Below was left as a comment on this blog… IMO… just one more chronic pain advocate that is JUMPING SHIP … At the current rate it will not be long before the only people posting on most/all of the internet media content will be those chronic painers whose primary action is to WHINE, BITCH, MOAN about how little pain therapy they are receiving and or how their prescriber is taking them entirely off their pain meds and telling them to take NSAID’s. Sure SUICIDES are going to increase, but they can be categorized as just an “opiate related death” … case closed… and the DEA gets another “valid reason” why they need more funding to fight the war on drugs. There are rumors right now that President-elect Trump is considering Pam Bondi as AG/head of DOJ.. if he chooses her… the chronic pain community had better get their ass in gear to write every Senator about refusing to confirm her… IMO.. she will just bring the misery that she has caused in Florida to the chronic pain community – as AG – to the rest of the country. Most advocates – such as myself – can only be a coach… an observer… a messenger… a counselor… those that are being directly affected by these changes , their spouses and families have to become the real PAIN WARRIORS…
First they came for the mentally ill addicts, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a mentally ill addict.
Then they came for the empathetic prescribers, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an empathetic prescriber.
Then they came for the Pharmacists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Pharmacist.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me
“My disappointment in the Chronic Pain Community deepens. The unwillingness to participate goes beyond the limits of being disheartening. We had one chance to organize and attack those who have openly labeled us as addicts and continually are taking our pain relief away, and we blew it. The plain and simple fact is that obviously the majority of the Chronic Pain Community put selfish political beliefs over their personal need for pain medications. I’m not talking about the presidency, I’m talking about the representitives in both houses of congress. Our one and only chance was to elect new people into congress and kick the incumbents out. You know, the ones that have been writing laws and passing bills to take all of our medications away. These congressmen and senators are the people who have been allowing the DEA and CDC to write guidelines and treat them as if they are law. Now, our choices are very limited and I’m absolutely positive that our medication access will start disappearing at an alarming rate.
You can write letters, make phone calls and even show up in person and these incumbent representitives will just blow you off. Why??? Because they have absolutely no fear of loosing their jobs. When Steve Ariens started the “VOTE THE BUMS OUT” campaign , I figured that by the response it got that the Pain Community was on board. Obviously I was wrong! It seems as though the majority of people in pain are totally satified to BITCH PISS AND MOAN about their meds being taken away. It would appear as if very few want to be a part of making the change we need. It seems as if most of you are concerned more about political party and religious beliefs more then you are concerned about your own health and wellness.
This will be my last post in these open pain groups on Facebook. I will keep my Leadership Counsil group page open for potential leaders. I will also continue to monitor and post useful information on this private page only. I will leave it up to Counsil members to share any information that I receive and post only to the Leadership Counsil page whether they want to share with open pain groups. But as far as me openly advocating for those of you who are obviously unwilling to help yourselves, I’m done! It’s time for me to be selfish and only think about myself and my pain, instead of continually putting my access to my pain medications in Jeopardy by openly advocating and being a voice for people who now appear to be satisfied with the way they are or have been treated. So, Bitch piss and moan all you want to. Talk about what you all think should be done and never do anything to get it done. Go ahead and play the victims who always use your pain as an excuse instead of using it as your driving force. Just keep refusing to use the weapons provided so you to fight back and then complain when you loose your pain relief. Trust me, I understand Steve’s frustration now.”
Filed under: General Problems
While I understand and share this person’s frustration, I know I showed up, voted and tried to get new representation. I certainly hope everyone understands the effect RedState redistricting and gerrymandering has had on voting in this county so that it is very difficult to have someone new elected to a Congressional seat. Unfortunately, my state did not have an election for the Senate or Governor this time. We did have a congressional seat and the incumbent held on to his seat. I have asked our groups to show both sides of the political story.
For many disabled people, letter writing and phone calls are pretty much all we can do as we are limited physically and financially. I have written my own representatives, as well as others. I have written news organizations. If you are not willing to call and write you are part of the problem. If there is more we can do, please, by all means tell us. But do not tell us we are unwilling to participate, that is not true.
