Here we are once again at the start of yet another rant about my back, pain management and other things that piss me off. Why do I keep writing these rants, because that is what they are ? What drives me to spill my guts to complete strangers ? The answer is the same. I am seeking people in similar situations who like me are fed up with the status Quo of being left in pain and expected to just deal with it. See this is really shameful of the medical community. There are over 100 million people who live with daily pain here in the US. Just think about that for a moment. Think about how strong of a group that could be if we could unite to fight for our rights.
We could have huge clout. Heck if each and every one of them chipped in a buck we could fund a lot of lobbying on our behalf. Just think of how many congressmen and women we could purchase with that kind of cash. That is a stunning amount of money. Think of our buying power. Think of the billions spent each year on drugs and equipment and treatment of chronic pain. Alone we can be run over by the system. Alone we have no clout, we have no influence. Together we can demand our rights. Together we can change the system.
I am a very stubborn guy. Ask my mom or wife. They know that when I get my mind stuck on something I don't let go. My loving wife would say I kind of enjoy beating my head against brick walls, both literally and figuratively. ( Yeah I have actually done that for real, it's not just hyperbole. ) I would say I am like a lot of people. I never gave a thought to chronic pain issues until I was affected personally. Chronic pain doesn't just affect the person who is suffering. Their whole family is affected. It is really amazing how pain can effect your daily outlook and mood. When my pain goes up I can get a bit cranky. Okay , Okay. A lot cranky. I can take out my frustrations on those who are around me at the time. Those who live with and love someone in chronic pain are saints. They put up with a hell of a lot of BS every day and come back for more the next day. They get to suffer as well right along with their loved ones.
So while we have 100 million people who suffer from chronic pain, the number of people affected is at least doubled. We need to band together to fight for our rights. I can't claim to speak for everyone. I can claim to speak from my own experience and from what I have seen it is not that far out of normal for a lot of people in similar situations. When I feel my doctor treats me like a dollar sign I know there are more out there who are suffering in silence. When I can't get my doctors to help me control my pain and get it down to a level I can live with, I know there are thousands more suffering the same fate daily. When I get treated like crap by complete strangers because I take narcotics to control my pain I know I am not alone.
It is kind of sad that we don't have many who speak out for us. Maybe it is because we don't have a national mascot or spokesperson. I can picture in my head the perfect mascot. An elderly lady, the typical everybody's grandma. Hell who wants grandma to suffer ? No one would. Too bad that is not the typical chronic pain sufferer. A lot of us are middle aged guys. Not in the best shape and not very photogenic. Heck I could probably break a few cameras before they got a commercial cut. Let's not leave out the lovely ladies. I wasn't trying to slight them. They can suffer as well from chronic pain conditions such as Lupus or Fibromyalgia. In fact these two conditions seem to effect women more than men. These courageous women suffer in silence as they go about their jobs as wives and mothers. ( Yeah guys that is a job and a damn hard one even if they don't work at what you consider a typical job.) Their pain can flare at any time and makes their lives a living hell. So there isn't any one "Real Face" for this issue.
I'm going to swing down below that orange snow doodle with my tail. If you want you can join me.
So the tail finally made an appearance. Time to do a little jig if you can. The part you all have been waiting for. Yeah I do love my tail. Comes in handy. It is great for holding coffee while you walk down the street. It does cause a few stares but hey who cares ? Umm no, tail you can't be a poet. So stop it. Just drop it. I said STOP tail. No you are not taking over this post. Okay I give up ! The tail is now in charge. Just a warning he might mention governor jiggles in a bikini again.
To me it sure seems like no one is standing up for us. We don't hear about politicians championing chronic pain rights. Instead we get stupid politicians trying to put in place regulations that take away our rights. Putting hoops in our way to treatment all in the name of public safety. To protect society from people addicted to pain medications. In fact that is a chunk of the issue. A Huge chunk. long term use of opiates leads directly to addiction. Even short term use can lead down that path. See people are injured or what ever. Their PCP refers them to a pain clinic because they are afraid of prescribing strong drugs for pain. They are afraid the DEA will raid their practice. So off they head to the pain clinics.
