How To Avoid Being Seen As A Drug-Seeker (if you have chronic pain)

(This is a comment Jake Squid left on a prior thread on “Alas.” Jake’s wife has had chronic pain for 12 years. –Amp)

Almost anything you do, if you suffer chronic pain, is viewed as drug seeking behavior. Going to multiple doctors in an attempt to get help? Yeah, you’re a drug seeker. Asking for a higher dose? Drug seeker. Hoarding? Drug seeker. Questions or complaints about random drug test policy? Drug seeker. Past history of recreational drug use? You’re a drug seeker.

This gives the patient no power and tons of stress worrying about being labeled a drug seeker and cut off from the (usually minimal) relief that they are getting. It’s an abysmally designed system.

If you ever wind up with chronic pain, here are some suggestions that may help you:

* Never admit to any recreational drug use. It doesn’t matter if you had a single hit off a bong when you were 14. Deny having ever touched a recreational drug. You should probably also say that you never drink alcohol. If you’ve ever gotten high or drunk, you’re probably a drug seeker.

* If you have to go to more than one MD to get help, don’t report any doctor you’ve given up on. Carry your medical records with you & let the new office make copies. Hide doctor shopping as well as you’re able. Unfortunately, changing doctors because of changing health insurance coverage will be counted as doctor shopping. Doctor shopping is classic drug seeking behavior.

* Never question your pain doctor. Nothing good will come of it.

* When answering the doctor’s questions, pretend that you’re being questioned by the opposing lawyer at trial or an EBT. Your standard answers should be, “Yes,” “No,” “I don’t know,” or “I don’t remember.” Provide as little detail as you can while sticking to the point that you are in intolerable pain. The doctor doesn’t want to hear your story. Things that you think are important are a distraction and can and will be interpreted as a sign of drug seeking behavior.

* Do not miss an appointment. Although severe pain is clearly a valid reason that a person might miss an appointment, it will be viewed as – Surprise! – drug seeking behavior. If you have to kill your partner, kidnap small children or take a bus driver hostage in order to make it to your appointment, do it.

* Dress as well as you can. The richer you appear, the less likely you’ll be thought of as a drug seeker. Buy a suit, buy a cocktail dress. Look like you have money.

* If you do happen to find a good doctor, one who cares more about your pain than worries that you’re scamming them for drugs, advertise the doctor everywhere you go online. People desperately need reviews of docs in order to have any chance of finding one who will help.

I’m sure that there’s more that I’ve learned over the last twelve years, but they’re not coming to mind at the moment.

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237 Responses to How To Avoid Being Seen As A Drug-Seeker (if you have chronic pain)

  1. 201
    Tina says:

    Went to the Er Saturday night/Sunday morning for ab pain. Doc came in listened to me but in a condescending way. I told him I was also sweating. I’d he freezing but sweating. Opps on that one. He stopped, grabbed my wrist, and checked my pulse. It scares me because when I was checked in they did an EKG. He left. Nurse came in said your hurting huh. She tells me doctor didn’t put any orders in but she would ask him. Lucky I had an outstanding nurse. He came back in, said nothing, but the heart monitor in my finger. I finally said us my heart ok your scaring me. He goes no your normal. Your Pulse was 135 when you came in. Walked out. The short if it- if you are withdrawing from pain meds you sweat and your pulse rate is up. So you know what he was thinking. Never mind it was cold out, had to walk a long way and I was seen as soon as I walked in. Turns out I’m passing a kidney stone. Had I not had anything wrong with me, I know I would of been treated differently. I get a kick out if those signs in hospitals stating we want to know when your in pain etc. Best just to keep tour mouth shut and hope they find something wrong with you.

  2. 202
    Aj says:

    I came across this site accidentally and what I read was shocking. Some of these “tips” are absolutely stupid and dangerous. There is a reason physicians don’t hand out pain meds like candy. The biggest is that they are extremely dangerous. One of the “tips” is don’t tell your physician what meds your on or if you use drugs or alcohol. Doing that is a good way to kill yourself. I see multiple pts a yr like this who accidentally overdose. You want your physician to trust you then do the following: be on time, be prepared (have your previous physician fax old records), follow instructions. I have no problem prescribing pain meds to people like this. If a physician wants you to try PT/OT, exercise, swimming, etc.. Give it a try it may help more than any pain med. if it doesn’t at least it shows you are willing to put forth an effort. Also a big thing is weight loss people tend to ignore this but if you are 300lbs and you come to me and say your back or knees hurt I’m telling you to lose weight. You start losing weight and still hurt I will gladly try more aggressive therapy. The vast majority of pts I see with chronic pain will not do any of this. The will not lose weight they don’t follow instructions and they don’t take care of there other med problems htn, diabetes, CAD etc… It is a huge risk for physicians to give out narcotics the DEA tracks every script and if your prescribing to much your going to be investigated the risk of losing a medical license that took 20 yrs to obtain is not worth it for many physicians. Those are just a few tips from a physicians point of view. It’s sad some people with legitimate pain go untreated but for every person I see with legitimate pain there are 3 that abuse the system physicians feel like its just not worth the hassle to deal with pts with chronic pain because of this.

