Pain Medication Shame (Top voted first)

First of all, I hate taking pain meds but I was almost completely bedridden for 2 yrs. They gave me my life back and I'll be grateful for the rest of my life. My insurance company dropped me right before I was gonna have surgery to get some relief. So I had no choice but to go with the pain meds. I've been on oxycodone 30/150 per month (5 a day) and MS Contin 200mg 2 times daily since 2009. Had breaks when I could. My point is, nobody knows what my daily life is like. I feel ashamed every month getting refills. Maybe it's in my head but the staff at the pharmacy gives me that "pill seeker" look. I guess all that matters is my doctor trusts me and he knows my complete history. I know I'm not taking them for fun. I'd much rather be normal. Can anyone relate to what I'm saying?

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

I think those of us who have had to take pain medication for years can relate to what you are saying. People who are healthy and happy don't understand understand the need for pain medication and they have a mind set that everyone who takes them are seeking a high. They have probably had someone close to them overdose and make even die. It's really frustrating in so many ways and affects so many people. I wish I didn't need them but I do and I just wish people would mind their own business and find something else to criticize. There is plenty out there. This is a broken world filled with broken people and we all have our problems.

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It's not in your head. Chronic pain patients are discriminated against and treated like criminals on a regular basis - thanks to all the frauds and the illegal drug trade. You hear about ods but what they fail to mention is that the illicit drugs are already illegal and the fentanyl is veterinarian grade for horses, also illegal for human use, but those drug dealers fight back so they choose to go after the chronic pain medications so it looks like they are trying to do something. All they are doing is giving these illegal dealers business. They cut off peoples pain meds and get on tv talking about how opiate pain medication has the same effect as illicit drugs. Sounds like the govt needs to push more customers into the hands of their dealers, but hey what do I know?

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I can totally relate. I take MS Contin 2 times a day as you do and I am prescribed 100 oxycodone ir a month. I have had to move to a mom and pop pharmacy. They treat me much better but I still get a little push back. But much much better than Walgreens. My doctor is very understanding but I pay him out of pocket because no doctor that was covered by my plan would write opiates. I’ve had my pain doc for over eight years and don’t know what I would do if I lost him. No one is taking pain or chronic pain people into consideration. It’s all about the addict. Illegal heroin and Chinese fentanyl is the real issue, not morphine sulfate ER. I am truly afraid of losing the only thing that keeps me “human”.

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Re: Pain man (# 8)

Walgreens is HORRIBLE!!!! I will NEVER use another Walgreens for ANY medication!!!

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Don't ever feel ashamed of what helps u for pain. I am in my 40's and I've been on Vicodin for almost 12 years but the thing is I've been on the same dose same 3X a day. I've told my dr that I need more or a different med all together but he just ignores me. I know how u feel about the pill seeker look cause it feels like my dr does that to me so what am I supposed to do? I mean I take a drug panel for him and it's only the meds that are prescribed to me. I get so angry that a younger person has back pain and they get so many Percocet it's unbelievable and here I am with 2 herniated disks, sciatica, arthritis, and other issues. And I get treated like an addict. People say damn change ur dr but with all the opiate s*** going on another dr may take me as a pill seeker. You are lucky that ur dr takes ur pain seriously and makes u comfortable enough (with meds) to get out of bed and get ur day done. F*** what the pharmacy thinks or what looks u get. You hold ur head up high and know ur not doing anything wrong but living ur life.

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I can easily relate to what you're saying. I had an epidural abscess 29 years ago, so I'm on a significant amount of pain medications. I know that mom and pop pharmacies are far more compassionate than chain pharmacies. The chain pharmacies are notorious for treating those of us with severe pain conditions as low life drug seekers. In the past I've been turned away from chain pharmacies saying we don't carry those drugs in those dosages or they just don't carry them! While giving you the look of (how dare you come in here)!

My advice has always been to anyone with an incurable severe pain condition find a mom and pop pharmacy in your area. They have independent pharmacies that are in the (Best Value) network of independently own pharmacies. That's what I use. I walk in and instantly someone says, "Hi Mark how are you doing today!" I've been using this one for 20 years and everyone knows me even though I only go there once a month. They treat you like you're a human being with severe pain issues, not a drug addict! They know you're there getting these very powerful narcotic analgesics because something severe has happened to you! Now I'm not saying these pharmacies won't be suspect of you at first because that's the nature of the beast these days. Building a relationship at a pharmacy is like building a relationship with a doctor, but at a chain pharmacy, you'll always be sheep and cattle. Plus be treated poorly because of the drugs you have to take due to the condition your body is in. You can't call a pharmacy these days and ask if they carry these drugs in said dosage and amount because the answer will be NO. That's because thieves do that and then rob pharmacies. You have to turn up with prescription(s) in hand.

