I am sitting here reading these letters while watching Dr Phil help a woman who is a drug addict because, she claims, of an injury that she was on pain meds for. I am not sure with whom I am most angry! People like her make it almost impossible for people with chronic pain to get any real pain treatment!
I live in pain 24/7 from many different medical problems that I cannot get treatment. I have severe fibromyalgia, many bulging disks in my back, vertebrae in my neck that have fused themselves over time, a syrinx in my spinal cord, Reynaud’s disease, severe muscle spasms in my feet, legs, hands, neck, shoulders and arms. At one time, I had treatment with major painkillers, now I do not. I had to cold turkey off Duragesic, Prozac, Premarin, Lortab, Tramodol, Flexeril, and I do not remember what else, because of a disagreement with the business office at my family doctor. I never dreamed that I would not be able to find another doctor in the entire state who would treat this pain! Before I lost my family doctor he sent me to a pain clinic, sorry but I am not a guinea pig for anyone! I have enough pain now without playing games with my spinal cord! The only treatment offered was to inject medicines into my spinal cord, which by the way, have not been proven safe in the long term used in this way. My family doctor wanted me to see another doctor in that clinic and, because both he and I asked to see the other doctor, I was given the stigma of being "noncompliant" ,which I didn’t know until later when I got my medical records. I did, at one point, give in and say, "Ok do what ever you want just get me out of this pain" at which time I was told that I was "too complicated" and refused the treatment by the doctor!!! Because of that stigma and my refusing to have "procedures", that at best would be useless and expensive, and at worst would make the pain I suffer worse, keeps me from receiving and medical care in the state of Alaska!! This pain affects my entire life. It keeps me from cleaning my home, or even having sex with my husband. Often driving my son to orchestra or private lessons is impossible, so is getting out of bed. I have suffered from depression all my life and this sure does not help any! The depression does not make the pain worse; the pain makes the depression worse! I try to keep busy, even in bed, doing things like beading, knitting, crocheting, learning to spin my own yarn, reading, meditating, etc. On good day, with careful planning, I do hunt or fish (if I do not have to walk far) or ride the snow machine where I am just a passenger while my husband drives slowly and carefully. To do this takes days of preparation and planning. Deciding on what I can give up doing in order to have the strength to do this with my family. Do I wash dishes? Drive to town? Or stay in bed and rest up to do something big with my son and husband? This is not any way to live! I live on huge doses of Ibuprofen, which is killing my liver, kidneys, and digestive tract! Sometimes those things just do not get me past the pain. I do sometimes go to the emergency room in hopes of getting some relief no matter how short term. On rare occasions I will get pain meds from others (I would not do this if I had my own!!) just to have a few hours that I can function even tho the pain is still very much there!! Because of the meds I was on, I know that many people thought I was a "druggie" but they do not live in my body! Duragesic is a safe medication (much safer than otc meds) and a very much "controllable" medication since it is a patch which is given in exact amounts but because of the "war on drugs" doctors are afraid to utilize it. I did not have the highs and lows of taking pills. I did not get high on Duragesic at all. Yes, I took "a lot" of painkillers, but as I have proven in the past if the pain were gone so would the meds be gone! I was told for 15 yrs that I was not in severe abdominal pain, that I hated being a woman, that I just wanted drugs etc when finally I found a wonderful doctor that told me I had Endometriosis. After he did surgery (he wanted to do laser surgery but I insisted on signing for a hysterectomy also which turned out to be a good thing since he HAD to do one) the pain was gone and so were the pain meds that I had been living on for years! He asked me how I stood the horrific pain I must have been in since it was the worst case he had ever seen! I would like Dr Phil to address this type of issue as well as the drug addict. I know it does not sell as well but is a part of life that all too many of us live with and have no control over! We, as chronic pain patients, should not have to just exist when there are medications that can and do help many of us! We should not have to go begging for relief and made to be "criminals” in order to get relief !!
Peace Connie