  3. 203
    wannanah33 says:

    Aj says “It’s sad some people with legitimate pain go untreated but for every person I see with legitimate pain there are 3 that abuse the system…”

    It’s sad but? BUT!?

    No, it’s sad. Period.

    So what if someone is “abusing” the system? In theory, our system of justice operates on rules and procedures that will let many criminals go unpunished so that one innocent person will not be found guilty and punished. The same could be said about treating people with pain. It is better to let many people “abuse” the system so that one person who is living – every single minute of every single day – in pain is not left to suffer because his doctor has decided not to prescribe substances that will relieve that person’s pain.

    Note, the doctor is taking into consideration the DEA and being investigated and possibly losing his medical license. Those are real issues, but they rarely result in the actual stripping of a person’s medical license. And doctors who are worth their salt should be prepared to defend their actions in any investigation. But take a step back and realize that those things have little to do with the doctor’s role of treating his patients.

    I should think that a doctor that actually cares about the people he or she treats – i.e., who is in the healing profession for the right reasons – would understand or at least be able to empathize with what it is like to be in considerable pain through much of one’s waking existence.

    So what if you have people who are addicted to drugs? So what? Addiction – in and of itself – is not too terrible a thing for the vast numbers of people who have it. We are addicted to air, and to water, and to food, and we will fight very hard to get these things if we do not have them. The same is true of substances all across the board, substances that are neither innately required nor used by most people in their lifetimes. Many people can barely function without some chemical substances (illegal or legal, prescribed or not), but most people who do have addictions can do just fine in their lives with little or no problems with their health, vocation, or relationships.

    The problem is not addiction necessarily, but the things we do to keep people who are addicted separated from what they want. We do not have people stealing or inventing clever schemes to obtain tobacco. Why? Because it is cheap and we do not require a prescription for nicotine. But imagine if tobacco did require a prescription, because it also had a beneficial health effect, such as promoting healing after a surgery. Some doctors might be reluctant to prescribe tobacco to prevent a possible addiction, and those patients might not heal as well or as quickly, and could possibly suffer. But the doctor would weigh that with the possibility of the potential for addiction. My point is that it should not be the doctor that makes that decision. It is the patient’s decision, especially when that doctor is taking into consideration things that are unrelated to the patient’s condition, such as how many doctors the patient has seen for said condition, or the number of prescriptions that doctor has written to other patients, or the DEA. A patient who is in pain does not – and should not- care about those things, except that they must, because it causes them to lie to their doctors so that they do not appear to be drug seeking.

    I know most doctors probably care at least a little about at least a few of their patients, but I think the stigma of addiction and drug use causes doctors to care about the wrong things. And because doctors aren’t the most personally insightful bunch – they tend to be quite smart which means they are right about most things most of the time – which makes it harder for them to see the times when they are actually wrong.

    Stiga and social norms are things that aren’t fact-based, you can’t go check to see if you are right about them, and so they are particularly ingrained in people’s minds. And they are notoriously difficult to change. Doctors care more about not giving drug addicts what they want (which I argue is not necessarily a terrible thing it’s made out to be) than about caring for people in pain.

    Bottom line: if a doctor is concerned about harming a patient, he is concerned about the wrong thing in cases like this. A doctor giving a patient – who is not in any physical pain – a particular drug is not likely to cause nearly as much harm (by feeding an addiction) as a doctor refusing to prescribe the same drug to someone who is genuinely in pain. The point is, doctors can’t ever really be sure, because doctors feel like they know a lot more than they do, they are quick to judge, and many are incapable of recognizing when they are wrong.
    So yes, it’s sad. End of story.

  4. 204
    M says:

