CNN Gets It Wrong About Pain Patients
/By Sarah Daniels, Guest Columnist
You may have seen last night’s CNN town hall meeting on “Prescription Addiction: Made in the USA.”
I couldn’t believe it when Dr. Drew Pinsky said that real compliant pain patients are “a very tiny minority” of prescription opioid users.
I’m so sick of being grouped in with addicts! Because of all the new CDC regulations, I had to go weeks without my medication after being on high doses of opiates for a long time.
No one would give me my medication. Every pharmacy I went to said they were out. One pharmacy had the medication and was getting ready to fill it when the head pharmacist came over and told me unfortunately they wouldn't be able to give me the script. When I asked why she said they didn’t have it. I explained I was told they did and it was being filled. She said it wasn’t enough.
I asked if my doctor could write a different script for a temporary amount, would they be able to fill it and she just handed it back to me saying, "Like I said, I’m sorry, I can’t help you."
Then I went to a hospital pharmacy that did have the medication and they actually told me they needed to save it for patients who had short-term pain like surgeries for broken ankles. When I asked how someone's broken ankle pain was more important than my chronic pain from my genetic illness they asked me to quiet down and leave. If I didn't they would have to call security.
I was being polite and respectful, because I know as a pain patient you have to be the best advocate you can be, especially with all the stigma attached to opiates. I was also being quiet because I am never loud when discussing my pain meds, as you never know who is listening.
I never fight or argue or really raise my voice with anyone. I am a happy person despite my illness. I am grateful and thankful for each day I wake up and am able to spend with the people I love.
I did not appreciate someone making me out to be a completely different person than I am. It was like they actually felt threatened by me. Give me a break. I was in a wheelchair.
Now I’m not able to find the medication. My doctor wrote me a script for the medication because we have both decided it is the only thing and best thing for me to be on. It gets me out of bed and still, I can’t get it.
Now I am forced to go to a new pain clinic with new meds, where they're making me stop medical marijuana, which is the only thing keeping me from a feeding tube. They are making me come in for a visit once a week and each week I have to get drug tested and get labs drawn which costs $16. The visit itself costs $35.
SARAH DANIELS
They also want me to see a pain psychologist twice a week (who I already saw with my previous pain specialist and was cleared by). God only knows what that costs.
I’m on disability. It barely covers my insurance and yet I have to do all of these things to be compliant. I have to come up with the money for all of these appointments and procedures, find someone who will be able to drive me, as I am disabled and cannot do so on my own, and also be well enough to even leave my house to make these appointments, just so that I am considered compliant. So that I can take a medication that I’m not sure will even work.
I am just disgusted by what is going on. As pain patients we are left in the dust. Nobody stands up for us. We try to stand up for ourselves, we are pretty strong, but we need bigger louder forces on our side.
Sarah Daniels lives in the Detroit, Michigan area. She suffers from Ehlers Danlos syndrome and gastroparesis. Sarah is a proud supporter of the Ehlers Danlos National Foundation and the Gastroparesis Patient Association for Cures and Treatments (G-Pact).
Pain News Network invites other readers to share their stories with us. Send them to: editor@PainNewsNetwork.org.
The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represent the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.