Good luck and bless you to anyone stuck in bodies like ours... All we want is to be treated like a human being and not some 3rd class citizen the government agencies and mainstream media have reduced us to... We are the new victims of a failed war on drugs and an out of control government trying to pass the buck to us!

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I understand.people who dont know what its like to be in constant pain will never get it.i have fibermyalgia.im in so much pain when im not on meds. Its no quality of life.so to the people who say stuff to u about therapy etc. I understand.dont be ashamed. Prayers to you my friend

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Re: julie (# 18)

LOL, but not funny. Who are you to tell someone they should not be bed bound. Really. I'll say this, I hurt my back in 2005 really and discs was pushed together on the nerves and other ailments to my body that gave me chronic pain. I was on Methadone and Morphine, and Oxycodone for years. Then they started with the pain meds stuff and I had no choice but to go on Suboxone, and for me it changed my life. My point what works for others may not work for you. We are all different damn. I hate that one remedy works for all mess.Yes, moving around help, but damnit, when your in chronic or horrific pain who can do that? People like you get on my last nerve telling people that. Like that's putting them down. Stop it, your not their doctor. Please don't listen to people like this. Write to you alderman and congressmen. Tell them your story, you may think it's falling on death ears but they are hearing. Join organizations that are for the pain patients. We are not just seeking pain meds we are seeking relief. Make some meds that aren't addictive. I'm still on a pain med. But guess what this cost 500% more than the old pain meds. Think about that also.

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Absolutely! Unfortunately legit pain suffers get that stigma because of the nature of the medication. If you had cancer and went in with no hair with the same scripts they'd look at you in a completely different way. No one knows the pain of another person. Unless you've walked in their shoes no one should make the jump to pill junkie, seeker or addict. I'm sorry you have to suffer with the pain and then the discrimination but hold your head up you know the truth. God bless

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Thank you so much for sharing all your feelings on this matter. Yes iam in the pain pill drama also. If I didn't take the pills, I would have no quality of life. I couldn't even get out of my recliner, or just wouldn't want to because it would lead to more pain and discomfort. I fractured my spine in 6 different places and had to retire early. I too feel ashamed to get those prescriptions. Once while waiting at the pharmacy, I was getting two different prescriptions for pain, watching the two pharmacists and I could read her lips when she looked at the other one and said, " that's a lot of opioids#. Felt so ashamed and useless actually. But I feel like JFK. When his brother Bobby looked through his brothers medicine cabinet at the White House and started fussing and giving JFK a lecture, the president told his concerned brother, " I don't care if its horse piss. If it makes me feel better, I'll take it!"

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Yup....been on meds since 2001 after a messed up fusion on my neck...without the pain meds i also have no life...with the meds i work and no one k ows i am on them

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I can relate to the fullest! What I read from your post are my words and thoughts EXACTLY! I have a spinal cord injury with 8 severe diagnoses on my spine which I have to take my pain medications to get "some" sort of pain relief. I despise the fact of taking opiates and wish I didn't have to take them but it is just reality that I do. My prayers go out to you and I wish you only the best in life & in health!

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I know exactly what you're saying I have back problems along with horrible debilitating anxiety! They don't want me having both together and I can't choose many pain over anxiety or anxiety over my pain. So I'm lost at this point and scared to tell some doctors the truth anymore.

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I so agree with you. My pharmacy is good for the most part, but I understand what you are saying. You are right, all we should care about is what our doctor knows; however, we do feel in our minds that they judge us. They just don't understand the pain that we go through on a daily basis. I can not live life and enjoy any of it without taking my meds. I do not like taking them either, but unfortunately, I do not have any choice. Good Luck to you!

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I can completely relate to you. I have chronic pancreatitis and was almost bedridden a lot of the time because the pain was so bad when I wasn't curled up in a ball. My meds have given me a life outside of my fetal position. But I have also felt the sting of the looks from pharmacy employees. Honestly I pay them no mind. They don't have to live in my body and experience the amount of pain I have. As long as they don't give me difficulty I really don't care what they think. It wasn't my plan either to be on pain medications, but we do what me nust to survive. You don't go to them for judgment so don't take it on. We are filling legally written pain meds from doctors who care whether we have a life or not that's all that matters. I am happy to know you are not bedridden anymore, and that your pain meds give you relief. So what we take opiates. Since neither of us are abusing them for a good time we can be guilt free. Good luck in the future and God bless.

