First Do No Harm: The DEA targets Physicians who treat their patients pain.
Public Comments (15,444)
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Jan 12th, 2016Someone from La Plata, MD writes:
My husband and I are not pain patients but we both suffer from ADHD and are on a schedule 2 med for it called adderall that unfortunately gets treated with the same stigma as pain medication. Trying to get our perfectly legitimate prescription filled every month has become an absolute nightmare!!!! On good months it takes us a day or 2 to find a pharmacy that is willing to fill it and even then the pharmacist looks at us like we're just junkies. On a bad month were sometimes forced to go over state lines to get it filled because at one time VA wasn't as stricken as MD was on filling Medes but now I have noticed VA is starting to get more stricked. Still not as stricked as MD but getting there fast. We even take less then our recommended dose because we never know when or if we will be able to get it filled and even though not as bad as being ripped off pain meds adderall isn't a med that you should just be ripped off of either and if taken properly can change lives. For all you pain sufferers out there we wan't you to know that every single one of you guys are in our prayers and our hearts go out to ya'll. As for the dictatorship that the US government has become.....You have taken a wonderful free country and have changed it to a miserable dictatorship were you all are stripping our rights away faster then we can comprehend!!!!!! What your doing to the American people is NOT RIGHT!!!!!!! You all may think you can take America away from us but you will never take the American out of it's people!!!! -
Jan 12th, 2016Someone from Frankfort, KY signed.
Jan 12th, 2016Someone from Pasadena, TX signed.
Jan 12th, 2016Someone from Neenah, WI writes:
I am a 100 % disabled veteran I have thee damaged cervical discs the neurologists won't operate a subtotal gastrectomyw /radical vegotomy a roux n y hookup lysis removal x3 , midden fundleplication gall bladder removal left knee opening four scoping and nerve pain in my arms abdomen and legs head and neck all of this caused by Dr action or inaction. The stomache surgeries were done before h pylori was discovered and acid was thought to be the culprit. They also cut my Vegas nerve causing tachycardia and bradycardia . A good day for pain is a five but I suffer up to 8 I have been called a seeker, an addict dumped from practices and monitored with multiple UA'S. I have been treated with contempt and insults and suspicion and when the words pain contract appears in ER computers they do nothing like when my leg went numb from my discs which are inoperable and at 58 I fell down stairs hurting my operated on pain I am on all lists in the city hospitals as a pain contract and am treated as a criminal addict. I am not allowed to accept RX's even when a ER doctor gives me one and must wait till my dr opens even if it's days like Christmas. With all the stomach surgery can't take Ibuprofen or aspirin and nearly died from kidney and liver shut down from acetaminophen overdose because doctors won't give me anything. Medical science did this to me and won't treat my pain they caused and watch me like the gestapo and I am denied equal treatment or non demeaning treatment like my non pain contract counterparts. The contracts and chronic pain lane CAUSED BY BAD SCIENCE cause profiling discrimination and seperate and unequal treatment due to fear or MD AND RN HOSTILITY EITHER FROM THE DEA POLICY OF INTIMIDATION OR PREJUDICE. We are yelled at and treated as addicts as one doctor recently called me. I know that profiling is unconstitutional and Seperate and unequal treatment is unfair in the patient bill of rights. There is a legitimate need for pain medecinefor those with actual medically caused problems. But being on Medicare due to my disability puts me in the government cross hairs.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 12th, 2016Someone from Indianapolis, IN signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Clayton, NC writes:
My wife is a victim of chronic pain; some sort of autoimmune disorder is suspected, but never received an absolute diagnosis. After a couple of years, her primary referred her to a local pain clinic for fear of getting in trouble for the long term prescriptions for narcotic pain meds. The pain clinic treats my wife like a convicted felon. If it were me, I would drop the pain clinic and meds if it killed me. I can not understand how an American can be subjected to such ridicule when trying to seek help. Do I understand the pain clinic and many doctors for that matter must try to determine if a patient is feeding a habit? I do, but if a person is prescribed a habit forming med for a valid medical reason is there not a big difference between that and recreational addiction? I am very frustrated, but have no where to go for justice.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Midland, MI signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Springfield, IL signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Mineola, TX writes:
Hello, I am a mother, grandmother and a Chronic Pain patient. It took more than 6 years, beginning in my early 40's to diagnose my first issue, splondylosis, degenerated discs, levels 3, 4, 5, and S1. I became a "pain patient" and labeled doctor shipper, when I fired 2 Doctors, loosely using the term, as both lost their medical license within 12 months of my leaving their care. These men committed Government Aprroved Discrimination, NEGLECT, ABUSE and FRAUD. They( bad doctors) are in every town, preying on pain patients. We try to abide by the law and be treated like a person, capable of contribution to our community. The caring professionals, MDs, DOs, Surgeons, are afraid to draw attention of the government and most refuse to write ANY OPIOD pain killers. When an adult patient has medical proof that science has taught physicians to utilize, we should be allowed to refuse or receive the type of medication with the least side effects to have quality of life. Those are OUR CHOICES to make within the doctor, patient relationship.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Erie, PA writes:
