Paul Wayman, a 69-year-old veteran, wrote: “The VA cut my pain meds cold turkey after over 25 years. I now buy heroin on the street.”
“You need to talk with veterans. My friend has more metal and screws in him than a robot, but no more pain meds. Suicide is the only light at the end of the battlefield,” Wayman said. “I used to do a lot of volunteer work, loved doing it with my wife. Now I get high so I can walk.”
“All we’re asking is some relief. And some quality of life,” he said. “Ending life now is not on bucket list. I do think about it all the time.”
Wayman is among the hundreds who reached out to Fox News through emails and messages on social media, following the publication of a three-part series on the nation’s struggle to address its crippling opioid crisis, caused mainly by illegal drugs, and the unintended victims – chronic pain sufferers who have relied on prescribed opioids for relief – left in its wake.
Filed under: General Problems
Is there any update to Paul’s story?
Kratom is an alternative. It is a plant that is based out of India that is from the coffee family. Millions use it for pain and mood disorders. If you are in pain or need a better quality of life, I urge you to look into Kratom. The FDA is trying hard to ban it because of the amazing quality that it gives. I have taken Kratom for over 2 years now and no longer take awful psychological drugs and anxiety meds. Again before going to the street drugs try KRATOM…. *Disclosure* I am not a medical professional and the statements above are from my own experience and opinion.
Kratom is amazing and has given me back a quality of life I hadn’t had in years!
I can speak first hand on heroin addiction. It’s not like physically dependency. It happens much faster and requires more and more of the drug. Eventually whatever lil money you have legally coming in will not be enough to support a heroin habit. Unless you’re filthy rich. Ive known people who’ve had $300-$600 dollar habits a day. Eventually the pain will return and with it the ugliness of addiction. Being so sick because you’re too broke to get more you either commit a crime or go thru severe withdrawals that can kill you. The withdrawals are as bad as the H1N1 flu of 2009. Bodily fluids flying out of every orifice. Snot running down your face can’t bathe can’t eat can’t sleep it’s hell on earth.
I can never return to heroin addiction my only way out is suicide. I will not be like a dog returning to its vomit to eat. Id rather die of suicide than addiction, but I understand where this man is at. I struggle with my sobriety due to pain caused my a form of aggressive arthritis that took a new state of the art ultra sound machine to find this past week. On top of that there’s all the problems with my spine. For five years ive been treated like I was a crazy drug and attention seeking ex addict who was treated like a person woulda expect to be treated as an actual addict. I learned a valuable lesson when I moved to another state. When filling out new patient paperwork Never admit to any drug history use it will be held against you no matter what you’ve gone thru to change. Now I feel so dirty and ashamed to be treated like something im not is so hurtful. Even ex addicts require pain relief and can successfully manage medication for pain. I have finally gotten a lil help but most days it’s not enough to want to live another day. Im just holding on to the doctors appt and hopefully start treatment. I can’t do this much longer. This is got to be the saddest time in my life and believe me my life has been heartbreaking enough.
Yea you also have to remember with heroin bought off the street that there is NO quality control at all, And all to often what you buy today will not be the same tomorrow. This wide variety in the strength or lack of it is partly what is responsible for people needing to do more and more. I had a family member who lived out near Boston, Massachusetts back 25 years ago who was addicted to heroin, He was using anywhere from 2 – 3 bundles per day (A bundle = 10 bags of heroin) of the heroin he was getting from Dorchester or Lynn (Bundles were running about $20 – $25 per bundle at the time) That said when he moved out to the Western side of the state and started getting heroin from either Springfield or Holyoke he was surprised because by both the bags costing more $$$ ($50 – $80 per bundle) but also that the bags were much stronger as in like 2 – 3 times stronger so he didn’t have to use nearly as much as he had been using, But that said when he first made the move and scored some heroin he expected it to be the same strength he was used to and overdosed but was lucky to survive
Probably would also have helped if I had fully finished reading your post before commenting myself, Curious if you had any issues with taking pain medication after having gone through what you did in the past. I know with my family member he got clean back 20 years ago after using for almost 7 years, He did really good but ended up getting injured and becoming disabled as did I from a car accident. He went a few years suffering refusing to take pain medication before his condition got worse and he couldn’t deal with it anymore. That said he has had no problems with regards to taking his pain medication as prescribed over the past 4 years as his biggest fear had been that taking them would re-trigger his addiction and make him want to use heroin which thankfully has NOT happened.
CDC guidelines say that up to 90mg of morphine equivalence. This is NOT enough to treat most people who have severe chronic pain. These are guidelines, this is not the Law, but it appears doctors are afraid of being flagged for not following these guidelines. The problem is NOT with chronic pain patients but we are the ones who are paying the price of life. What about Quality of Life… I sit here typing this with indescribable back pain and just to pick up a half gallon of milk causes sharp shooting pains and escalates the dull pain. My pain was managed until March of 2017 when I was cut off all pain meds I had been on for 16 years. It is so inhumane- someone please take this to heart because this is a serious disservice to humanity. Suboxone did NOT work for me and it is being pushed (opioid crisis) by someone who has great financial interest in Suboxone… please do some research and WAKE up. People are Suffering and Killing themselves because their medications have been cut or taken away all together like mine. Fellow sufferers – I feel you.
