? Drs & others are mixing up dependence with addiction; dependence is not addiction. I’m dependent upon my Beta Blocker blood pressure med. See jatheducational.com What multiple genetic errors in gene A118G causes addiction to opioids, do you know???
Kind Regard!
@SMS, I could not have addressed TMACK PharmD better myself. Your remarks were on point and obviously coming from someone who knows what it is like to live in constant pain. Thank you for your response. It is quite apparent that TMACK knows not where we come from or what it is like to wake up every day in pain and lay down every night in pain. It is not about popping a pill and making the pain go away but using medication that we and our doctors deem helpful to add to our “toolbox” of things to make our pain a bit more manageable. TMACK obviously does not understand that those of us who live with pain every day already use or have at least tried acupuncture, chiropractors, meditation, hot baths, stretching, walking, massage and any other means that may help. Again, thank you for such a beautiful response.
I think that one strange side-effect of the increased mortality from opioids, the regrettable CDC Guidelines, and the over-reactions from the VA, state medical boards, and the DEA is that the general public is now able to get a sense of just how widespread and toxic is the problem of unaccountable authority in the US.
While it used to be true that the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), the Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP), and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) were considered to have a free hand in regulating and disciplining physicians without oversight, and irrespective of state and federal statutory constraints, because physician numbers were relatively small and their positions were not considered typical of the general public, it turns out that the exercise of unaccountable authority by governmental and para-governmental organizations has a tendency to seep into all aspects of government policy and public life.
It is noted with irony that the exercise of unaccountable authority is intoxicating and those groups and persons habituated to its use will look for wider opportunities to exercise it. Little, albeit systematic, injustices don’t stay little for long.
I am now retired but was an ER nurse for 27 years. ER staff can generally spot a drug seeker a mile away and know the difference between them and someone who has legitimate pain. Do I personally think over prescribing opiates has caused the opiod crisis? No. I believe what has caused the most problem is the rush to treat pain in the clinical setting. I refer to giving copious amounts of IV narcotics. The pharmacist that posted about “feeling wonderful” from taking opiates may have been referring to this. When I first became a nurse we rarely gave narcotics IV and if we did it was in very low doses. Most were given in an intramuscular injection. Takes longer to work but lasts longer.
I myself have psoriatic arthritis. I have degenerative disc disease and frequent bouts of colitis. I also work 8 hours at a time on my feet. I am no longer a nurse because I have to take opiates to be able to work. Board of Nursing does not allow this for obvious reasons. My retirement pay is not enough to live on so I must work. For some of us a few pills a day is the difference between having a home and being homeless.
I don’t understand the sentence is being handed out tonight these judges. We are truly living in an unprecedented era where the police and the judiciary have decided to practice medicine. I have had judges as patients would say that I was a very good doctor but the propaganda machine is vilified physicians so badly
Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription. Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives. They also ignore the known conspiracy perpetrated by Big Pharma to create a population of addicted and vocal pain sufferers. Don’t Punish Pain is likely another “astroturf” advocacy organization. I suffer from chronic pain and can personally testify that opioids make you feel wonderful, but are merely a mask and they adversely affect neurological and cognitive function in the long run. I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.
@TMACK… We understand your motives, the problem is you not understanding our pain; that these liabilities of prescription opiate pain relievers you speak of, usually being more tolerable, are largely preferred over the pain! The benefits of the relief they offer for most far outweigh their risks and any side effects. IMO death is preferable over this!
I was injured in the line of duty with the army. I fell out of a helicopter and subsequently was injured later after all the surgery etc etc. I dont want to go into the 23 spinal surgeries and all of the joints that have been replaced or rebuilt. I want to try to convey my point of view to the people like this Pharmacist that wrote a paragraph.
I will first say that I’m married to a pharmacist and she has had her eyes opened just by taking care of me. I am a proud man, I learned to walk again as an adult. I have not been able to sleep in a bed for many years. I have a spinal cord stimulator and work out 4 days a week. I’m not fat.