The drug/heroin epidemic sweeping our country has very little to do with chronic pain patients. As a mother of 3 with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, psoriatic arthritis, Dysautonomia and a host of other extremely painful illnesses, I am NOT a drug addict. I comply with every drug test, bottle check, I do not doctor hop, nor do I pharmacy hop. Because, I legitimately need the mediciations I take. I am careful due to a fear of addiction, but if taken away, my life, my livelihood and my will to live will also be taken away. Think in terms of this...an athlete dislocates a joint. They are out of the game, and perhaps the season. I dislocate my knees and shoulders grocery shopping. 30-50 times per day. Try living ONE day in my body and telling me opiates should be taken away from me. I am beyond fed up with our government and insurance companies dictating what MY medical needs are. So I sign this petition on behalf of every medical ZEBRA out there.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Spokane, WA signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Cincinnati, OH signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Marion, NY writes:
I am tired of suffering because my Dr is afraid to increase my pain medication due to the restricted laws placed on him....by the DEA.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Cleveland, OH signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Mooresville, IN writes:
My husband was an HEDS patient. His chronic pain was unspeakable. His Dr. had him on heavy diodes of narcotics for years. It did not cure his pain but relieved it enough for him to be work be a husband and father. On 12-10-10 his Dr. Told him he was now off of all pain meds. He was compliant. My youngest daughter and I found him dead 12-25-10. Apparently he had a renal stone. Due to the sudden withdrawal of narcotics, decreased mental state he did not seek treatment. For him death was better than a life of severe chronic pain. He was 58 years. Due to the total lack of concern by the powers that be I will be facing the loss of two young daughters who have spoken many times about death being a release from a life of untreated painREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Somerville, MA writes:
I am sick and tired of hearing exclusively about those who abuse opioids and not about those who need opioids. Yes, some abusers die from illicitly overdosing on opioids and some die from suicide because they can?t get treated for pain. We have a crisis in this country which needs to be addressed ? PAIN. It?s not being treated. Most medical schools aren?t teaching doctors how to treat pain. There are limited effective medications for pain. Many doctors don?t know how to deal with it and, so, they don?t. Little research is devoted to understanding and treating pain, yet millions suffer from it! I suffer, sometimes unbearably, from pain. Like many others, I cast around for something to help ? NSAIDS, Tylenol, Lidocaine, Voltaren, acupuncture, meditation, etc. The only thing which has helped take the edge off my pain, making it more bearable, is Oxycodone. I have used it as needed and am not addicted. Studies have shown that, in general, pain patients don?t become addicts. Limiting access to opioids for those who genuinely need them is unacceptable. PAIN is a big problem which should no longer be swept under the rug. We need better treatment!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Mooresville, IN signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Brecksville, OH signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Northfield, OH writes:
I am a chronic pain patient. I have been on morphine for years. After trying literally everything else, all other medications, and I have been in therapy for 17+ years, this is one of the only things that helps me get through my day. When you go from being completely wheelchair bound to being able to walk with the use of mobility devices because I had some relief in pain with the morphine it improves the quality of life in an unfathomable way. It is hard enough already to get my pain medication when I need it. These rules will make it even more difficult for me.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Adams, WI signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Mooresville, IN writes:
My husband had HEDS. He suffered from his mid tean years until he died. Ten years before he died his doctor placed him on high docs opiate medications. They s enabled him to work, be a husband and a father. He had pain but was able to function with the help of meds. Dec 10, 2010 his Dr. told him he was now off of all pain meds. He was compliant. My youngest daughter had I found him dead December 25, 2010. My two youngest daughters, age 32 and 35 are unable to function at a minimal level due to chronic untreated pain. There is no cure, no hope for them. They have both talked of suicide. If their pain was treated they would be opiate dependant but at least they would live. Please allow them a life that their father was denied.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Spring City, TN writes:
The dea and government wants to make criminals out of people with cronic pain. When they scare our doctors into cutting us out of this life changing pain meds. And they know we been taking the meds for so long.that once we can't get it the legal way. The dea knows we will seek it out the illlegal way and go to jail and pay fines that's how the dea and goverment maked criminals out of law abiding american citizensREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Houston, TX signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Chagrin Falls, OH writes:
Everyone should comment on the CDC site. Because as bad as it is now.It will be worse. I 'm starting to share the disgust with our medical system. I always liked and respected Dr's. No more. . I hate going to the pharmacy with the anxiety of maybe they will fill this month maybe they won't. After telling they are out no they aren't oh but if someone else fills before you. Sorry. I don't think any one reads this. You just email your useless representatives who send you a form letter response. Because gee no one wants to be soft on drugs. Pain patients aren't diverting and selling their drugs.Only .05 are even considered addicted after a year. They are dependent like people taking blood pressure medicine.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Chagrin Falls, OH writes:
Everyone should comment on the CDC site. Because as bad as it is now.It will be worse. I 'm starting to share the disgust with our medical system. I always liked and respected Dr's. No more. . I hate going to the pharmacy with the anxiety of maybe they will fill this month maybe they won't. After telling they are out no they aren't oh but if someone else fills before you. Sorry. I don't think any one reads this. You just email your useless representatives who send you a formal letter.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 11th, 2016Someone from Chagrin Falls, OH signed.
