“DRUG SEEKER”
Images of back alleys. Deals going down in parking lots where money & drugs change hands between ‘shady, scary, criminal people’. Dirty needles strewn in playgrounds where toddlers & children innocently play.
cont...
#OpioidHysteria
#chronicpain
Photo Narcanon CO

People unresponsive found in cars, their children strapped in car seats crying while EMTs try to revive their parents with Narcan;

That’s just a primer on the ‘WAR ON DRUGS’ imagery we have been inundated with for decades in America. We are drowning in images of pill bottles, pill monuments, overdose headlines.

We see the grief & outrage of those who have had loved ones die due to drug use and/or addiction issues, who demand that our elected officials give them the heads of opioid manufacturers & MDs on a silver platter, or at least shake Big Pharma down for billions to somehow pay.

But I digress…Sort of.

I sustained a C-spine injury in 2010. I’m just like someone you might know and love who got a diagnosis or was injured through no fault of their own. I was given opioid pain medicine to mediate severe, life-altering pain after a devastating accident.

It worked. I was taking an opiate and muscle relaxer combination for almost 2 years off and on. It was like a knob that turned down the deafening volume of my pain, allowing me to sleep, concentrate, Live. I could even watch a movie with my kids and my spouse without a break.

AND THEN CAME THE ‘OPIOID CIRSIS; THE WAR ON DRUGS CAME FOR DOCTORS AND PATIENTS.

Despite the fact that my condition was stable, suddenly one day my doctor, who was usually compassionate and empathetic, turned cold. She started coming into the exam room and without making eye contact, would talk about how she was being monitored by the DEA.

She made it clear, she was ‘uncomfortable’ RXing the low dose medicines that were allowing me to function. I was given terrifying ultimatums where I would be required to have surgery or steroid injections into my spine or be cut off from the medicines that were already working.

As far as I was concerned meds were preferable to me vs risking spinal surgery or consenting to dangerous epidural steroid injections. I fully understood the risks/benefits of ALL of my options.

NEXT CAME THE PAIN PAROLE PROTOCOLS & ‘ PAIN CONTRACTS’.

As the DEA and law enforcement “crisis” response escalated, if you were someone like me who benefited by taking RX opioids, you would now need to sign a pain contract in order to remain under care.

For those unfamiliar, this is a document stating that you agree to be drug tested repeatedly for the duration of your pain care to somehow prove you’re not a ‘drug seeker’. To be clear, this means lifetime drug tests for many who suffer from chronic conditions that cause pain-

These tests are now being considered as part of monthly evaluations to ostensibly prevent ‘aberrant use’ of prescribed medications and also to catch the use of any other drugs, licit or licit, that would be considered a red flag to the prescribing physician.

Pain contracts state that people filling certain medicines can only use one physical pharmacy location and often include stipulations that you will be required to show up for same day pill counts to ensure you haven’t taken any more or less than prescribed.

Bad pain days or good pain days are not acceptable excuses for deviation. Most state that only one doctor can prescribe any pain medicine to you, (even post surgically), under threat of care being discontinued altogether upon deviation from any aspect of your contract.

THE PRESCRIPTIONS DRUG MONTITORING PROGRAM DRAG NET WAS CAST

PDMPs are supposedly being utilized with the goal of preventing doctor-shopping and shutting down “pill mills.” For the chronic pain patient it means looks of suspicion by MDs, pharmacists, & medical staff regardless how vital prescribed opioids are to a person’s quality of life

PDMPs meant ‘special treatment’ on occasions when Emergency Room visits were necessary- Visits which those with chronic health issues will tell you are required far more often than most of us like to even think about.

By 2012 new normal became a constant cycle of trauma. Calling my MD for monthly refills & practicing what to say and what not to say became anxiety & terror-inducing ordeals. Would this be the day my MD tells me she’s going to refuse to write me the RX I depend on to function?

There were the sideways glances from medical professionals, covert whispers with backs turned while they called to verify the script. The ever-increasing blatant hostility & contempt. If anyone thought their disdain wasn’t completely obvious & transparent, they were wrong.

I admit, early in my pain journey I avoided advocating for myself too strongly for fear that I would be denied the medicines I desperately needed.

OPIOID PANIC HAD FULLY SET IN AND STARTED TO METASTASIZE

To be continued tomorrow...