    No the hype over drug abuse is obscene . Most people get labeled as drug seeking when they frequently have real complaints. Good people do suffer from this and usually they think if I just tell the truth someone will see my suffering and help. Not true. I had an impaction fracture and had to suffer through that because I was labeled. Also I had countless other thing that had to be repaired surgically. When you are truly in Pain and need something to help you overcome it You come off as begging for something. Usually that something is just a little relief. I knew of a doctor who used to make people suffer saying they don’t need narcotics they are all just seeking. When he was on his death bed dying of colon cancer he looked a a nurse and said ” forgive me I never knew of the suffering” There is a balance . I no longer. Need a narcotic for my temporary situation . However I feel bitter that I suffered unnecessarily. I know in my heart I never would have become ” addicted ” because it was a temporary situation. I thought doctors were supposed to do no harm. The procedure of labeling people has harms them. They suffer. ” Judge not lest ye be judged.” if you are a burned out doctor maybe a break or a different career may be helpful. Or at the least I hope you fall and break your arm and see how well it goes for you. Tear your shoulder and keep dislocating it like I did when I fell . Oh yeah I put it back in place myself. Without drugs . But I would have been so much less damaged and bitter and angry if someone could have taken the edge off . Maybe then when I slammed the bones against each other letting them grind together causing audible cracking in the hospital and the lasting damage it caused I would have felt more like a human being and less like someone being forced to carrying a sentence of pain until I finally healed .If you dont listen to this you very well may have to suffer. It happened to me . I thought I was just an honest person telling them how much it hurt focused on the pain because when you are in

  5. 205
    Jake Squid says:

    Thank you, wannanah33. I was too tired and discouraged to respond to Aj. You said mostly what I would like to say, only nicer.

  6. 206
    Alic says:

    For LouLou,

    I’ve found that doctors at the hospital or ER haven’t read all the history on a patient (like what your gastro dr. or regular dr might have written). And they are in a hurry when you try to tell them what meds work and what ones don’t. I find they pay more attention if you write down on a SINGLE piece of paper the information you want them to know. For example, something like this:

    Dr. x instructed me to come for IV pain med. (Normally I manage without it, but have occasional flareups.) I last came to ER for pain management on June 4th, and before that on January 10. (I saw Dr. X and Dr. Y on those visits.) My experience with different pain medications has been:
    Date Medication name worked well/did not work well/stomach pain
    Date Medication name worked well/did not work well/rash/etc
    Date Medication name ….etc etc etc
    and so on
    (If you don’t know the exact date you tried a medication, just write “Approx. (the month )(the year).

    In other words, instead of trying to make them listen, you can write down all the meds you’ve tried that did not work, and the ones that did work and dates. Then, SIGN the bottom of the paper. When you see the ER doctor, hand that piece of paper directly to her/him (not to a nurse, etc). They seem to take it more seriously if you give them something written down, and sign it. They usually take time to look at the information that way. And I don’t get so flustered or ashamed when I hand them the paper as when I talk to them.

    G00d luck!

  7. 207
    Ruchama says:

    And as for the “people who won’t lose weight,” the times when I’m in the most pain are the times when I am by far the least likely to exercise (just the regular walking I have to do as part of my usual day exhausts me and makes the pain a whole lot worse) and also the times I’m most likely to be eating unhealthy food. (I love cooking. When I’ve got the spoons for it, I love making fancy dinners, for myself or for other people. But on days when I’m hurting badly? I’m lucky if I can manage spaghetti. Sticking a frozen dinner in the microwave is far more likely.)

    (And that reminds me, I need to stop at the supermarket to pick up some chives on the way home from work.)

  8. 208
    eric says:

    All this fits in with the broader war on drugs…which is really simply a war on people. I laugh every time I see one of those pain scale happy/sad face pictures on the wall. Even funnier is that they actually read that you have a “right” to pain relief…no kidding? For reals? NO not really, you only have a right to whatever the MD thinks is reasonable. I have had both good and bad experiences; on the good side the doc is compassionate and does all he/she can and on the bad side they ignore your pain altogether.

    Isn’t everyone who shows up with a legitimate pain situation drug seeking? Let’s be honest, if a couple aspirin and a heating pad would solve the issue who would spend hundreds of dollars on an er visit? My PCP won’t even prescribe narcotic pain meds at all; which means that for any acute situation like a low back strain with muscle spasms I’m basically forced to go to the er. I really like my PCP and we have a close relationship so I’ve stayed with him. He wouldn’t have ever made this change if it weren’t for the meddling DEA.

    It’s comforting to know that my medical decisions are ultimately made by some non-medical policing agency…don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy?

  9. 209
    Robert says:

    Fuck all state power.

  10. 210
    gin-and-whiskey says:

    Lots of it is liability. I don’t care how much you document it, when someone gets addicted or (worse yet) dies of an OD then they end up suing the doctor for malpractice, along with everyone else. OTOH, someone who fails to get pain relief won’t generally have the ability to sue.

    Has Michael Jackson been refused his meds, he’d be a wreck. He wanted them. he knew he needed them. But if he had been refused, nobody would be defending against a gazillion dollar lawsuit, which–even if they win–costs six figures to defend.

    Besides, patients can’t sign away their risk. That’s because the system assumes that they can’t fully understand their risk or their situation. This patriarchal oversight is the same thing that prevents a lot of unscrupulous medical behavior but it certainly has a bad effect w/r/t pain relief. And tort reform is not the answer, either; I don’t know what is.