It’s not just Veterans, I was run over on November 2nd 1987 have been in chronic pain ever since. after two years I was given opiate pain med and enjoy some what of a life. The doctor I was seeing died and never went to find another. My life sucked for years my weight went up to 385 lbs and one day about 8 years ago I woke up in level 10 pain unable to control anything. I was taken to hospital and between neuroscience doctors and pain management I finally found OxyContin and a quality of life I had not experienced since the accident. My ability to move without pain allowed me to lose 200 lbs over 8 years. My diabetes and high blood pressure changed. My a1c has been low so long that I wasn’t considered diabetic any longer. I saw my pain management doctor January 1st 2018 and was removed from the medication that transformed my life. Now two days before Christmas and I’m 270 lbs cannot do any substantial physical activities my blood pressure is high diabetes is back worse than before and ask that my life will end soon because it’s not living like this. Oh by the way going off the medication isn’t as bad as a flue and is over in 3 days, I haven’t had a fever since before Memorial Day 2001. Oh and heroin is a very poor substitute.
Eric
It is indeed a poor substitute, and a deadly one. The suicide rate and number of opiate deaths have dramatically risen, not subsided as those in charge thought they would. This, in and of itself should be an even bigger cause for concern. It seems it is not though.
I know several Veterans who had all pain meds cut. The suffering was so bad it came down to two choices, either suicide or to go to the streets for self medicating to control their pain since the VA abandoned them.
I am a Veteran and was one of those people. I have had a chronic bone disease since 2007 called Osteomylitis, which is a fancy word for bone infection. It began in my neck and has since moved to my lower back and hip. I have been hospitalized a half dozen times for anywhere from 8 to 17 weeks at a time and countless short stays. I have broken my spine twice from normal, everyday activities, and have had 3 spine surgeries and a lot of hardware out into my body.. Some days I can’t get out of bed due to the pain.
I have had VA Doctocs tell me “I know that you are in pain, but I do not care. You are goinv to have to just deal with it, because I am not risking my license for you.” They then process to push other drugs on me such as Gabapenton and along with several antidepressants, all which are addictive.The sad truth is that the VA does not care if Veterans commit suicide, if they do it simply lightens their work load and saves them $ from not having to pay out for medical and monthly Disability payments.
The rate of death by suicide and the rate of death by overdose is not going to steady out, but rather to climb as people are forced to self medicate, by going to the streets to get their pain control where each dose is an unknown amount, and an unknown drug.
This is not what I or any Veteran signed up for. When we joined the Military we were promised that after our time in service we would be provided with competent health care at the VA by competent Doctors. We are getting neither of those things. We are forced to see Doctors who you can hardly understand due to English being a second language, and who have been scraped off of the bottom of the barrel of MD’s looking for work.
When the VA was providing adequate pain control to us they were able to keep track of the medications a patient used. As far as I am concerned since the VA has turned their backs on us they given up the right to even ask a person how they are dealing with pain or what medications they are taking. What happened to the Oath of do a patient no harm?
Patient experience with opiate medication along with their documentation of beneficial use and ensuing ability to function in the bets capacity possible means nothing to the “experts” that do not have lifelong intractable pain so severe that suicide is constantly considered, It is not complicated, opiate pain medication has helped millions of people; to be able to cope with severe pain. It does not stop all pain but it damn sure reduces the horrible effects of pain plus gives the patient hope that we can deal with residual pain after the medication takes affect. WHY in the hell is dot/gov not taking notice? Is money saved the driving factor to “legally” cause patient to consider and act upon suicide? No doubt that the forced tapering of opiate medication IS causing more health issues and overall life hardship than it is slowing overdose from substance abuse. 90 mme daily for all patients is simply a joke. How much longer will the “experts” deny that a maximum dosage of pain medication is not the way to as stated slow overdose?????? Possibly a dosage of say 120 mme daily or even a dosage of 110 mme daily would be enough for a patient to continue to enjoy the one life given to each person. Even if it takes 400 mme daily for a particular patient if required should be prescribed. Acetaminophen takes 30 to 50 million lives per year but no “expert” will dare acknowledge this fact. WE take the “risk” and we are willing to do so. Dot/gov and DEA must stop causing so much pain and strife. Even if opiate medication did destroy bodily organs ( which it does not) I have NEVER heard of anyone that would refrain from using opiate medication because it DOES help to escape devastating, lifelong pain. We can NOT simply “adjust” to overwhelming pain simply because those who do not suffer with level 8,9 and10 pain state that 90me daily “should” or is a high enough dosage for all patients with known debilitating pain from disease, personal injury and the premise that surgery will help alleviate pain. It is BS! Medically based evidence continues to mount that 90 mme daily will NOT curb pain enough to get suicide out of the mind much less all the other issues such as clinical depression, social inactivity as well as physical activity able to done well enough to care for ones self. NEVER believed that communism in the form of inadequate pain management would EVR become an issue in AMERICA. Statistics, numbers should NEVER be the bottom line in pain management especially if they are misleading.
AMEN! Thanks for taking the time to write this
Well said, I totally Agree. I live in pain constantly.
It’s unreal that the Government has control to stop Us from getting Our pain medication.
I get My meds but it’s not enough to MANAGE My pain.
Go to the Fox news site (blue Link above article) and read it in it’s entirety, esp. the comments by Dr. Stephen Gelfand member of PROP . His remarks show his ignorance and complete bias toward oipioids which are good drugs and do NOT cause addiction to those in pain!
In fact, his definition of addiction is a complete fabrication and lie! I can’t believe such ignoramus blowhards can get a doctor’s degree and license. Don’t even get me started.
That’s because they had the definition of addiction changed recently,,It use to be and correctly soo,,,Addiction=taking any drug for non-medical use,,,,,The new definition,,I am guessing changed by 1 Andrew Kolodny is,,Addiction=,,taking anything that will harm you,,,wtf,,chemo thereapy destroys all other organs in 1ns body,,soo what idiot came up w/that.His psychotropics’ in psychiatry willl kill u,soo I guess kolodyn psychotropics are on the list of addictive drugs too,,,,,It needs to return to the 1st definition that stood for 100 years,,,maryw