So here we are at the pain clinic. Hopefully a doctor will evaluate them and start them off on some narcotics. Usually something like Loritab or something similar. In a few months the pain is gone if they are lucky but they are now addicted to the pain killers. Here is where the problem begins. Doctors are prescribing these addictive drugs but not doing anything to help when their patients become addicted. In fact if the pain clinic even thinks they are addicted and just trying to get drugs they dump the patient cold. They don't refer them to addiction counseling. They don't offer any help at all. Society itself has a part to play. They have stigmatized addiction. So here we have a dad, he has 3 kids, a wife he loves and a stable job where he got injured one day. Now he is an addict. He's been dumped from pain management. He starts going to multiple doctors trying to get more drugs. Over and over he is turned away but then he finds relief. He has a doctor who is prescribing him drugs. He gets hooked more. The doctor realizes this and dumps him and he is back on his own. He may eventually commit crimes to get his fix. He may steal a doctors prescription pads or break into a pharmacy. Then his life breaks down worse. He may eventually end up in prison. He may lose his family. His house and his job. His life is in ruins. Now stop. i used a fictitious male, but it could be a female as well. They could be young or old. It doesn't matter one little bit. The result is the same. Their lives are destroyed. They are not given the help they need. They may end up taking an overdose and killing themselves. What the hell kind of treatment is that ? Some of these people may end up in treatment because of family or friends but it is rare they are referred to an addiction treatment center. If they are they are shamed by society if anyone finds out.
They may lose their job if their bosses find out. Some insurance doesn't cover addiction treatment at all whether for alcohol or any substance.
Prescription drug addiction is a direct result of treatment for pain. It is very rare for someone who was not under the care of a doctor to become addicted to pain medications. Yes there are some cases where the person got the drugs without seeing a doctor. Maybe from a family member or relative who finished treatment and had some pills left over and they got a hold of them or by sneaking them from a family member or friends house who was prescribed them. This is not the usual case. So what is being done to change this ? Let's see, exactly NOTHING. Instead of compassion they are treated with scorn and humiliation. They are tossed out on their own. Then comes those wonderful politicians who see a problem and react by demonizing the addicts even further. Instead of advocating treatment for addiction after treatment they put barricades in the way of actual treatment. Society then demonizes addiction even further. They figure that the addicts are just weak willed. They can kick it if they just "Want To".
Screw that ! It is past time that addiction is treated as a very real aspect of pain management. These doctors are afraid of being prosecuted or having lawsuits against them if they admit a patient became addicted because of their treatment. In today's lawsuit happy society that is not too far from the truth. We need some common sense laws. Well that's out the window. Who ever heard of politicians passing common sense laws ? We need a law that mandates all health insurance MUST cover addiction counseling and treatment and not just a few sessions like the limit on PT visits. We need laws saying that when a patient is finished at the pain clinic they are referred to an addiction counseling treatment center where they are evaluated and if needed a treatment plan is drawn up for them. We need laws exempting doctors from a lawsuit because someone became addicted to pain meds during treatment. Yes that must have limits but as long as the treatment is normal and commonplace the doctors should be protected. We also need to remove these stupid laws that place barricades in the way of treatment. This might result in more patients being addicted as doctors could prescribe stronger opiates to help the patient handle their pain but the answer should be addiction treatment NOT a ban on stronger opiates.
So the monkey tail makes some very good points and he didn't even mention governor jiggles or bikinis. Sorry about that, I know some of you like it when he does that. Sorry this took a couple of days to write. The tail is a slow typist. Who knows maybe we can get these common sense laws passed soon. They are desperately needed. No one should be humiliated because they became addicted to medication they were legally prescribed. We need to band together and fix this issue. So until next time the tail makes an appearance I will leave you with these thoughts.