    But liability is a big, big, thing. Yes, doctors are here to help people; no, they shouldn’t have to risk their license to do so. When folks say “And doctors who are worth their salt should be prepared to defend their actions in any investigation” it seems more than a bit blase; these can be career-ending issues.

    I wish I had a solution. It really sucks.

  11. 211
    Helaina Hinson says:

    Docs don’t realize their denial of meds CAUSES deaths. People OD on bad shit because they can’t get pain relief legally, they kill themselves out of desperation to escape (like Dick Trickle did), or get addicted to something like heroin because that’s all they can buy on the street to get relief.

    Michael Jackson is a good example. He had serious insomnia that should have been treated properly years before. Nobody would help except the pond scum who wanted his money. I understand why Michael turned to propofol…..I saw ELEVEN doctors in five years, trying to get help for mine. You know the lame advice you get…. drink warm milk….don’t read in bed….. I even had a dimwit tell me to go to Barnes & Noble and buy the most boring book they had! I finally screamed at the last anal orifice that if that shit worked, I wouldn’t tbe spending 80 bucks and taking time off work to come see him.

    Everybody smiles and tells me how it’s not so bad, life can still be good…. and all of them are Happy Mouths who have never had anything bad happen to them. I wish I had been killed instead of injured, and I say that without an ounce of self-pity. I am in constant pain. We are ruined financiallly, and may end up in the street. My most horrible fear in life looms ahead if I live another ten or fifteen years…..indigent, in some state-run hellhole of a nursing home.

  12. 212
    eric says:

    @gin-and-whiskey
    You are right about the liability, however I have to disagree somewhat on tort reform. We have allowed far too much of the liability to fall back on the medical profession. Ultimately, medical decisions should always be made by the patient after being informed of their options. Gross malpractice is one thing but frivolous litigation for anything and everything is now the norm.

    Oh, and gin-and-whiskey is equally dangerous stuff;)

  13. 213
    kim mccracken says:

    My pain doctor treated me very well as long as i let him give me at least five nerve block injections at every appointment. When i told him they were not helping he cut me off my pain meds. Now i will be looking for a new doctor again. Several times i heard his nurse yelling at someone who called to get there meds refilled and she would go off about how every one was a drug addict. Why do these people even treat patients if they just want to label you as a drug addict and really do not understand how we suffer ?? I have had a failed triple low back fusion and now i have two more ruptured disc. My surgeon told me he would have to fuse my whole back if he were to do surgery on me. They do not understand for the rest of your life you will be in pain. Im only 45 and im so tired that i just want to die . I have no life anymore . I struggle just to do dishes an laundry. Some times i just cry because i feel so helpless and there is no hope of ever being pain free . I struggled with depression for a long time and now without my meds I’m afraid i will slip back into that again . All the stress makes my pain even worse.

  14. 214
    Teresa says:

    I am a 15 yr , I really badly botched neck fusion and 2 later follow up bcck and then front days apart 10 hr each to attempt to repair what can’t be UNDONE. I am currently going through a battle with Work Comp, where out the blue, they they decided to send my so called formation to someone the they (work comp) picks as” Qualified medical Exterminator) “or extortioner” depending on your views…a little humor their fir ya)They never meet with me , they could to possibly get my records, that would take boxes and boxes. They go by one year, how on earth can you put 15 solid year of hell and a life ruined all neatly tied up in ayear??”? But my main point in I can Not FIND he WORDS to put into the resentment and degrading feeding when I read they work with they have written more than one time, And let me add (in 15 years, I have never asked for meds early, I have never “lost”my medication, I have followed EVERY rule. Then the add, now my quote from the when adding Meprobamate, Cardisoroprol abuse (I have NO signs of abuse)
    1) increasing orsedation of benzodiazepines with alcohol
    2)Used to prevent side affect of cocain.(Again I don’t partake.)
    3)Use wiht tramadol (don’t take) to ruduce anxiety and euphoria (wow haven’t had that since high school (euphoria that is, and even then it wan’t drugs ,I’m sure it was in the back seartof my boyfriends car) And I am 56 now. I actually think a little euphoria woud be kind of nice. ;)
    4) as a combination with hydrocodone for and and effect similar to heroin (never tried) and (referred to as as Soma Coma, Good lord they know more more about drugs than I could ever learn)
    5) As a combo with Codein Aka your Soma for Your once again good old Soma Coma . I don’t take Codein Gee I’m missin out on: Herioin effects, soma coma’s euphoria. Soma Coma’s Aren’t they supposed to know what medication I take? ad liv and quote…. But it does mention I have more, onsomnia,vomiting, tremors,muscle twitching,anziety, ANd last but not least atatia don’t even want to know what that is) How is the hell can they get you on this stuff, and then now abruptly stop.It just seems so cruel to me! Geeze, just sign me Debbie Downer

