First Do No Harm: The DEA targets Physicians who treat their patients pain.
Public Comments (15,444)
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Jun 17th, 2016Someone from Coldwater, MI writes:
It is a national shame that legitimate patients are treated worse than criminals, that we are treated like junkies because the only medical option for treating us creates dependence on those medications. We can't try to reduce the amount of pills we need or the dosages by using marijuana occasionally (it breaks our "contract") so we are forced to take ever increasing doses because the meds cause tolerance to build. The DEA needs to get out of the health care field as they have no training or compassion, they are only interested in keeping their bureaucratic influence and budget bloated. -
Jun 17th, 2016Someone from Utica, MI writes:
To our Goverment...my husband stop taking his meds,after he was ordered to take drug test so often,the Dr v gave him a list of rehabs,REHABS,and sent him out,I was ordered out,bc my husband had a fit, and I went back to my old Dr....I have severe back and neck pain,2 surgerys,and they want to do another. My Dr has to deal with the dea, and test us for weed. It's terrible what patients have to go through every hour with pain...GOD PLEASE HELP US...AMENREPORT COMMENTS
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Jun 17th, 2016Someone from Jacksonville, FL signed.
Jun 17th, 2016Someone from Kokomo, IN writes:
Doctors have no idea what withdraws are I am 65 I took a pain med for twenty years I was told many times it won't kill you.well my Dr retired could get a doctor went to rehab I ended up in hospital almost died.went to another Dr put me on saboxon they dropped me again I am in withdraws.I feel if they put you on addictive med that they stay with you till your safe.I have pain every day of my life.I won't go to streets for drugs.but that is why people kill them self. I seen a man at pain clinic in withdraws he was told sorry come back tomorrow I found out he killed him self.this has to stop I want a doctor to treat me not a pain clinic who don't know you are there for just the moneyREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 17th, 2016Someone from Poynette, WI writes:
I have been in chronic pain for 17+ years. have so many diagnoses its ridiculous! I think this is so wrong to take away not only out opiates that help us live a "normal" life but also now my anxiety medicine! We are not addicts..we may be addicted but isn't everybody who takes something for many many years addicted to that substance. Say alcohol for instance just because its legal people who are alcoholics buy it but do we ban them from buying the alcohol NO! We need are medications for at least trying for a way to a normal life. I agree with a lot of you about suicide it is selfish but why suffer so much everyday??!! What kind of life is that?! Its not a life! Also there will be a lot of people now going to the streets looking for stuff to help them! This is not the way it should be handled!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 17th, 2016Someone from Tucson, AZ signed.
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Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Katy, TX writes:
I'm only 48 & have been suffering from chronic pain for 16yrs. I had 12 surgeries in 10yrs and I currently need 3 more surgeries-sinus surgery, tonsillectomy and my SECOND neck fusion. I don't have room enuf to list everything wrong w/me but a few are 2 herniated discs @ last 2 on spine which causes sciatica, arthritis, bursitis in hip poly neuropathy, daily severe headaches, on & on. I believe you'll end up w/a LOT it people buying heroine & od'ing & suicides, starting with myself. How can you live w/yourself??!! We're NOT drug addicts looking to get high! We have LEGITIMATE PAIN & our pain Drs urine test us regularly so they'd know if we were abusing anything. Suicide or heroine addict are the only 2 choices I have. And I WONT be a heroine addict. So I'll have no choice but to leave my family, my first grandchild that's due in August. You're not being reasonable at all. Go after the pill mills & Drs who over prescribe!! I want to say the choice words I've got for you but don't want to be crude. You can imagine the worst things someone could say & those are it!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Katy, TX writes:
I'm only 48 & have been suffering from chronic pain for 16yrs. I had 12 surgeries in 10yrs and I currently need 3 more surgeries-sinus surgery, tonsillectomy and my SECOND neck fusion. I don't have room enuf to list everything wrong w/me but a few are 2 herniated discs @ last 2 on spine which causes sciatica, arthritis, bursitis in hip poly neuropathy, daily severe headaches, on & on. I believe you'll end up w/a LOT it people buying heroine & od'ing & suicides, starting with myself. How can you live w/yourself??!! We're NOT drug addicts looking to get high! We have LEGITIMATE PAIN & our pain Drs urine test us regularly so they'd know if we were abusing anything. Suicide or heroine addict are the only 2 choices I have. And I WONT be a heroine addict. So I'll have no choice but to leave my family, my first grandchild that's due in August. You're not being reasonable at all. Go after the pill mills & Drs who over prescribe!! I want to say the choice words I've got for you but don't want to be crude. You can imagine the worst things someone could say & those are it!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Idaho Falls, ID signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Haysville, KS writes:
