War On Chronic Pain Patients (Top voted first)

Thanks to all you drug abusers there has been an ongoing war on us legit chronic pain patients. Thanks to all who abuse pills and alcohol, because of you they wage war on us. Street drugs are cheaper so why do you all have to mess with the pills and make life difficult for us chronic pain sufferers? Are you stupid or just self centered? Britain uses our military to protect Afghan poppy for people like you, so quit trying to cook up the pills. We legit chronic pain patients would really appreciate it, not that you care, but maybe when you stop acting so self centered, people will actually begin to care about you. You reap what you sow.

To stem cell labs worldwide: We need you to cure degenerative discs and herniations for those that want to be cured instead of on pain meds. Make yourselves known. We need options. We know you have the cure. We need the FDA to help make up for lost time.

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Re: Aeiou (# 1)

Many legitimate studies have proved your theory to be false. People with true intractable chronic pain do not become addicted nor do they abuse their medication.
Please do some research on the web re: this fact. Most people become addicted to pain meds due to abuse of prescriptions, prior alcohol abuse and street drugs. I was on what would be called today a large dosage of morphine and Norcos. I put myself through two universities, worked as a legal researcher, gardened, did all my own housework and repairs, rode horses etc. Once I was taken off my pain meds I began to deteriorate. Now I am wheelchair bound, due to my diseases and pain. I struggle with whether or not I want to keep going daily. If some people want to abuse drugs, they will. You can't legislate morality.

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Re: Aeiou (# 1)

Hi. Actually, most studies show that people become addicted by buying narcotics off the streets. Most of the drugs come in from other countries. The prescription crisis is purely a fabrication. If we were so worried about self-inflicted deaths in this country, we would be attacking obesity, tobacco and alcohol which are legal.

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Re: Poohsy (# 6)

Poohsy.... I thought Aeiou's post was written straight from her heart, shining a light on a class of CP patients that were pushed into doing something they would NOT normally do.

Instead of being so judgmental and accusatory, why not try understanding her post a little better? There are THOUSANDS, if not tens of thousands of LEGITIMATE chronic pain patients, who have done NO WRONG, being dropped from pain mgmt. for NO REASON OTHER than the clinic either stops prescribing meds altogether, or they want to get their "prescribing numbers" down. I know because I am one such patient!! I complied with all rules, took my meds as prescribed, never failed a u/a or run short early. I did no wrong but was STILL dropped on the street with no taper of meds I took for 23 years! Three hundred other patients were dropped from my pain mgmt. clinic at the same time.

You may very well be next. I treated at that pain mgmt. clinic for 8 years. I thought my doc cared about me. What an eye opening experience it was. I went in for my regular appt. to be handed a letter from a nurse saying I was dismissed. When I asked her why, she stated the doc was no longer prescribing opiods. The clinic was turning to injections, stimulator or pump ONLY.

I cannot even begin to describe the agony of withdrawal I had to go through. Before you even THINK addict, NO!! I was NOT addicted but simply physically DEPENDENT. Who wouldn't be dependent on meds taken over 23 years...same dose..never raised.?

Now, since I was dismissed from that PM clinic, I can NOT find another pain mgmt. clinic that will touch me with a ten foot pole. My family doc just looked at me like a dear in the headlights when I asked her what I could do. No help from her AT ALL.

I went from a productive member of society to being recliner/housebound, unable to even care for myself. I have sat on a heating pad, desperate for ANY kind of relief, until I have burned the skin and tissue of my back all the way to the bone. Every single minute of every day, I am in such AGONY I can't even THINK straight!

I'm sorry, but right now, I CAN'T begin to "think of other people". I desperately need help and NO ONE will help. The pain is so unbearable that I don't know how much longer I will be on this planet.

What would you do if your pain mgmt. practice dropped YOU? No taper, no refferal to another doc/clinic, no notice? You might want to think about it...it is coming!

