https://apurposeinpain.com/pain-warriors-documentary-review/
I was recently asked to review a new documentary called Pain Warriors. I think that it’s a really important film and want to do my part to help promote it. The mission of the film is to “tackle the other side of the OPIOID CRISIS ~ that of under treated pain patients and the slow death of compassion that surrounds them.” The film does a beautiful job of documenting the suffering of multiple chronic pain patients as well as following a Montana-based doctor who treated pain patients until being sanctioned by the board of medicine and losing his practice in 2015.
The film opens up by stating “100 million Americans live in daily pain that diminishes their ability to function. The opioid crisis has left patients with chronic pain undertreated, shunned, and disbelieved.” This is a huge problem that the media doesn’t focus on. The film does a wonderful job of showing the heartbreaking reality of chronic pain and the lack of access to adequate treatment.
The first patient that the documentary focuses on is Sherri, who has multiple chronic illnesses and suffers with chronic pain. She states how she feels she’s at the end of her rope with her pain. Sherri speaks about how desperate she is when she reaches out to a patient advocate to help her. After feeling like she has nowhere else to turn, Sherri and her advocate go to the ER, where, after waiting many hours, she is finally treated for her pain. Her advocate eventually leaves, confident that Sherri is getting adequate treatment and she’ll be notified if any issues arise. Heartbreakingly, Sherri does not continue to receive the treatment that she needs and checks herself out of the hospital only to go on to commit suicide.
She wrote to her advocate, “Please use my life and death as an example of where empathy is sorely needed for misunderstood illness.” This film is dedicated to Sherri’s life.
It’s so heartbreaking to me that Sherri got to the point that she chose to take her own life. She lived with chronic pain for over 30 years and the experience in the ER only served to push her over the edge. I’ve experienced the lack of empathy that Sherri talks about from doctors, especially in the ER. Legitimate pain patients are so often made to feel like nothing more than drug seekers who are wasting the time of emergency medical services. The lack of empathy and understanding for pain patients is a huge problem in this country and I think this documentary does an excellent job of highlighting this sad truth.
The next patient that the documentary follows is Hunter, who is an adorable young boy that was diagnosed with cancer years earlier and was on chemotherapy and steroids for 4 years. He was 7 when his cancer went away but now he suffers from chronic pain all over his body. The film shows his suffering and the way that it’s impacted him and his family. It’s heartbreaking to see this beautiful little boy say, “I kind of just think about giving up, I don’t think anything’s going to help. It’s kind of just my reality, like this is my normal; I can’t really change it.”
I have so much admiration for this strong little boy who has had to deal with chronic pain and illness for as long as he can remember. I can only pray that advances in medicine and treatment of chronic pain will one day allow him some relief from pain in his lifetime.
The last chronic pain patient in the documentary is Karen, whose story is very near and dear to my heart. Karen suffered from the same chronic pain that I did for many years, from cerebrospinal fluid leaks. I know how brutal CSF leak pain is and how frustrating it can be to get the right diagnosis and care for this problem because so few doctors in this country know how to diagnose and treat it.
Karen was treated many times for her CSF leaks, flying back and forth across the country for patches and surgeries. Her patches did not last, and her symptoms kept returning after multiple treatments and procedures. She suffered for years from relentless pain until things eventually got so bad that she took her own life.
By the time I finished watching Karen’s story play out, I was in tears. I know the roller coaster of emotions that a CSF leak can cause and the hopelessness that one can feel after treatments fail, which happens far too often with this complicated condition. The fact that Karen got to the point with her pain that she chose to take her own life is so devastating to me. We desperately need more doctors to become educated on chronic CSF leaks so that patients don’t suffer in pain for years like Karen did.
I suffered from chronic pain for over 16 years because of my undiagnosed cerebrospinal fluid leak so I can relate wholeheartedly to each of the pain patients in this film. I know the hopelessness and despair that chronic pain can cause. I myself have reached the point of not wanting to live anymore at times. I’ve witnessed the lack of empathy from so many doctors and have experienced the lack of adequate treatment for chronic pain firsthand. We need more doctors who truly care and aren’t afraid to treat chronic pain patients.
The film also follows one of these caring doctors, Dr. Ibsen, who opened up a practice in Montana and started seeing patients who had been dropped by their family doctors and lost access to their pain medication. He saw patients who had been on pain medications for 10 or more years and were suddenly cut off because of the opioid crisis. Dr. Ibsen speaks about what happens when chronic pain patients are cut off from their pain medications: “They become suicidal, depressed, go to bed, fail to go to work, can’t take care of their kids. I felt obligated to step in and support them in their wellbeing and function.”
In 2015, he was sanctioned by the medical board for taking on these patients and treating them with opiods. Although he was actually tapering them down on their medications, the board felt that he was overprescribing and suspended his license. By December 2015, his practice was closed. Dr. Ibsen is now practicing medicine in India.
Dr. Ibsen says of his pain patients, “we have to address this invisible public health crisis of chronic pain and get them the care that they need so that they can live the functional lifestyle that they are entitled to.”
Dr. Ibsen is right. Chronic pain and the lack of treatment and empathy for pain patients is a public health crisis that deserves so much more attention. The suffering of pain patients on the other side of the opioid crisis needs to be addressed. The Pain Warriors website states “addiction and overdose deaths are serious issues that warrant being faced head on. Equally important but not addressed in any depth, are the lives of abandoned pain patients and the doctors treating them, left with limited options. Legitimate, responsible patients are being denied treatments that in many cases, have been their only lifeline to some small moments of function and dignity in an otherwise bleak future.” This film does a beautiful job of highlighting and finally addressing this important issue.
I also think that this is a really great film for people who suffer from chronic pain to show to the people in their life who may not understand the impact of their pain. This documentary really shows the devastation that chronic pain can cause in a person’s life and just how it can affect a person.
My summary of this film really doesn’t do it justice; you have to see it for yourself. It highlights the heartbreaking reality of chronic pain and sheds light on the other side of the opioid crisis, the one that isn’t shared in the news and by the mainstream media. The increasing number of suicides in the pain community from the lack of access to adequate treatment needs to be addressed. We need to do a better job of raising awareness of this public health crisis. This documentary is a wonderful beginning. If you’d like to watch this amazing movie for yourself, you can find it here:
Filed under: General Problems
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