Are you not men and women of reason? Is there an opoid problem? Yes. Studies show that only 3 percent of chronic pain sufferers abuse their medication. Another study on emergency room overdoses show that 78 percent of those ER patients did not have opoid prescriptions. With this information it's clear that chronic pain sufferers are not a part of the problem. If we were to gather all the laws of our land together how many years would it take an individual to read those laws? Why add more? To further restrict freedoms? To restrict necessary healthcare? To overstep the rights of drs and patients to address the private needs of individuals? My story started with a work place injury that was not properly treated, I had a blown out, not herniated disc. The entire thing shredded and threw bits into my foraminal space the contents of the disc were pushed out and I did not receive pain medication because I did not put up a fuss even though I could not sleep or follow a simple conversation. Fast forward a few years and there was no disc left between the vertebrae the space had collapsed and they could not even fit a needle in there, my health insurance refused to cover any medical care citing previous injury being the responsibility of workmans comp. I embarked on a multi year journey and court proceedings in an attempt to receive care. By the time legal issues were resolved I had lost another entire disc and the 3rd disc was rapidly decaying because this is what happens with a structurally compromised spine ruined with instability. What dead husks of disc remain had been pushed onto my spinal cord space. I had lost sexual function and bladder control. Massive and permanent nerve damage was the result. Surgery can not address this damage. I found myself waking screaming in pain every 30 minutes it disrupts my whole family. I need help to bathe and with personal hygiene, sometimes I need help to use the restroom. I can not sit or stand for more than a few minutes. I can only walk a few feet. If I exceed these limitations I am sweating, screaming and vomiting in pain. I spend the majority of my life in bed. Nerves tell us we are in pain just as nerves make it possible to read this. Nerve compression and damage are real, the pain is real. Finally after years without addressing the pain because local drs were fearful after one of their own was prosecuted for over prescribing, I was referred to a pain management clinic. Now my pain has gone from a 9/10 to a 7/8 most days. My life is tolerable and relevant. I urge you to not be emotionally reactionary to a crisis that My drs and I am no part of. My pain medication is as critical to my survival as insulin is to the diabetic. There are controls in place that are sufficient such as random drug testing, pill counts and contracts that are utilized by pain management drs. The whole should not suffer because of the actions of a few.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from North Little Rock, AR writes:
I hate not being able to get the relief I need without looking like i'm a juncky...REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Sycamore, GA signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Sycamore, GA signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Henderson, TX writes:
Hi there, I have always been in perfect health and never seen a doctor in 10+ years until recently I have been diagnosed with cancer in January and I'm in constant pain. I have been finding it hard to keep one doctor and they are making me change doctors monthly just so I can get pain meds. I now have a doctor that will monitor my pain meds and so call help me out but he can't give me more then 90 pills of tynol 3 a month. That's 3 pills a day for 30 days. So when I set my schedule with this I find myself at a loss. I'm in pain like many others 24 hours a day not just 18 hrs. When I sleep with no pain meds I often wake up 3+ times a night in pain and most of the time by the third time I take a pill and go back to sleep messing my schedule and dosing all up. We do need pain meds 24 hrs. a day until we have our operations or treatments. For me it's nothing but paperwork holding my treatments up and insurance. Be here and there with lack of sleep and in pain. Pretty soon (maybe in a few more months) I imagine I'll be taking radiation and chemotherapy treatments and I know with that I'll be in more pain as well as being very sick (mostly due to the long wait that I have had to wait if it isn't already to late). Right now I see the next yr to be a living hell for me and all the pain and sickness that I'm going to have to endure cause some pricks at the DEA wants to tighten down on the laws. If they want to put a limit let the doctors prescribe 120 pills to a patient a month. Put all the pain patients into a system that lets all the doctors look up if the patient has had pain medicine given by another doctor or pharmacist. They all could be linked together by a simple program. The program only needs the patients name,ss#,date of birth, date of prescription, doctors name, pharmacy name, pharmacist name, pharmacist #, date and time it was filled. Can't believe something like this hasn't already been installed or put into place.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Downingtown, PA signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Downingtown, PA signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Downingtown, PA signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Freehold, NJ writes:
As if the lives of chronic pain pts couldn't get any worse, now the AMA is removing pain as a vital sign, THIS IS A TRAVESTY! As if pain does not exist!? What the hell are all you corrupt scumbags thinking with this anti opiod crusade!? YOU ARE F****** KILLING THE CHRONICALLY ILL! PAIN DOESN'T EXIST HUH!? WELL LET THE CP COMMUNITY SHOW ALL YOU *******S JUST WHAT PAIN IS ABOUT, HOW IT FEELS, HOW IT DESTROYS YOUR BODY, MIND, SOUL, MENTAL , PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL STATES, HOW UNTREATED PAIN CAN AND WILL CAUSE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, HEART DISEASE, AND SO ON. HOW DARE YOU SCUMBAGS BLATANTLY GO ON WITH YOUR PROPAGANDA ********, TERRORIZING AMERICAN CITIZENS!! I DO NOT FEAR ISIS, I FEAR OUR OWN GOVERNMENT WHO IS KILLING OFF THOUSANDS EVERYDAY, SENDING THE CHRONICALLY ILL TO SUICIDE..MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS, BUT I ALSO PRAY HE DOES NOT. YOU ALL WILL BE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL FOR THE INTENTIONAL HARM, PAIN AND SUFFERING YOU ARE FORCING PAIN PTS TO EXIST IN. THE AMA MAKES ME SICK REMOVING PAIN AS A VITAL SIGN, !! SO DRS CAN JUST BYPASS TREATING ANYONE IN PAIN!?!? F*** OFF!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from La Fayette, NY signed.