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Re: David (# 42)

Opioids are an excellent addition to pain management programs. If you read down through the posts you'll see the whole thing has gotten political, and its all about politicians buying votes from the gullible. There ate tens of millions of people that take prescribed (Rx) opioids with absolutely no problems. That's tens of millions of people that aren't abusing their pain meds or self-medicating. And now our culture says we need to make recreational use of marijuana and other hard drugs legal, and people have gotten pain meds not because they're in pain but for the purposes of abusing them. People are stealing pain meds out of medicine cabinets of relatives, etc. and politicians see this as an opportunity to stir up BS about what the real problems are and they tell gullible people they are the solution to the problem. Which is more political BS. You should have been prescribed a stronger pain med for your broken hand but state AGs across the country are having doctors arrested and prosecuted for trying to help patients because the politicians are lying about what is and isn't the problem. America has been in a drug crisis for a hundred years or more. The same people that want to make illegal recreational drug use legal are the same people saying opioids are the problem. So much easier to brainwash people if you totally confuse them. We have a drug abuse problem. We do NOT have an opioid problem. Do you hear any politicians or state AGs wailing we have a marijuana crisis?? A heroin crisis? A cocaine crisis??? NOPE, yet those drugs have been a crisis for a long time. Thing is, believe it or not, those drugs are rare in households so ranting they are a problem in ordinary households doesn't fit their narrative. So lets change the narrative to something that is common in millions of homes. Oh YEAH, opioids are quite common. People always getting hurt and being prescribed an opioid painkiller. Next step, the person in pain finds their pills missing, call the cops and somebody, usually a druggie, gets caught. Cops do a traffic stop, find vicodin or other painkiller bottle with the name and info scratched off, OMG we must be having an opioid crisis, total BS, just a continuing all American drug crisis. Sorry to hear about your pain. I'm thankful I can still get my vicodin. Had a bout earlier tonight, tolerated the pain for as long as I could and took a pain pill. If I should be prevented from get an Rx I suppose my next step would be my government turning me into a criminal and I would be looking for street drugs. As a final solution, I envision the pain being so intense I'll have to end it all, and that will be the fault of the government and morons pretending they know what they're talking about.

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Re: BiggerBrat (# 43)

Couldn’t agree more. We have politicized and criminalized what is, essentially a medical issue. You mention the “acceptance” of marijuana and I would add to that the acceptance of alcohol.

The big problem to society is the combination of addiction and illegality. The illegality, and it’s inherent profitability, results in the control of supply being restricted to criminals. For example, would we have ever heard the name Al Capone had Prohibition not been enacted?

The drug “crisis” unfortunately supports a massive law enforcement, corrections and justice system “industries”, in addition to the hugely profitable trafficking industry. It also underpins a significant part of our violent crime from the traffickers... and the addicted who can only focus on their next “fix”.

In the end, the biggest price is paid by the most vulnerable - the addict. I refuse to pass judgement on them. No one makes a conscious decision to become an addict. They may have made bad choices, they may be genetically vulnerable to an addiction to prescribed medications. For the most part they are suffering and desperately seeking relief.

Frankly, if we relaxed the criminality we could reduce the burden on law enforcement, reduce the burden on the justice system and cast off the crown of highest incarceration nation in the world. Arguments that this would increase the number of addicts are to my mind bogus. Availability will not change - all illegal drugs are more widely available today than they were 20 years ago.... as indicated by the street price which has been dropping in real terms.

What would change is that supply would be in the hands of “respectable” organizations. The profitability to criminal enterprises would be all but eliminated - thereby reducing much of the inherent violent crime. Addicts would have availability - not just of the substances, but also in access to proper treatment facilities. Most important chronic pain sufferers and our terminally ill would not be forced to make a choice between unendurable pain and “turning” to the street.

There is just too much money and too many jobs involved in the “anti-drug industry”. Big Pharma has no interest in easing up. Their bottom lines would be affected if people used botanicals to treat their ailments instead of overpriced pharmaceuticals.