Now, I only want some quality of life. I was an Army Ranger that fought for freedom and when a new pharmacist refills my meds I get treated like a junkie. I am not a junkie, but because of all of the injuries I have my quality of life is gone. My medication simply takes the edge off so that I can tolerate life. My feet have felt like blocks of wood for years. I love my wife but cannot feel my genitals fully. I cannot tell if I’m erect without looking. I just want some quality of life. I may have 10 or 12 years left being able to walk. The only way I can walk on the beach and hold my wife’s hand is by taking some medication for break through pain. I still can only walk about 200 yards with the meds but its something. I guess I’m trying to say that the people that think I should not have access to narcotics have never had to live like I do. I’m going to end up with the intrathecal pump but as a 50 year old man that has been an athlete my whole life and an Army Ranger that fought for this country I should not feel like I have to grovel for medication that simply allows me to have a small bit of normalcy. We lose 21 veterans every single day to suicide. Maybe we should put the compassion back into the care and yes help the addicts but I also believe I deserve compassion.
@Tmack “I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids”.
Well, that is quite a blanket statement without any references whatsoever. First, you are assuming like so many others that opioid consumtion automatically equals addiction for everyone, which it does not. So what is the “modern approach” you speak of? The continual stretching Ive always done anyway without a medical professional telling me to do it? Or the prescribing of motrin, as if that will even touch my pain and which in itself comes with risks in the long term?
Here is where you are COMPLETELY missing the point. MOST people do NOT WANT to take any medications whatsoever. Believe it or not most people just want to get up and live a normal life without taking meds or dealing with debilitating pain. But that is not a reality for a LOT of people. Most people are in control of themselves and do not need big brother watching them in order to not become addicted. Most people take ALL OTHER MEDICATIONS prescribed knowing the risks and benefits and manage both. I know people who have taken opioids on and off for periods of time for the better part of a decade and never suffer withdrawals or any addiction symptoms when not on them AND they are still only taking usually half of what they could. They, and their doctors, are able to manage all by themselves. Imagine that…
Most people have pain so bad that life-altering, permanent pain feels as though it ws written into their DNA. As for the “feeling wonderful” part of your statement, MOST people do not want, nor take, opioids to “feel wonderful”. Most people know they will never “feel wonderful” ever again. Most people just want enough medication to take the edge off, (and not even every day), because they know that reasonably, (most people are reasonable), that is as much relief as they will find, and they are not expecting a life altering substance, but rather some help. Thats all, just some help.
Taking the edge off an unrelenting condition that robs them of both life and dignity isnt much to ask.
And please tell me, how many of those truly suffering that dont get help then turn to relief from something else, such as alcohol? Or maybe even crack? Who knows? Relief has to come from somewhere, period, because people can only take so much… so much pain, so much government and so much control. But the government can hand out needles to junkies and give them free reign of whole cities yet that seems to be okay. Poor life choices have resulted in alcoholics for eons, yet the government, WHOM ARE NOT DOCTORS I MIGHT ADD, does little to control the distribution.
The pendulum has swung WAY TOO FAR in the opposite direction because SOME people have made poor life choices but that should not mean that most people should have to chronically suffer just because some people could not control themselves. Addiction, or prevention of it, is a choice and MOST people choose NOT to become addicts.
Now, a person even mentions pain to a doctor and one, or a combination of three things happen; they are not taken seriously and are brushed off, are taken somewhat seriously but are just handed a pamphlet for counseling, or are taken fairly seriously by the physician but not so much by pathetic insurance providers.
Now we have a nation crying out in pain and the government has tied the hands of those who are supposed to br able to help them. Most people dont like asking for help. But sometime quality of life is robbed from them and they must ask. It is already an undignified, shameful feeling to most people to do so. Then when they finally reach thier limits and ask for help, they are treated like a 100% addict already, which is undignified and shameful in itself.
People just want to live as normal a life as possible without an overreaching and overbearing government entity continuously acting as judge and jury of both thier doctor and themselves. Let people have control. If some “hang themselves” in the process then so be it. That’s human nature that some will make that choice. Preventing most everyone from quality of life will not save some others from themselves.
“TMACK PharmD
MARCH 24, 2019 AT 5:34 PM
Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription. Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives. They also ignore the known conspiracy perpetrated by Big Pharma to create a population of addicted and vocal pain sufferers. Don’t Punish Pain is likely another “astroturf” advocacy organization. I suffer from chronic pain and can personally testify that opioids make you feel wonderful, but are merely a mask and they adversely affect neurological and cognitive function in the long run. I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.”
This attitude is exactly the problem; it’s dismissive and shows a profound ignorance of what patients are actually going through.