  15. 215
    Billy Tyne says:

    TOLERANCE, AND PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE PEOPLE. I CAN TAKE 10 NORCO WITH NO RELIEFE BUT LAW WEEKEND i WAS INTHE HOWPIAL HAVING M 4TH HIP 4REPLACEMENTS. 12 MORE BACKK, 3 NOSE, BOTH NEED 2 RIGHT FOOT. TAKE FILMS WHEN I GO BUT NEVER SEEMS TOHELP MAYBE 25 MCG fentanyl patch…..don’t go too far there doc….been on 100 mcg, 30 oxy ir 4xs a day for bt pain and 6 norco. felt fairly well too but TX thinks they are yours to make sure tyou don’t divert..ok someone with my file, is he gonna devert, no he isgonna see another doc. I was taking that for by back and a drunk driver and iam a DAV meritorious service award.
    Va is by far the worst of all. 3 hydro a day. Why don’t they stop not just my pain but these brave soldiers…….hooooooooah……thos eof you not in TX or OR are lucky. Sae place that issues drivers license gives dr’s their dps number so they can write more potent class 2 If someonedont lilisten soon. I’m out…..a memory and don’t care what my famly thinks. so any suggestions

  16. 216
    John says:

    What it really is, is that doctors just don’t understand what real life is like. I am only 27 and i am so broken down that when i come home from work i can’t even do anything but lay in the hot tub for an hour then go straight to the couch. I wish i could do other stuff like play outside with my two kids and do things to help the wife around the house but i just can’t. I have been a professional flooring installer for more the ten years now. started doing it when i was 16, and have been doing it ever since. My back and knees constantly ache, and lock up and my knees always buckle on me. Every doctor i have seen says that im to young to be in chronic pain. How would he know though is what i wanna know. these doctors went to collage right after high school, work in air conditioned offices and have never had to do a day of hard labor in there life. i do it every day. lift things that weigh up to 150 lbs by myself and am constantly on my knees and up and down on the floor all day. they wont even help me because they think im to young wont give me a ct or an MRI to even see if im being honest. it just isn’t right. i would love to see them do what i do every day for 10 years and then tell me how they feel. There are days when the pain is so bad that i feel i would rather quit and stay in bed then go and be in more pian but i cant because i have a family to take care of. i have tried everything from advile to motrin to bayer back and body and they worked for a little while but they stop working after so long. i know i am only 27 but i feel like im in my 50s..

  17. 217
    Shelly says:

    I was recently arrested for doctor shopping after my third trip to the ER at the same hospital. I had been with the same doctor for almost five years. I was off on my last pill count but my doctor and I discussed it.I was given a warning. I had an appointment I completly missed. I usually got a reminder call, but didnt. my 2nd missed appointment I had called to let them know I had been sick that morning throwing up and couldn’t make it in. A week before my refill date his nurse called and said I was being dropped as his patient. I called several times asking for a refill until I could get into another clinic but his nurse never returned my calls. The following week I was in an accident where my car was t-boned. I spammed up against my window then back against the center console. I was in shock. I was asked if wanted an ambulance and declined it. My son took me to an after hours clinic. I explained my situation with the accident and also with my pain clinic dropping me the week before. He gave me meds enough to get into see a pain doctor. Mean while the pain clinic which had just dropped me I could go see the docs PA but not the doctor so I set an uppointment up with her. However, I didn’t have enough pain meds to stretch that far. So I went back to the after hours clinic I was recently seen after my accident and explained I had an appointment but I had to wait longer than what was anticipated the first time I went there. It was a different doctor so I had to explain my situation again and I was completely upfront and honest. He did check my perscription records and saw that I was telling the truth so he gave me another perscription just enough unit I could get into see the.PA. I called the day before my apointment to see what all I needed to bring with me when I was told by the receptionist I owed over $500.00 and needed to put $100.00 towards my bill if I wanted to be seen. I didn’t have the money so I had to cancel my appointment and then started calling every other pain doctor and clinic arount to see if i could get in to see them quicklty.I tried to stretch what meds I had until I could get into see a new doctor or clinic. However, the following weekend I started into horrible withdrawals and went to the nearest ER.I was given a patch and was sedated. Once I was stable they let me go with a perscription for anti-nausea pills and was told to come back again if I had anymore problems. I was ok for about20 hours when my withdrawls came back but this time I was so sick an ambulance was called for me.they took me back to the same ER and they repeated the same treatment and sent me home in a cab because it was so late and I was about 30 minutes from where I wss staying. The next day my withdrawals came back and anaambulance was called again and I was taken to the same ER. Each time I had explained to them why I was going through the withdrawals. The 3rd doctor told me he wouldn’t help and had his nurse call a relative 45 minutes away. Then I was told to wait for my ride. The next thing I know the doctor had called the police. One officer came into talk to me. He said because I couldn’t remember what the first doctor had done I was being charged with doctor shopping. It took a few hours later for me to realize why I couldn’t remember. I been sedated during my first two trips into the ER. Once I was at the jail they stripped me of all the anti nausea patches and all other meds I was on. I was stripped of my Effexor, hormones, thyroid meds, Etc. Etc. I have never been arrested or have had to deal with the law except on two speeding tickets about 20 years earlier. I had never been involved in illegal drugs nothing. I went through horrible withdrawals from my effexor. I ended up trying to commite suicide. I begged the officers for my antidepressants but was laughed at. After being released I went into talk to my former pain doctor who told me he was never informed the pain clinic had dropped me until about 3weeks later. It is not his clinic so he couldn’t override the decision to drop me. However, he had just started up a new clinic of his own on Friday only since he only worked M-Thur and he started to see me as his patient again. What I don’t understand is how can they charge me of perscription fraud which I guess is the same as doctor shopping when I completely honest with ever doctor I saw? I have sever issues with my spine and any doctor who looked at my MRIs could see that. Ive even had 3 layers in my neck fused with more needed because my bone spurs have grown into my spinal cord dammingup the spinal fluid which give me horrendous headheadaches. I had juvenile arthritis as a teanager, I have so many bulging disc, pinched nerves etc.etc. I have the proof im in bad shape so why the charge? I have other health issues such a fibromyalgia, Hoshimotos, ddepression, innersticialcystitis-cronic bladder diseases with no cure, and other heath issues. I’m not a spring chicken. I went thru pure hell while in jail. At that time I hadn’t even been charged but they still kept me in jail. Its been over one month since being in jail and I was told that I am being charged of perscription fraud. How does that happen? If I was hiding something why in hell would I go to the same dam ER? They didnt even give me narcotics. All I wanted was relief from the withdrawals any advice?