Jan 11th, 2016Someone from Chagrin Falls, OH signed.
Jan 10th, 2016Someone from Knoxville, TN signed.
Jan 10th, 2016Someone from Shippensburg, PA signed.
Jan 10th, 2016Someone from Oak Ridge, TN writes:
I have been a chronic pain patient for the last 14 years. In these years I have seen a lot and been put through even more. I held off on my spinal fusion on my neck for years before I had to actually have my surgery. I would have to take steroid dose packs and in fact took so many that I am no longer able to take them. I have vision changes and am told that if I had continued to take the steroids, I would become a diabetic. The surgery did not go so good. Now I am in as much pain as I was before plus the added problem of feeling like my head is too heavy to hold up. Since this surgery, I have developed spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and arthritic changes down my entire spine plus scoliosis.I can not stand, lay, or sit for very long without being in pain. For 13 of those 14 years I was on a high dose of pain medicine that pretty much controlled the pain I am in. However, in the state of Tennessee the laws have changed so for the past year, I have come down off of the amount I was taking to a much lower dose and now I am in pain everyday again and my quality of life is not at all what is was. I am no longer able to walk 3 miles per day or attend all the football games that I loved to attend. My grandchildren have suffered as well because even though I am a "younger" grandmother, I may as well be 80yrs old! I do not feel like going to watch them in their activities that they participate in. My arms pain is once again so bad, that it has taken me a couple of days to even type this. Since the DEA has gotten involved in my health care, my Dr. can no longer treat me as they see fit. My Dr. has to follow state rules concerning my care. I wonder how other people would feel if let's say they had cancer and the DEA were the ones dictating to your Dr. how you should be treated....what kind and how much medicine you could receive ect. That would be a whole new ballgame wouldn't it? As far as I can see the only thing the DEA has done with their new laws is put far stronger, more expensive medicine on the streets. Since the Drs. hands are tied to only being able to write what would equal 200mgs of morphine, they are now having to write a more powerful medication to cover their patients pain. I am talking about Opana! I don't take Opana because I refused to be put on this medicine. I have many friends and family members that take this and I have seen personality changes ect. Plus this medicine just does not help MY pain at all! I am told, however, that the street value of this medication is astronomical in price. Way to go! It was bound to happen this way because I for one just do not think it is right for the DEA ,( someone who may have gone to school to get whatever little degree they may have gotten. Probably no longer than 2 years) to tell my Dr. (who have gone to school for 8 plus years and very well educated since they hold peoples lives in their hands!!!) what and how much he can write for me. Instead of this, maybe they should have starteREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 10th, 2016Someone from Woodstock, IL writes:
There is no excuse for letting people suffer day after day. I can't help that there are abusers of pain meds and the doctors can not help me. There is no cure, I will suffer until I die, the difference is, do I suffer laying in bed all the time or, do I get some ease from the pain allowing me to get out of bed and try to have some sort of life?REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 10th, 2016Someone from Humble, TX writes:
CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) is the most debilitating pain condition I've had the non pleasure of having. It comes with a long list of comorbid conditions to compound the issues. I live 24/7 365 days a year plus leap year because we don't get a break. I have tried SCS (spinal cord stimulator) which causes my condition to spread (made it worse). I've tried massage which landed me into the ER because my autonomic system doesn't work properly anymore. I've tried meditation, soothing music, essential oils, change in diet and exercise to try and ease my pain due to #undertreatedpain This war on drugs is going to kill more people than help. I have already had my meds cut in half with no valid reason and I have never abused and I have a page and a half of legitimate reason to have kept my meds the way they were. To live like this is should be a crime. To purposely not treat my pain as a dr should is torture and should be a CRiME it goes against their oath as a doctor. I suggest you get to know the CRPS/RSD community and encourage the CDC,DEA and anyone else to help us find a cure or even a couple new treatments covered insurance and approved by the FDA (we have zero) so we don't have to take meds to have any type of quality of life. People can't live in this much pain without the proper treatment. We are all different an require different meds. Some metabolize quicker others have gastroparesis so meds aren't absorbed like a normal person taking meds, or meds get stuck in esophagus. We need research and pain relief for our community along with other chronic pain conditions (which I have those too) The deaths in our community will be on the governments hands and WE will take this to the supreme courts if needed. #painedlivesmatter #crps PS in our group we have two 12 yr olds, one 16yr old and a 14yrs old who should be able to get pain medications to help not make CRPS worse. SCS is a 50/50 chance to help or make things worse. Then the need for opioids increases if it is made worse. People talk about cancer pain is worse?? On the McGill pain scale CRPS is more painful than amputation of a digit, untrained natural child birth and non terminal cancer. What would you do if your child or a loved one was in this much pain???? Seriously to what extent would you go to if the Doctors hands are tied to save your child's life? Someone must stop and listen to us!!!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 10th, 2016Someone from Belle Fourche, SD signed.