“Fifty percent of people addicted to opioids start with a medically- sanctioned prescription”
That this person is using this point to argue against prescribing opioids to Chronic pain patients shows he does not understand reality. Sure, there was a big pharma conspiracy, but there’s also a difference between presribing these medications to acute pain patients and chronic pain patients. They are fundamentally different things that shouldn’t be conflated.
If a chronic pain patient goes from oxycodone to black market heroin, it’s probably because that person needs to manage their pain and they’ve been denied the medication they need by their doctor. If an acute pain patient goes from oxycodone to heroin it’s probably because they got addicted. Addiction to a medication that you need to be taking is not really addiction. It’s pseudoaddiction, and a medical professional should know it. Most medications have a biochemical addiction that occurs.
“Opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain have more liabilities than benefits. Posters claiming that those of us who wish to reduce use of these drugs are cruel really don’t understand our motives.”
“I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids.”
These two comments again show this person’s ignorance of real patient experiences. I’m 30 years old, and have been experiencing chronic pain since my early 20s. Compression fractured 3 vertebrae in my lower back in a car wreck, add on celiac disease, fibromyalgia, CFS, and now a bulging disc in my neck.
I’ve undergone the full battery of treatments that consitute “the modern approach”:
PT, chiropractic, deep tissue and bone massage, acupuncture, all kinds of supplements, TENS, ultrasound, whole body vibration, inversion, traction, strength training, yoga, pilates, mediation, therapy, ice/heat, CBD/essential oil balms, gluten free diet, Mediterranean/anti inflammatory diet, elimination diet, all organic diet, juicing, probiotics, fermented foods, dairy free diet, trigger point injections, steroids, lidocaine and novocaine nerve blocks, flexeril, lyrica, celebrex, meloxicam, gabapentin, tramadol, kratom NSAIDs, zanaflex, and many, many other supposedly safer and better meds I can’t recall at the moment. I have spent I don’t even know how many thousands of dollars on all these treatments doctors recommended but insurance doesn’t cover. The modern approach doesn’t always work. It hasn’t worked for me.
This pain has completely derailed every aspect of my life. I had to quit my job, give up my career as a welder because the pain of simply wearing the welding hood and looking down is intolerable for more than a few minutes. I haven’t been able to maintain friendships because when I’m in bad pain, which is most of the time, I’m just a downer to be around. When I wasn’t in pain I made people laugh and we had a great time. But now I have a hard time even sitting through a movie or going to any event where I have to stand or sit longer than an hour. Driving for any length is hard. Some days I get flare ups and I can’t do anything. The pain feels like it’s inside my brain and every other thought process is ‘how can I make this stop’.
I’m trying to build a music production business that will allow me to work from home, but even with my convertable desk and all my ergonomic stuff, when I get a flare up or even just a day of background level 5-6 pain, it becomes almost impossible to juggle the dozens of complex multi-dimensional considerations that are required to produce music. Becaue every other thought becomes ‘my God this really hurts’ .
And I know most of it is unnecessary pain. My understanding of fibromyalgia is that because of the original trauma of breaking my back, my body is now grossly overreacting and overcompensating for small injuries. I understand that my bulging disc isn’t bad enough to cause this level of pain according to the medical texts. It doesn’t matter because the pain is real and there is more going on than just an injury, and it’s dibilitating.
I don’t have a low pain tolerance. I’ve broken bones, had bone deep lacerations, drilled a hole through a finger and had to wash it out with salt water, third degree burned myself on thousand-degree pieces of metal, crushed my thumb in a bending break. I didn’t cry or scream any of those times. Most of those times I kept working and finished my shift, went back the next day. Over a decade ago I trained in martial arts, and pain tolerance was part of the training.
I’m not just a whimp who can’t stand a little constant pain and wants to feel ‘wonderful’ all the time. When I say my neck pain is an 8 or 9 out of ten constantly and I cant function, it isn’t BS. I can’t “modern approach” my way out of it. What happens is I lose days to weeks of my life, because none of those treatments are effective for me. I’m just laid out in pain the whole time, usually not sleeping very much, using ice or acupressure to slightly numb an area for a minute or two. I massage until it becomes counterproductive. None of it works for long.
I left my home to move closer to the city, where I hoped there would be more options for treatment. I was hoping to get into a pain management clinic, but my new doctor down here found a couple new medications I haven’t tried yet, so now I have to go through most likely more months of pain before he will consider referring me. He wants to try the modern approach again from the beginning, only this time I don’t have the income to pay for all these extra treatments that do help a little. I don’t have high hopes.