May be a bit radical but I’ve always believed that making something illegal just creates a new class of victim and always from the most vulnerable amongst us.

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Re: Aeiou (# 1)

Desperate needs come from prejudicial uncaring in medical clinics. They use cheap unreliable drug tests (that destroy the 4th & 5th amendment protections)......that give false positive readings and it is well documented that those cheap tests are unreliable and when they get false positives those cheapskate clinics just quit doing anything for those patients and don't even wean them off b4 they stop taking care of those patients...... Run a search on medschat for "false positives for suboxone"..... This forces these patients into the streets & black market getting illegal tainted drugs that are causing overdoses..... imo, the clinic is responsible for those deaths.

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JMJ (# 14) & Sissy (# 13) --

I know I will be facing the same situation. 10+ years on same meds with same dosage. Insurance refused to pay for meds. I had to get an advocate for out of state review. The decision was made in my favor. Next time I see my pain management doctor he is recommending that I check into a rehab center so I can detox with supervision and CBT. I said “my insurance won’t pay for that; they didn’t want to pay for my prescriptions”. He said he would look into it. Why is my doctor who prescribed the medication in the first place now trying to put me in a facility with what I describe as “street addicts”? I don’t want to leave my house for 30 days to live with people who are real drug abusers. I asked his plan for after the rehab and he said “you may not need anything, I think the meds are no longer effective because you have been on them too long”. Well why did he continue to prescribe monthly? I guess he is being pressured to reduce the number of scripts he writes. Well maybe he should have stayed an orthopedic doctor rather than focusing on pain management looking for bigger paychecks and he wouldn’t be in this situation. I have tried other medications but nothing has worked for me. Without the medication I would have to stop working. Chronic pain due to fibromyalgia and arthritis would keep me bedridden most days. The CP patients are being punished for illicit/illegal drug users. It has to stop. I feel for both of you and anyone else that had prescriptions stopped without any alternatives offered or found pain management clinics shut down. My life may be headed in that direction and it scares me to death.

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I can absolutely understand your frustration. Chronic pain is an awful affliction now made worse by ill-informed policies. Blame, however, should be placed where it belongs. The “snorter and pill popper” situation hasn’t changed. Britain absolutely is not using US troops to protect Afghan poppy farmers - the decision not to wipe out the poppy farms was taken as more affordable than providing assistance to supplant opium as a means of income for those Afghan farmers.

The very real problem is that government decided that opioid pain killers were addictive, (even after the CDC testified that only up to 7% would likely become addicted to them). Pharmacies are required to monitor such prescriptions and report, under penalty of law, anything they deem excessive - despite having no medical degree nor knowledge of the patients concerned. Next came the arrest of doctors for over-prescribing, again a determination made by law enforcement officers with no medical qualifications or knowledge of the patients’ medical history.

This has led to some very good doctors not being prepared to risk their licenses and consequently refusing to prescribe pain meds. Inevitably, this forces those in pain to seek alternative remedies - street drugs. This is inherently dangerous because the buyer has no clue what is in the street drugs. Is it laced with fentanyl? Who knows? But it clearly leads to unnecessary deaths. I know of three local GPs, each with practices exceeding 25 years who were forced into retirement by the Feds or face prosecution. Two of them I have known personally for years and their crime was to continue to treat their patients’ chronic pain as they had for decades. In one case a doctor had provided opioid pain killers post hemorrhoid surgery. The elderly patient, almost understandably, decided to take two pills before what he knew would be an excruciating bowel movement... he died of a heart attack. Law enforcement second guessed these doctors and their careers are now victim to publicity and conviction “thirst”.

So, the opioid crisis is a direct result of political addiction to headlines, a law enforcement addiction to prosecutions and a ridiculous commitment to treating addiction as a criminal act instead of as a medical issue.

