{"id":12226,"date":"2011-01-31T01:28:55","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T08:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=12226"},"modified":"2011-01-31T01:28:55","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T08:28:55","slug":"how-to-avoid-being-seen-as-a-drug-seeker-if-you-have-chronic-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=12226","title":{"rendered":"How To Avoid Being Seen As A Drug-Seeker (if you have chronic pain)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Almost anything you do, if you suffer chronic pain, is viewed as drug seeking behavior.<\/strong> Going to multiple doctors in an attempt to get help? Yeah, you\u2019re 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\u2019re a drug seeker.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s an abysmally designed system.<\/p>\n

If you ever wind up with chronic pain, here are some suggestions that may help you:<\/p>\n

* Never admit to any recreational drug use.<\/strong> It doesn\u2019t 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\u2019ve ever gotten high or drunk, you\u2019re probably a drug seeker.<\/p>\n

* If you have to go to more than one MD to get help, don\u2019t report any doctor you\u2019ve given up on. <\/strong>Carry your medical records with you & let the new office make copies. Hide doctor shopping as well as you\u2019re able. Unfortunately, changing doctors because of changing health insurance coverage will be counted as doctor shopping. Doctor shopping is classic drug seeking behavior.<\/p>\n

* Never question your pain doctor. <\/strong>Nothing good will come of it.<\/p>\n

* When answering the doctor\u2019s questions, pretend that you\u2019re being questioned by the opposing lawyer at trial or an EBT.<\/strong> Your standard answers should be, \u201cYes,\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d Provide as little detail as you can while sticking to the point that you are in intolerable pain. The doctor doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

* Do not miss an appointment.<\/strong> Although severe pain is clearly a valid reason that a person might miss an appointment, it will be viewed as \u2013 Surprise! \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

* Dress as well as you can.<\/strong> The richer you appear, the less likely you\u2019ll be thought of as a drug seeker. Buy a suit, buy a cocktail dress. Look like you have money.<\/p>\n

* If you do happen to find a good doctor,<\/strong> one who cares more about your pain than worries that you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that there\u2019s more that I\u2019ve learned over the last twelve years, but they\u2019re not coming to mind at the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care-and-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}