Jan 10th, 2016Someone from Belle Fourche, SD signed.
Jan 9th, 2016Someone from Smyrna, TN signed.
Jan 9th, 2016Someone from Freehold, NJ writes:
YOU, MR PRESIDENT, HAVE NO ****ING RIGHT TO DESTROY MY QUALITY OF LIFE! YOU, MR PRESIDENT HAVE NO ****ING RIGHT TO DENY ME MY LIFE SAVING MEDICATIONS! YOU MR PRESIDENT, ARE A ****ING MURDERER!!! ALL OF YOU WHO ARE DENYING LEGITIMATE PATIENTS MUCH NEEDED LIFE SAVING MEDICATIONS ARE ****ING MURDERERS!!! ANYONE WHO CAN LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND BE PROUD OF FORCING INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO ARE EXISTING IN SEVERE CHRONIC PAIN TO ENDURE EVEN MORE ARE TERRORISTS!! INTENTIONALLY INFLICTING HARM ONTO HUMAN BEINGS IS AN ACT OF TERROR!! I BET YOU ALL HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED THOUGH TO MEDICATE YOUR AILMENTS. ******** TO ALL OF YOU BEING IN SUPERIOR HEALTH, YOUR ALL UP IN AGE, YOU MEAN TO TELL ME NONE OF YOU SUFFERWITH CHRONIC PAIN!?!? YOUR LOVED ONES? PARENTS?! GRANDPARENTS!? DO NOT INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE ! AN INVESTIGATION NEEDS TO BE LOOKED INTO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES. THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL NOONE IS ON OPIOD THERAPY, NO WAY IN HELL. YOU ALL ARE A BUNCH OF LYING HYPOCRITS . I HOPE KARMA PAYS YOU ALL A VISIT SOON AND I SURE HOPE YOU ALL REAP WHAT YOU SOW....SHAME ON YOU! WHERES YOUR HUMANITY!?!? WHY IS AN ADDICTS LIFE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS WHO DO NOT ABUSE THEIR MEDS, WHO DO NOT GET HIGH, YOU ARE IN SEVERE PAIN AND OPIODS HELP TO BRING THE PAIN DOWN TO AT LEAST FUNCTION, WHY ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO LEGITIMATE PATIENTS,,DO YOU THINK FOR A SECOND THAT WE ENJOY BEING ABUSED BY DOCTORS, PHARMACIES, FAMILY, BEING NEGLECTED, MISTREATED, UNDER MEDICATED, DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, STIGMATIZED AND LABELED AS ADDICTS..DO U THINK I ENJOY LIVING MY ****ING LIFE LIKE THIS JUST TO GET A BOTTLE OF PILLS, PILLS THAT HAVE BEEN GREATLY REDUCED AND MY PAIN GREATLY INCREASED. I WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE FREE OF THE PAIN AND THIS LIFE. I HATE THAT YOU TERRORISTS IN GOVERNMENT ARE A PART OF MY PRIVATE HEALTHCARE. THIS IS MO PURSUIT OF HAPPINNESS, THIS IS TORTURE..REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJan 9th, 2016Someone from Ancram, NY signed.
Jan 9th, 2016Someone from Midland City, AL writes:
I am 22 years old and cannot work. I am proud of myself if I can even just make it from the bed to the couch every day. I am so depressed. I suffer from chronic pain almost everywhere in my body that is still unexplained. The pain causes me to puke often because of how bad it is. I was in the ER 5 times in one month because of how much my whole body aches and I am now refused the only drugs that actually help me live my life with little pain. I am not a JUNKIE, ADDICT, I do not have a DRUG PROBLEM. I have a PAIN PROBLEM that can be helped by these narcotic painkillers you don't want me to have. I'm sorry that my body doesn't respond to Tylenol or similar drugs. I'm sorry I need something stronger so I can attempt to have a life. You think I wanted this pain? You think I wanted to be forced to take narcotics to feel ok every day? No. But that's the way it is and I shouldn't be denied the help I need, just because some people choose to abuse it.REPORT COMMENTS
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