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Re: julie (# 18)

Hello Ms Julie are you sure physical therapy with no help from pain management will make us better? I had three back surgeries two was cervical which the second surgery the doctor thought it would be better to use my bone from pelvis...he said I will use just a very small piece. I was afraid i wouldn't walk afterward for some reason and the doctor assured me that would not happen but i still was concerned and. I canceled surgery so a few weeks later after seeking more info I went on and had the surgery. Surgery was a mistake I bled horribly from the bone being removed and could not walk by myself horrible pain. Went home and two weeks later i started trying to walk on my own and took a step bone fractured. To ER i was carried and returned to doctor in wheelchair and was told by ER the bone that was removed was more than i was told. The Surgeon told me OH YES I Had to remove a bigger piece than expected. I was going to pain management for seven years now. Today the pain management obviously thought i need to try suboxene instead of norco. How do they overlook my pain the doctor ruined my life. Live in pain so if physical therapy and exercise going to give me my life back as you're saying...please tell me how. I have a lumbar surgery as well botched and still in pain.

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Yeah I can relate. I got hit by an 18 wheeler in 2008. Had 2 back surgeries have 7 Titian rods any back.. they had to pull me out with the jaws. I stayed in the hospital for 6 most.. That ended my nursing career. I am in constant pain

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Feel the same way you get looked at like ur doing something wrong n ur being judged n some pharmacies wont fill the scripts for ya its sad how we are judged n now being cut down how are we supposed to have any quality of life

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Roman, I have had spinal cervical fusion along with 3 herniated discs and degerative disc disease for a number of years, and have been imon pain meds now for at least 10. I was told some time ago by someone who worked at a locally owned mom and pop pharmacy in my town the she couldn’t understand why I put that stuff ( pain meds)in my body. I detected the sarcastic undertones in her comment, and politely replied that maybe if she could live a week in my shoes and see how hard getting out of bed was, she would understand. It shut her up quick. I get the shame, but also get that the meds are the only hope I have I’ve some kind of a normal existence. Weigh the two, you’ll see what I mean.

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I have been on Oxycodone since 2008. I live in Illinois and the state has these doctors scared. Here you have to see a pain clinic. Most M.D. will not prescribe any pain meds here. My pain doctor had a family emergency and had to leave the country for two months so his office called my family doctor and asked them to take over my pain medications until he returned. When I went in to see him he told me that he wouldn't prescribe the amount that I had been taking since 2013. I had been on 20mg oxycodone 6 per day for 3 years. I was also prescribed 30mg morphine ER 2 a day for long acting for the same amount of time. So 200mg a day everyday for 3 years. My family doctor said he would only prescribe that amount to a cancer patient. I asked him if he ever had a major back injury with permanent nerve damage and his answer was No. I then asked him of he had ever had cancer and his answer was No again. So I asked him how could he tell me that my pain isn't as bad as a cancer patient if he never lived either one. He couldn't answer the ? I ended up leaving his office with 7.5mg hydrocodone and 4 a day. So he gave me 30mg a day when I had been taking 200mg a day for 3 years. He sent me home with Nassau medication and a antidepressant that he said would help with the withdrawal. It didn't help. So I went to the emergency room and explained my accident and gave them the letter from my pain clinic telling the situation. I told them the amount I had been taking and for how long and explained I was going through withdrawal and needed help.

The nurse said she could tell I was having withdrawals. The E.R. doctor came in didn't even get to the foot of the bed and said I cannot prescribe any pain medications to you. I said I'm not here for pain medications I'm here for something for the withdrawals. He said he could help with that and left. Nurse came in with my discharge papers. I said he was supposed to have given me something for the withdrawals. The hospital is Brommen in Bloomington Illinois. Every night on the local News they talk about the opiate epidemic here but a person can walk in to the emergency at the hospital here and can't get help. Now I have had a major back injury with permanent nerve damage. I have never filled my prescription early. Never took more then prescribed and never sold my meds and couldn't even get help when I asked. Illinois act's like they're the only state with this problem. Now I'm sure there are people who abuse it and sell it and there the ones who make it hard for the ones who really need it to get it. A doctor in Idaho told me that most doctors now forgot their code of ethics and compassion. He said most have sold there souls to the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. I really couldn't believe I couldn't get help from doctors and the hospital here when I asked for it and had documents of why this was happening. I would like to see one of those heartless bastards walk one day in my shoes and I guarantee their biased opinion and labels would change.

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