  18. 218
    Christine Horold says:

    Shelly, I would find myself a very good lawyer and let him see what can be done in your case. It looks like faults arrest, and I believe according to the constitution that they can not hold you without charging you – that happens to be against the law–unless you a terrorist (and they have rights too). About the pain clinic there might be something done legally. I would find myself a good lawyer and have at it. Enough is enough.

  19. 219
    Works at a PCP says:

    Not correct, CH. They can hold you for up to 72 hours without charging you.

  20. 220
    Christine Horold says:

    This is for works at a pcp. thanks for enlightening me, I stand corrected. However, Shelly did not say how long she was in jail before they charged her. I wish there is something that could be done. this is really getting out of hand.

  21. 221
    Helaina Hinson says:

    There are levels of understanding. It’s just like kids and the ABC song. They know the lyrics, not the alphabet. Docs study chronic pain in medical school, but that doesn’t mean they know everything about it. They’ve never experienced it.

    We should get together and spend a day at the state capital, visiting each rep’s office. They make these laws based on information from the DEA and the FDA, not patients.

  22. 222
    Tina says:

    That is the problem chronic pain patients don’t have the ability to fight back as most do good to make it day to day because the pain wears us out physically, mentally, and every other way but I do agree that we should fight back.

  23. 223
    StillStanding says:

    I am SO SICK of….being in pain, being SICK, and people who don’t give a rat’s ass how much genuinely ill and hurting patients have to live in pain until we are suicidal! WELL OVER 90% of Rx drug overdose deaths involve mixing of illegal drugs and alcohol with Rx medications that are not prescribed to them. PERIOD. This is NO EXCUSE for forcing people who have already lost so much to LIVE EVERY DAY IN PAIN on top of it all. SOMEONE has to stop forcing ill people to suffer, and using this lame joke bogus excuse for it. It is the most brutally ugly fact in American medicine. Women and minorities are more likely to suffer untreated pain in their final days than white men. SICKENING. These are the kinds of things that leave those of us who have lived in pain for years, looking forward to leaving this godforsaken planet! I swear on my headstone to say Latah Suckahs! It’s all YOURS! (I am in pain right now, can you tell?)