The real victims of our politicians camera time addiction are the chronic pain sufferers. That is the real crime here and it’s not committed by the addicted or the British armed forces but by our own elected “leaders”.

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Re: Aeiou (# 1)

Please. I am not an pill seeker or inject a poison in my arm. I am a legitimate pain patient. I have to have mri's, drug tests once a month and meet all criteria for my meds. I want to live a pain free and productive life. Please do not put all pain med patients into a basket with drug seeking fakers and heroin addicts who destroy themselves for a high.

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Re: Poohsy (# 6)

Those of us who have followed all the rules should save the attacks for the Federal and State government who are making up the rules. They are using the addicts as scapegoats for the government's inability to win the war on illegal drugs. Think very hard before blaming an addict. When the doctor refuses to write the perscription or insurance, Medicare or Medicaid refuse to approve, when you can't get out of bed because your knees or hips won't hold you or you can't work because you can't turn your head, what are you going to do? Are you going to lay in bed, go on public assistance while writhing in pain?

If you're wealthy, a member of Congress or high enough up in State government you'll have a doctor on call because the rules don't apply to you. However, if you're a regular citizen of the Country you love, seriously, what will you do?

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Re: Poohsy (# 6)

Poohsy, ALL true. Selfishness at times seems to be the order of the day! For some reason, it appears the abusers somehow missed that part of their development as well as developing healthy coping mechanisms. They seem to be very unhappy in their own skin, so they seek a high, to not feel. Well, I am not happy in my own skin, but for physical, not psychological reasons. I am by nature an amiable sort, very level temperment. But in my golden years have needs, just like so many other heathy, psychologically healthy people out there. We don't need head help. We need body help. Abusers need head help, so they can stop stealing our meds, stop abusing meds meant to relieve suffering. Not facilitate fun times.

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Re: Sissy (# 12)

Sissy, I am very moved by your struggles. A crime was committed against you, and others as well of course, but 23 years and you get the drop, with no taper, no help with withdrawal. And I assume the 300 others dropped received the same awful treatment. Funny for 23 years your meds were justified. Now...NOT?? YOU and those like you are victims of malpractice, which of course you well know. If any of us think, boy I'm so lucky, I get my monthly meds. Well those that are feeling so lucky may just end up on heating pads burning their butts next month. Doctors are terrified. As one told a poster, if it's comes down to you or my kids, it's my kids. Really??? This is what it has all come down to. You, the CPP, or their liscence. I have greater sympathy for the patient hung out to dry, or die. Doctor will be fine, he'll continue to practice, make loads of money, make sure HIS or HER family gets whatever they need medically. This travesty MUST be corrected at governmental level. Nothing we say to our doctors will fix this. We can plead, cry, exhaust ourselves, and they will always choose their hard earned liscence over their CPP's. Always. They are pressured, they cave, we suffer. Politician affect policies, create causes such as the "opioid crisis", and it will be politicians that have the means to correct this injustice.

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My husband has had sever Occipital neuralgia headache for 20 years. Think headache every day for 20 years. Over the last 5 years they are out of control. His description is that he is being hit in the head with a sleghammer. As the doctors have lowered his pain meds. The pain meds made it possible for him to work, now he has had to stop working because he can't concentrate. He is almost at the point of ending the pain because he has no quality of life. On the other end I have a sister and niece that are both addicts. The help they need is mental health, the problem they refuse to get that help and won't take those meds. My sister abandoned her three children and her granddaughter. I know how addiction affects family. When she is gone and not in contact with anyone it is very peaceful and life is normal. I love my sister but not the turmoil. This is something our family has been dealing with for 30 years now. The fact that someone refuses help and loves the high more than anything else shouldn't make people with chronic pain have to suffer to the point of just wanting to end their life.