I’ve never had an addiction problem, I actually have been opposed to the idea of painkillers for a long time. I believed the modern approach was far better. But it hasn’t worked, and now that I want to just reduce my pain and get on with my life, I can’t get a doctor who is willing to prescribe more than codeine. Anything weaker than vicoden makes me violently nauseous at
a dose that begins to bring pain relief. I need stronger stuff that nobody is willing to give me. I used to know a guy that could get heroin, and I can’t honestly say I haven’t been tempted to get a hold of him. It’s the last thing I want to use, but I feel hopeless and I’m running out of willpower and just will to live.
I don’t want to feel wonderful all the time, be high all the time. I just want to control the pain to a level where I can get work done on the computer, exercise to get my heart rate up, because that helps a lot over time, and actually go out with friends and enjoy activities again.
This irrational demonization of opioids and crackdown on chronic pain patients is founded on misinformation and just ignorance. If you crack down on the opioid epidemic by directly indiscriminately attacking the people taking them, and you don’t address the chronic pain epidemic, don’t treat chronic patients differently, the results are not going to be desirable. You’re just hurting patients. Doing harm, which is supposed to be the first thing not to do, right?
@Tmack “I’ll end with encouraging pain sufferers to research the modern approach to managing pain instead of their continued dependency on opioids”.
While I’m not a professional, I definitely am a professional at suffering the pain and torture that is being done now. Didn’t know you that many of us have tried physical therapy, we have tried many other things & it didn’t work. PT rarely works on stenosis. Some of us are rural, can’t drive from either the illness or effects of meds we get.
Hey, if I were you, I sure would study about dependence upon medicines vs addiction. Addiction is very rare. Did you know this? Drs & others are mixing up dependence with addiction; dependence is not addiction. I’m dependent upon my Beta Blocker blood pressure med. See jatheducational.com What multiple genetic errors in gene A118G causes addiction to opioids, do you know???
Kind Regard!
@SMS, I could not have addressed TMACK PharmD better myself. Your remarks were on point and obviously coming from someone who knows what it is like to live in constant pain. Thank you for your response. It is quite apparent that TMACK knows not where we come from or what it is like to wake up every day in pain and lay down every night in pain. It is not about popping a pill and making the pain go away but using medication that we and our doctors deem helpful to add to our “toolbox” of things to make our pain a bit more manageable. TMACK obviously does not understand that those of us who live with pain every day already use or have at least tried acupuncture, chiropractors, meditation, hot baths, stretching, walking, massage and any other means that may help. Again, thank you for such a beautiful response.
I think that one strange side-effect of the increased mortality from opioids, the regrettable CDC Guidelines, and the over-reactions from the VA, state medical boards, and the DEA is that the general public is now able to get a sense of just how widespread and toxic is the problem of unaccountable authority in the US.
While it used to be true that the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), the Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP), and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) were considered to have a free hand in regulating and disciplining physicians without oversight, and irrespective of state and federal statutory constraints, because physician numbers were relatively small and their positions were not considered typical of the general public, it turns out that the exercise of unaccountable authority by governmental and para-governmental organizations has a tendency to seep into all aspects of government policy and public life.
It is noted with irony that the exercise of unaccountable authority is intoxicating and those groups and persons habituated to its use will look for wider opportunities to exercise it. Little, albeit systematic, injustices don’t stay little for long.
I am now retired but was an ER nurse for 27 years. ER staff can generally spot a drug seeker a mile away and know the difference between them and someone who has legitimate pain. Do I personally think over prescribing opiates has caused the opiod crisis? No. I believe what has caused the most problem is the rush to treat pain in the clinical setting. I refer to giving copious amounts of IV narcotics. The pharmacist that posted about “feeling wonderful” from taking opiates may have been referring to this. When I first became a nurse we rarely gave narcotics IV and if we did it was in very low doses. Most were given in an intramuscular injection. Takes longer to work but lasts longer.
I myself have psoriatic arthritis. I have degenerative disc disease and frequent bouts of colitis. I also work 8 hours at a time on my feet. I am no longer a nurse because I have to take opiates to be able to work. Board of Nursing does not allow this for obvious reasons. My retirement pay is not enough to live on so I must work. For some of us a few pills a day is the difference between having a home and being homeless.