IMO, it should not be US VS THEM (chronic painers vs substance abuser ) when it comes to chronic pain pts and those who are suffering from addictive personality disorder.
Both groups are SUFFERING from chronic health issues. We are doing more harm to the chronic pain community by agreeing with those who claim that those abusing some substances are “bad people”.
I read this week that some people are going to pull out from some pain groups because someone was talking about substance abusers were being discussed as needing treatment.. Others that I have seen are going to pull out of specific groups because politics were being discussed.
I keep questioning.. WHAT THEY HELL ARE THEY THINKING ? Congress, in particular , has passed all the laws that have given – or the various Fed alphabet soup of Federal agencies have presumed that they have – the various powers to do what they do.
I just made this post of Pres Obama at the DNC. where he PLAINLY STATED .. that healthcare is a RIGHT..
It would appear that those in Congress, FDA, DEA, CDC and others in the alphabetic soup of federal agencies are not listening to our President when it comes to chronic painers… or he says one thing to the public and has another agenda when he is behind closed doors ?
Of course, he is headed for the exit… Congress is basically “out to lunch” until after the election and maybe until the new Congress starts in Jan, 2017.
Filed under: General Problems
Another thought, in Feb. the President came out with this-see link, he came out and said the pain is real, and told the governors not to put rules in place that limit pain patients medicine, and now the states are putting rules in place that are even worse than the CDC!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/facing-an-epidemic-of-overdoses–obama-rejects-governors-proposal-to-limit-painkiller-prescriptions-013838383.html?ref=gs
I had a wonderful emergency room physician tell me that he would rather accidentally treat a ” drug seeker” than take the chance of not treating someone in pain. That was seven years ago. If he dared do that now he would be in big trouble! As far as what the president says, you can pretty much guarantee he is lying to the public.
I agree with you 1000% Steve. Every time someone posts negative comments about “those damn drug addicts whose fault it is that we are not getting our pain medication” I try to explain that 1) it doesn’t help our cause, it hurts it and 2) the anti opioid lobby has an agenda to line certain people’s / companies with profits so the government is using this fake epidemic as a smoke screen to limit our access. Do you REALLY BELIEVE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT CARES ABOUT 20K PEOPLE DYING PER YEAR FROM OVERDOSES? and 3) people who abuse pain medication/take it for non physical reasons are using the drug to deal with emotional pain. Just like a drunk tries to drown his sorrows in a bottle. These people with invisible emotional pain are human beings too. Many of us have invisible illness that are physical in nature. Emotional pain is invisible but it is still a type of pain.
Finding a scapegoat is NOT necessary to advocate for our right to medical pain management. And blaming the WRONG group for our difficulties is not fair. The RIGHT group responsible for our limiting access to our necessary medication is our government. And our government is using people who are abusing opioids for non physical pain as their scapegoat. And we follow suit without thinking.
Divide and conquer always works to destroy any movement/advocacy efforts. We need to be smarter than that. We need to and must stay united so our voices will eventually be heard. If we do not have any means to control our pain we do not have a life. Nothing else matters if we do not have a life. The chronic pain community needs to stop with the pettiness and other behavior that divides us.
It’s so nice to find someone who agrees with me. 🙂
🙂 We Truly ARE In This Together Whether By Conscious Choice Or By Societal Lumping! But as the old adage g poo es ” there’s strength in numbers! Yes but we all know how many sufferers there are out here! There’s enough chronic pain sufferers that when combined with those suffering the mental/emotional/physical pain of addiction, there’s enough of us yo decide elections, elect a brand new congress that #WeTheCitizensInChronicPain
if organised, could elect lawmakers who write policies that benefit all those who suffer regardless of the nature or origin of their pain; research, information gathering, new treatments and cures and alternative medicines as well as decriminalization opting instead for a compassionate and caring approach that other countries have already moved to and that have reeled in the despicable greed of the pharmaceutical & insurance companies and far too many within every level of America’s overwhelmed and inadequate healthcare system!
Interested? 🙂 With Love, Respect & Solidarity! We Can Do It!