Jun 16th, 2016Someone from Jersey City, NJ writes:
I have a fall a few month ago and the dr refuse to give me more med because i haven't decide if going to have a law suit or not he is putting preasure to suit I think is not fair he left me 4 days without meds...I think he using that excuse as his interest of getting beneficial if i have a law suit not fairREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Pawhuska, OK writes:
I suffer from chronic pain, from back and neck injuries. When it came time for me to refill my prescription for Lortab this month, I was told I could no longer receive it. And I would have to switch to an Extended-release drug called Hysingla instead. I have never abused my prescription, and often try to take less than is prescribed when possible, in order to avoid becoming addicted. Now, this new drug "Hysingla" will force me to have opioids in my system 24/7 and possibly lead to me becoming dependent. Additionally, the Hysingla is 500% more expensive than Lortab. So, I called the DEA's office to find out what's going on and was told they had "nothing to do with the doctor's decisions." The DEA agent was very rude and sarcastic and hung up the phone. However, they are the ones who make and change the laws, so they do affect physician's decisions when treating their patients. This is the number I called "(918) 459-9600". This page contains links for all the DEA contacts, for anyone else that would like to call: https://www.dea.gov/contact.shtmlREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 16th, 2016Someone from Florissant, CO signed.
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Jun 15th, 2016Someone from Cleveland, OH writes:
The doctors need to know that when we are treated for a chronic illness that has the symptoms listed, pain and spine equals severe pain. As well as the symptoms lists pain in the symptoms most likely the pain is a Moderate to severe type of pain. Do no belittle people who are responsible, and help us fight instead. Do not fear for fear generates the worst in people. Even us. Do not let your education to be muddled by the propaganda that was not given by other doctors. Stop trusting known quackery in the business. Trust us when we pass the requirements. The oath should mean more than the deaREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 15th, 2016Someone from Cibolo, TX writes:
If this is how the "government" responds to a situation by managing to the small amount of abusers and ignoring the very real needs of pain patients, painting them all with a broad brush--it is no wonder that people don't trust the government to run things and turn to private enterprise. It is no wonder that Conservative ideals flourish. Allowing the government to dictate to doctors (essentially practicing medicine without a license) shows how they roll. Disgraceful. I wonder if the people at the CDC will deny their own family members pain relief? Actually, I know the answer to that one. The dangers of collectivism. I never believed it until now.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 15th, 2016Someone from Cibolo, TX writes:
If this is how the "government" responds to a situation by managing to the small amount of abusers and ignoring the very real needs of pain patients, painting them all with a broad brush--it is no wonder that people don't trust the government to run things and turn to private enterprise. It is no wonder that Conservative ideals flourish. Allowing the government to dictate to doctors (essentially practicing medicine without a license) shows how they roll. Disgraceful. I wonder if the people at the CDC will deny their own family members pain relief? Actually, I know the answer to that one. The dangers of collectivism. I never believed it until now.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 15th, 2016Someone from Lytle, TX writes:
It's amazing that because of a minute percentage of people that abuse pain medications the absolute majority is made to suffer. If your mother, wife or child were God forbid involved in a tragic accident would you want them to suffer with intolerable pain daily? The type of pain that may cause them to commit suicide? Everyone deserves to have a decent quality of life and what you have set out to do is absolutely inhumane! You should be ashamed of yourselves!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 15th, 2016Someone from Lytle, TX writes:
It's amazing that because of a minute percentage of people that abuse pain medications the absolute majority is made to suffer. If your mother, wife or child were God forbid involved in a tragic accident would you want them to suffer with intolerable pain daily? The type of pain that may cause them to commit suicide? Everyone deserves to have a decent quality of life and what you have set out to do is absolutely inhumane! You should be ashamed of yourselves!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelJun 15th, 2016Someone from Texarkana, TX signed.
Jun 15th, 2016Someone from Marlborough, MA writes:
I have been on pain medication for 30 years due to chronic pain issues and a parathyroid daemons that went undiagnosed for at least 6 years. During those years I was hospitalized and in nursing care for 3 of them with many critical illnesses that actually would have been prevented with a diag. By the time I fought my way home I had no discs left in my back at all. Had shrunk 5 inches from compression fractures. Etc. I could go on forever. When I was released for home I went to sleep new dr who told me he would prescribe my current meds but would not increase them. Not having any real time period to research drs and such I went with him. He has proceeded to be the worst dr I've ever had. Not listening to my complaints which two years ago resulted in me being found unresponsive with pneumonia and renal failure and a coma for 3 days. As soon as they started talking about changing opioid regulations he started cutting me down. Meanwhile in the last year I had started having significant right sided pain. . I told him every month or every visit that it was getting out of hand. Long story short I have a kidney stone. . Needs surgery tomorrow but he us refusing me post op meds. This us carrying things way to far. In last 3 months he has cut my pain meds more than half way while I've been dealing with this horrific additional pain. I'm at a loss. My life has become unbelievable.. my quality of life has declined.REPORT COMMENTS
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