Unless an issue generates a huge volume of mail from constituents, Senators won’t even see a summary from the staff who read the input. A more effective approach may be to call the Senator’s DC office and ask to speak with the Administrative Assistants who most closely support the nomination confirmation process in committee, and on health care issues. Then use the letter as a guide for what you say to the person you talk with on the phone.
just a fyi…..that petition to congress ,’due no harm,dea target physicians and chronic pain patients,,” you can write your letter their,,and the site if u choose the proper option,,which is easy,,,,it will send a letter directly to your senator,the prez,,and your Representative in the house of representative,,,,MARY
Nothing goes DIRECTLY to a Senator etc. A staffer always reads and decides what the Senator etc see.
Steve is correct tho. If we are just going to complain about unfair it is for the DEA and CDC to take away their pain meds, then TRY to do something about it. STEVE, how do I go about sending my governor, State Representative and whoever else I need to write to in NC. I’ve signed petitions to legalize MMJ, to stop this mess, but I’ll write to everyone I can. It’s not fair that we are being compared to those that are addicts or can’t be responsible enough with their meds.
must be nice to have a choice other then death if u want to stop something,,I wish I could say,,,”ok ,,PHYSICAL PAIN STOP,,IM TIRED,,,,,unfortunetly i don’t get that choice,,my physical pain is their if i breath,,,,i wish death was not the only choice I had to make it stop completely,as we all know,,MEDICINE lessen’s it,,thank goodness,,but never takes it all away,,,only death will do that,,,mary
Really, do we need someone as negative as that? Like only chronic pain patients were voting and it’s all our fault these people are still in office? I say good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
https://www.facebook.com/markmusheribsen/videos/10210372452963054/
Keep talking
Keep contributing
Let’s let steve take a break
Then
Some new outrageous bs will fire him up again
Or
New rabble rousers will rise.
Pain: its comin
Or
It’s been here
Or
It’s here now.
We gotta persevere
Blaming a weakened, marginalized community for not being aware of particular advocates in time to vote or campaign for them, isn’t helpful.
Be aware, fascism is approaching with potential for segregation of those not deemed “worthy” in whatever way. As history has shown, this can lead to unthinkable atrocities. It is the monumental crisis we face, but your turning away from us at this time is extremely disappointing.
Who will speak for us, or even bear witness, to the extinguishment of people who wish only to be productive, involved members of society?
Thank u,,I have those,,I also baldwins personal secretaries and ron kinds,,for they actually review their emails for them,,,,mary
Do u have a different email address then I do for Tammy Baldwin and Ron Kind???thank u,,mary
Tammy Baldwin: https://www.tammybaldwin.com/contact/
Ron Kind is a Representative, not a Senator. However he can be reached at https://kind.house.gov/contact
If anyone here would like to register their concerns about chronic pain with our government, one way might be to comment to the Senate committee which will evaluate the new nominees for DHHS, CDC, FDA, DEA, and Surgeon General. This afternoon, I published an invitation on Facebook to 15,000 chronic pain patients, to do just that. If anyone here is interested, I’ll add the full list of contact gateways from the Senators’ websites.
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As we all know, chronic pain patients are being abused and denied treatment throughout the US. As one step toward improving that condition, we need to make ourselves heard meaningfully to our Senators. Toward that end, I have just sent comments to each of the 22 members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which will review the nominees of the new Administration, for Secretary of HHS, Surgeon General, Directors CDC, FDA, and DEA. I have provided links to the email gateways for each of them, as well as a form letter that you can clip and drop.
Please add your voices to a demand that this time around, the new Administration appoints people in key positions who actually know something about pain medicine!
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The letter:
Dear Senator
I write to add my voice to others who are urging you to exercise special care in your deliberations concerning confirmations of appointed officials of the new Administration. Specifically, I refer to the US Surgeon General, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director General of the Food and Drug Administration, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and their principal Deputies.