  24. 224
    jeff says:

    I have inoperable chronic back pain for 4 years+ I almost died in fiery car crash 30 years ago that left me with deformed hands.I left burn hospital off all pain meds and never was addicted I was in burn unit 4 months and worked the next 30 years with severely deformed and painful hands.I know what pain is.for last 3 years pain meds helped back pain.I followed rules with Dr. Recently pain Dr cut meds that gave me life back to a level that doesn’t work and was told to learn to deal with it.I can’t go on much longer in this much pain.I tried everything under the sun 4 years ago to reduce pain so I could keep working.now I know I can’t work its very hard to type this.I am going to end my life due to pain.not today but soon if heart attack rodent I hope I can stand pain untill Feb.I’m too weak from pain to look for other Dr.suicides by pain patients are going up but nobody knows.they just think another druggies od. history will look back as me and many others as martyred.before you or a loved one has to face chronic undertreated pain would someone help.I know its too late for me but many are suffering needlessly.someone please help them and stop th

  25. 225
    Tina says:

    Well I hope no takes their own life due to chronic pain but I do understand wanting too, I think of it daily myself. If or maybe I should say when I decide that I am done living with pain or having to fight just to get meds. becomes to much, when that time comes I will definitly leave a note that I will want my family to publish stating that I took my life because of the pain and the fact that dr.’s can no longer give the medication for chronic pain to keep this from happening. I so wish that everyone that has already taken their lives for this reason would have let the world know without a doubt why they took their life. Are we going to have to stage a mass suicde to get the attention of the DEA/FDA and Dr.’s that their system isn’t working to stop drug abuse among the few but causing death among the majority.

  26. 226
    michelle says:

    To Jeff and anybody else, have u ever considered alternative meds? I’m not talking about acupuncture, I mean herbals. There have been many people suffering from sever pain that have had to turn to herbals for relief after being cut off from there pain meds. My heart is breaking after reading your posts. I wish to help you. My email is bjdes123@gmail.com I would like to speak to you.

  27. 227
    Teresa says:

    I would like to know how many chronic pain suffers (for years, 15 for me) Have had all medication taken away cold turkey. I am just now out of bed after 4 weeks of totally being in bed. No better than a dog, my husband feeds me and takes care of me like a dog. Here are my two main questions. 1) I must go to my very good pain management Dr once month to get prescription (that they deny) and yet I am being told some stranger who has never met , or talked to me I doesn’t even know what the hell I tool like, knows what is better for me than my well respected doctor. Supposedly he was given my records. And they read every inch if 15 years of of paper work that is well over a foot high, and that is just from one DR. (yeah right) and now they know that I don’t require any medication. Or enough that will work like aspirin (NOTHING) So why my Dr and yet their Dr is better, smarter, more familiar with my case, ( I know for a fact that is not true it’s can’t be. It would be years before they coudl get to everyone, and I don’t think you need to be a rocket scientist for that one.
    OK 2) People who are wealthy enough to afford good personal insurance can get their medication. They may have to wait a day or two, but they get it. Now I must have misunderstood, because I thought or possible was mistakenly given the incorrect information, but I thought the purpose of the law was to stop DR’s who they think hand out medication like candy, Yet with insurance THEY still do, just not to work comp. Is there anyone who can explain what I have misunderstood? Please ( For the record, I have a botched neck fusion (the Dr knew and did nothing. But did send me to a chiropractor, so the could twist the hell out of the unconnected equipment, which by the way I mentioned for 3 years that looked crooked to to me. I was finally informed and had to go to ucsf and have a a 10 hour surgery in the front, woke up and was told lucky me I get another 10 hour in a couple of day thru the back, I have so much metal in me I can’t believe I can pass the thingy to board a plain.
    Sorry so long…..Any comments, suggestions, or am I just nuts?

  28. 228
    Debbie says:

    I had a doc give me pain meds but I guess twice I asked for them a day or two early now she wont give them to me at all.. I mean im hurting bad I was hit and ran n drug by a truck 20 brokers never healed right especially my back im in constant pain n other docs takes on cronic pain patie what do i do?

  29. 229
    Mark says:

    I feel what youre all going thru, ive been on vic esers for 4 years, the pain is unbearable, im scared to tell my pain mngmnt dr that they dont work now and im finishing my scripts early. I get epidural and trigger points in my left shoulder and l5s1 spine every 3 months, i am contimplating suicide now. I cant leave my wife, i love her, she loves me so much. Im afraid to tell them it doesnt work as well anymore because i dont want to look like a drug seeker. Godbless you all, im in excruciating pain as i type this.

  30. 230
    Tina says:

    Mark I feel your pain, I am in the same spot, the meds. dont work after 12 yrs. but if I try talking to the Dr. about it, he just blows it off, he even lowered my meds. alot of good that does when they don”t work or at least not enough, it is getting crazy when you can’t be honest for fear of them dropping you. It is like they hold that script pad over your head either stay quiet and stay in line or your gone then what is left trying to find a pm dr. when your into much pain and probably withdrawls and can’t function to find a new dr., it is wrong, the system sucks for the people who are in pain, it seems to work great for the ones who aren’t that makes alot of since. Wish I had advice but I don’t I just do as I am told and then do what i have to in order to make it through the month, quality of life for me is going to dr., pharmarcy, grocery store, and that is it dont’ go anywhere is the rest of the month just sit in pain and try to keep my mind busy so I dont go insane or kill myself. If they had assissted suicdice I will be the first in line. I am single so no problems with that. There must be more to life then this, I know there is in my mind I want to do so much but not able to it is like being in hell already for something that I didn’t cause. Best of luck to you.