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Re: BobH (# 29)

Not only are these people now suffering physically because the government took their pain meds away they are absolutely suffering mentally with depression and anxiety. There will be many more suicides and other violent crimes within family units because someone suffering will eventually explode in one way or another. They are also suffering from embarrassment because they're looked down upon as addicts. I have never seen such a national disaster such as this one all brought on by our own government. As we move forward as a country as a whole one would think we would advance in all aspects of treating medical patients whatever they are suffering from but in this case we have absolutely moved backwards. It's like the olden days now for pain patients. I am ashamed of this country for what it has become. Social media has destroyed our young women, video games have desensitized people to killings and violence. One just needs to browse the young women on social media and you will see that they're all showing everything they've got for the sheer purpose of likes!!! Society is in the gutter and our government doesn't give one crap about it's people. When will dental be included on all insurance? Why don't they sell separate policies for hearts, for ears, for kidneys, etc? Are teeth not a part of our bodies? This is the biggest idiotic thing that dentists have been able to get away with forever and therefore charging whatever the hell they want. I read one guy had gotten a quote of 10K to repair all his teeth he said he left and went and had all his teeth pulled at another dentist's office for 500.00 and got dentures. My daughter had a terrible toothache and you know what?

She can't get anything done because they want 2300.00 for ONE root canal!!! WHY are they getting away with this? Other countries have all medical and dental available to any citizen for free! Face it citizens of the United States of America you are now living in one of those crap countries that our president spoke of in the past. I don't see anything improving and the cost of living keeps rising every single day but wages, social security and ss disability recipients incomes remain stagnant! You are now made to suffer in pain with your diseases, broken bones, toothaches, etc...because our government have our medical doctors scared to death to write a G.D. RX for your pain. If drug addicts want to get so high and O.D. and die, let them, why the heck do they go out of their way to invent a drug to reverse the overdose?? Why do they want to save unproductive citizens live's so bad? Why haven't they done ONE darn thing to help the homeless? Another disaster created by our government because affordable housing does not exist. Rents are allowed to increase every year because there are no laws in place where it should be capped. We can invent a drug to save addicts who don't care about their lives but we can't come up with anything to help the homeless living on the streets starving to death with not even a toilet to go to.

These are vets who have served our country they are also mentally ill people who have no family to take them in and if they do have family they themselves are probably struggling to house and feed themselves. If you're not extremely wealthy in the US right now then you are struggling. Also, all these charities online claiming to help others and pets, etc... ALL scams, they are taking in so much money but are actually helping very, very few. All the money they take in goes to pay themselves HUGE salaries so they can live the high life. I've seen it and I know it. If you want to donate to a charity, save your money or go out and directly give it to someone who needs it because these charities help no one, the Red Cross is one of the worst. The Salvation Army goes through all of their donations and list everything with a label or designer label on Ebay to sell to the highest bidder and it's so wrong! I thought their stores were for lower income people to be able to shop for cheap clothing and household goods? Well, all they leave in the stores is crap you'd throw in the trash. Every corporation, every charity, every dentist, etc..(I could go on and on) are now all about GREED!

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Sissy (# 13) Great post Sissy7... What in the Hell Can we Do. Ive been Sober 31 years..I will not Drink but I see this happening to everybody under Supposedly Pain Mangement. If they think they can get numbers down here. What happens turn to worse Drugs Heron or Something worse. The DEA is creating a new Black Market.. They want to keep their jobs and do not give a crap about Legitimate User....

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Give me a break! This is ridiculous. I have recurring pain, not all the time but enough that I need to have my pain meds just in case. I was told the meds don't help pain patients with quality of life by a resident that looked like she was about 16. If I had not had the help of this medication, I would not be a thriving business owner. I would be at home on disability. How would that be for quality of life. If you can do without your pills and you aren't taking them for severe pain, I feel bad for you and yes you need rehab but what about someone that only has to take them, maybe 3 or 4 times a month, half at a time, no problem not taking them when I don't need them. Not everyone that has to take these pills is an addict!

