Here is a really great article which looks at us the “collateral damage.” I don’t see why everyone in the media and many others are labeling anyone and everyone who takes an opioid for pain as an “addict.” Many procedures done today the patient is given a few days of pain medication. Such as wisdom teeth extractions, skin grafts and many others, are all of these people addicts? No, their 13 year olds and older patients that need something to be able to deal with their current, not normal pain.
I was rear ended 27 years ago by a drunk driver who was 2.7 DUI, open container, I was his fourth DUI accident, the lady he hit before me was still in the hospital. I was fully stopped and he rear ended me at an angel (2/3’s of his front end impacted the middle of my minivans tailgate, bending the rear frame 6-1/2” and moving the rear tires out of alignment with the front tires by about the same amount. This caused a spiral tear in my L1 – S5 vertebrae, caused four disc’s to leak spinal fluid into the nerves, three bulging disc, cracked five teeth when I hit the steering wheel (pre-air bags), whip lash which required a collar for six months.
I was unable to pick up my 2-1/2 month old son or my 3 year old daughter for six months, going out to the fair, dance recitals or even practices was not happening. The injuries required numerous medical treatments and procedures ending with me having an internal pain pump inserted into my abdomen which now, 24/7/365 is putting pain medication directly into my spine. The pump helped with about 60-65% of my pain and I was taking two (2) Norco a day as needed to help with the other 35-40%. That was until the 2016 CDC Guidelines came out and my pain management doctor (PMD) stopped the Norco cold turkey.
Never needed an early refill, never doctor shopped for more, never used the entire script in a month, and the list goes on. Since the 2016 CDC Guideline came out my I now have been denied pain medication by not only my general practitioner but my local pharmacy, twice. I take a piss test on average nine times a year when in the first 24 years post accident I was never given or asked to take a piss test, never. Does this make me an addict? No, it’s makes me a patient in chronic pain or if you prefer “collateral damage” Someone who wants to get back to a semi-normal life. I don’t want anymore pain meds then I need to control my current pain level. Hell, I’ll do your piss test, I sit through drug related classes, whatever just help take this extra pain away, PLEASE!!
Now, here is the link to the original article.
LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE: https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/chronic-pain-sufferers-call-themselves-collateral-damage-in-the-opioid-crisis
TAGS: KJRF, Opioid Crisis, Pain-sufferers, collateral-damage
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