My concern regarding these positions reflects the uniform disaster that the last crop of appointees have wreaked against chronic pain patients and their doctors. CDC guidelines restricting treatment of chronic pain with opioid medications are now driving US doctors out of pain management practice. Tens of thousands of pain patients are being forced arbitrarily to reduce or withdraw from the only medications that have given them even a marginal quality of life, without access to effective alternatives. Large numbers of patients have been summarily discharged by their physicians, some of them without management of opioid withdrawal symptoms. There are verified instances of suicides by patients overwhelmed by untreated pain. These occurrences comprise a clear and ongoing denial of medical care to desperate people — and a gross violation of basic human rights.
Inevitably there will be some pharmaceutical company bureaucrats, researchers or lobbyists among those nominated to key positions in the US government health bureaucracy. I urge you to reject such nominees in favor of licensed medical doctors who have recent hands-on experience caring for patients. Agency or Department leaders need to establish the general directions and tone of programs they oversee on behalf of real people — and to demand a far higher standard of medical evidence and compassion for patients in the formulation of practice standards and policy.
Sincerely,
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PSS,, thank u for writing this letter,,I will send,sign anywhere ,,Your writing skills are far superior then mine,,mary
Here is a link on my website for all the Senators and Representatives various contacts https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=15347. It is under the RESOURCE TAB on my website http://www.pharmaciststeve.com
Steve, the two responders to your post clearly are not understanding the post. I am quite aware that you have been on the side of the community that is in chronic pain and now find our doctors are being pushed, by our government, to reduce or stop our pain meds altogether.This action is being done in reaction to the many overdoses that have happened across the country, mostly by persons who have attained pills illegally and use them to get high. These actions are deplorable in that the majority of pain meds are going to people who need them in able to live a normal life, not giving or selling them for misuse. You have worked hard for us and I for one thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I personally have not sent a letter or by email to my senator. I did vote Democrat on all people running in my state, as I am a democrat. Whether that helps me with problems with my pain meds, I have no idea. I don’t even know how to reach my Senator, but did vote for one. Simple problems like my ignorance of the government and how the whole thing works, with the exception of the presidential race may not be mine alone.
I do understand that you, who hears from many pain people, see us as a large group who may influence government and may help themselves and that this should not depend on which party we find ourselves in. I think that a more detailed article about exactly, in detail, what each individual needs to do in order to help ourselves would be helpful. Like, what do I ask of my governor, what words would be most effective? I can find my Senator and probably find an address or email address to send a letter to. But is it too late? Many of us pain people are not up to date, or, like me, so broke living on Social Security Disability money 850$ per month! I don’t have a cell phone, have a small cheapest tablet to enter the cyber space, am not up to speed anymore in a society that has changed so much. You have to tell me how to do things, specifically. Maybe, hopefully I am in the minority.
Please keep helping me, and more like me, deal with our pain problems. Thank you so much for your time. Judy Underwood
pss,,,its not just about my medicine,,its about the very idea that mankind should have the freedom to have individual control over ones OWN life,especially regarding pain relief,since it is factually true that no-one can physically feel the physical pain of another.Is it far to democratic to be embraced by ,”our” government,??,that it is our right to have that freedom as individual adults???,isn’t that type of government,that take away individual adult freedom called a tyrant,or tyranny,,,??mary
Steve, I don’t think this posting is constructive. Chronic pain patients face enough shaming from doctors and family members. It isn’t helpful for you to add to that sorry record. I’ve been around the chronic pain community for 20 years myself, as an advocate and support provider. And yes, sometimes I get tired. But YOU ARE NOT HELPING ANYBODY with this sort of blame-the-victim message.
DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,it kinda like a man telling a women how it feel to give birth and to stop bitchen and whinig it hurts!!!!WE HAVE NO CHOICE TO STOP OUR PHYSIVSAL PAIN ,,, u can quit blogging,,u have that choice,,,but that is exactly what they want u to do,,,stop calling them out on the truth of the torture and genocide they have done Steve,,,I just saw this am..the senatore from Oklahoma ,mutter your words exactly,Steve,,,,It now Dr.Government and they a practicing medicine w/out a ;liscence,,,those our your Steve,,so our work is getting out!!!mary
Agreed!