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Yes so true I myself suffer from arthritis in my spine and degenerated disc disease it isn’t easy and I do need pain medication I will never be able to afford to get stem cell research because it cost so much and in America our Medicare system won’t pay it or help me.but they will give housing and free medical help to these people from other country’s I worked 42 years in a steel mill now I have cancer and COPD and can’t Afford to even think about getting surgery so I will have to live with what I have until I die.

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I so totally agree with you. I am using vicodin (for many, many years) in my attempts to control and manage my pain. I don't abuse or misuse my pain pills and always follow the Rx without self medicating. I.e., I always have pills left over on my "one month" Rx. We do NOT have an OPIOID crisis. We have a long standing DRUG abuse crisis. I have addressed these issues with many people including politicians that want to make it their raison d etre'. So many people abuse the Rx they get from doctors and refuse to obey the directions. Is that an Rx crisis or is it an abuse crisis? I intentionally didn't say opioid or vicodin because it can be said of any medication pill ever invented. For one thing, the "me generation" expects instant results, instant gratification. If they have pain, the pill(s) is supposed to get rid of the pain instantly and if it doesn't, just keep popping pills until it does. You have red blurry eyes, a couple eye drops and oops, still red, just keep adding more eye drops until the red is gone. Its called self-medicating and its "ABUSE".

Recently, in my county a teen broke his arm. After his cast was put on, his parents were given an Rx for vicodin for his pain. They did NOT obey the regimen and the teen was asking for pills so often the parents finally relented and gave the bottle to the teen. He was with a friend and complaining the pills took to long to work. His hoem-boy told him to crush a couple pills to power and take them that way. The results were shock and death for the teenager. ALL the local newspapers jumped on the OPIOID CRISIS. That was BULLS***. The teen abused the drug, absolutely nothing to do with a mythical crisis. This is like so many things congress does, make up a mythical problem, write asinine laws and instantly turn millions of law-abiding Americans into criminals. How about we start checking our politicians for common sense and if they don't exhibit any they don't get sworn in?? To further this asinine path, all these people that want recreational marijuana and other hard drugs to be legalized are many of the same people yelling we have an opioid crisis. Not everybody that uses marijuana goes on to do hard drugs but it's a pretty sure bet everybody using and abusing hard drugs has at one time or another abused marijuana. So these druggies get their hands on legitimate drugs that help people with chronic pain and aren't abusing their meds and screw it up for us legitimate users. Just one more case of federal elected officials and bureaucrats screwing law-abiding Americans over to justify their existence. There is no opioid crisis. There is an abuse and common sense crisis.

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Exactly. Thank you so much for pointing the needle users out. They do it to feel high. Pain management for us is to function somewhat normally to hold on to life.

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James (# 52) --

What freaking *****s, sitting around making notes on our behaviors!! This is ridiculous and it has to stop! Anyway, WTH, why are you calling Rammsteinfan a "pillbilly". You do NOT know what kind of pain he has. I know that RSD is very painful I have it in my left arm and it hurts so bad I cry and it pulsates right on the nerve like a really bad toothache! Call the young druggies and junkies who take pills simply for the thrill of it trying to feel high "pillbillys", NOT legitimate older people who have proof of their pain with MRI's and younger people who have been in terrible car accidents or falls and broke their backs, etc...save it for the junkies who have ruined the lives of all these people who are now suffering terribly because they have to drive all day long just to get to a doctor who will prescribe them pain medication, but the ONLY the most worthless kind that doesn't even help. I am NOT even bothering to drive 75 miles anymore for a lousy 10 mg Mallinckrodt Hydrocodone that has zero pain medication in it. After 5 yrs I am DONE, no more, not worth it to drive that far and still be sitting her with Salonpas patches, heating pads, raised legs, ice packs and still crying in pain. Shove that Mallinckrodt up where the sun don't shine. They've flooded the pharmacies with this worthless Hydrocodone and tell patients they can't get anything else, no other mfr. no genuine authentic non-generic Norco exists? Shove it to the CDC and our whole careless government!

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