  31. 231
    jeff says:

    To tina and others like her and me who suffer needlessly knowing that our suffering can and has been helped by meds but we can’t get them in the doses that work if at all:due to the pain and the refusel of drs to help us have lives that we once had I have thought of ending my life.I know of 2 people who took their lives due to lack of pain control meds and medical examiner and media made no mention of real reason I know in their suicide notes they stated so.I am going to have to end my life soon because I can’t stand this much longer the pain will be the cause and will be in my note,but the reason will be the lack of or undertreatment of this pain.I like Tina thought if we all ended our lifes on one day with notes that plainly state that physical pain and the lack of treatment is responsiable maybe media will let people know that this is a real problem that could affect any one thru injury or illness.I actually thought of starting a web site to sign myself up and state what date I will end my life and ask others who are being forced to make the choice of unbeareable pain or death because the choice of meds that work for us has been taken away.I can’t use computer well so it was just an idea.if anyone else could do that I would sign up.it would have to be done within law and only the number of people could be told not names and have a way to prevent names from getting out.I know a lot of peoplewould sign up and not act,but I would surely act.I’m going to be forced to make that choice soon any way.too many drs already told me ill have pain the rest of my life.sad thing is the drs that treat pain can’t or won’t help.the numbers of people who end their lives because of un or undertreated pain are not being counted and die needlessly and silently.I will not use meds to end my life because if I do or you do it will be called just another druggie death.how sad is it that society really dosent care if a addict dies but to make themselfes feel better they deny meds to all,not careing about people with real pain.I’m. Done

  32. 232
    jeff says:

    Who can we tell the suffering we have that can help b4 its too late and nobody will help with chronic pain

  33. 233
    Tina says:

    I wonder if we could start a petition just stating that we are going to end our lives on such and such date and have as many chronic pain patients sign it, first names only I would say, not that we would or not that most would be maybe if that petition got to the right people they would see we are serious that we want to take back our health care and let our Dr.’s decide what we should have or most of us know what we need we just can’t get anyone to listen but they might if they thought that so and so was going to go throw with it on a certain date. Only problem is who do when send it to the President, DEA/FDA to let them know that to stop one drug abuser they are putting our very lives in danger also.

  34. 234
    jeff says:

    Why did they remove my comment,I know it was long but it was up now gone.I don’t know much about computers and didn’t save it and it hurts to type I’m done

  35. 235
    Ampersand says:

    Hi, Jeff and Tina. This is Amp, the blogrunner. I apologize for temporarily taking down your two most recent messages. I had to consider whether or not to let them through.

    For now, I am letting them through. But with all respect, I don’t think I can allow this blog to become a place for people to organize their suicide plans. I’m very sorry for the pain you’re in, and I wish I could help you. One of my best friends has very severe chronic pain, so I know secondhand how it can affect your life. But I’m just not willing to facilitate suicide. Please continue using this forum to discuss your feelings, and to discuss political organizing (which I think is a great idea), but don’t plan suicides here.

    I don’t believe that either suicide threats or actual suicides will be effective ways of creating political change. On the contrary, there is nothing easier for those in power to ignore than people who have died and who are thus no longer speaking out.

    I know I can’t fully understand what you’re going through. But for what it’s worth, I recommend that you visit http://www.crisischat.org/chat for live online chat with CrisisChat, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

  36. 236
    Sara says:

    I had a weird experience recently. I had a seizure I was unaware of because I live alone. Okay I apparently knocked a hole into my wall and I must have damaged my kidneys temporarily. My skin changed color then then there was blood in my urine next day I couldn’t urinate at all even after drinking two huge powerades. So then the next day it felt like my kidneys just set in fire. I called 911 the emts told me to caln down because I yelled at them. I thought I was dying of kidney failure. I got to the er they hooked me up to ivs I was literally writhing in pain. They harshly shoved a catherter in me. I writihed in pain all day. By the tine they actually examined me they found nothing wrong. I was scared all day id never felt anything like that before. Sigh. They treat you like shit. I hate it. This needs to be rectified. Its only going to get worse. I never ever call 911. I just dont know anymore..

  37. 237
    Cindy Grace says:

    I wrote something really long. To sum it up I was in pain 15 to 16 years. In the end three MRI’s were taken. Then I was sent right to the ER. The neurosurgeon said my spine looked like a battlefield wound. I’ve had two surgeries one day he did my thorax. The next day I had cervical surgery. Now I going thru physical therapy to get my strength back before they do the lumbar surgery on Nov.22. I Wish we could all get together and talk face to face. I’m in Denver. There is nothing worse than being dependent on a pain doctor.