By Kathleen Harrington, Guest Columnist

There are so many untruths being reported about this false opioid crisis. I never read the truth about the REAL problem.

I’ve been a chronic pain patient for over 25 years, living with chronic cervical pain, degenerative disc disease, cervical lordosis, stenosis, lumbar scoliosis and bone spurs. Like so many thousands of others, I had my pain medication and quality of life ripped from me.

None of my questions were answered and I was never given a reason why I was losing my meds. I was ignored as the doctor turned and walked out of the room.

I had great pain control for 25 years. I followed all the rules, passed all the drug screens, never tried to refill my scripts early and never claimed they were “stolen” to get more. Now I am the patient that no one wants. As soon as it is known that I need pain meds, a wall goes up.

The medical profession tossed us all in the garbage. The persecution of people with chronic pain is everywhere in this country. Prescription meds are not the problem and never were.

Now I see there are doctors asking for donations from us in their fight against being prosecuted by the DEA simply because they write a high number of valid opioid prescriptions for their patients.  

Where were they when the CDC Guidelines came out in 2016 and most doctors took them as new laws? They certainly didn’t have our backs then.

And what about the threatening letters the DEA sends to physicians about prescribing controlled substances? ILLEGAL drugs are the drugs killing people! Instead of fighting the real fight, chronic pain patients, the disabled and our vets have been the scapegoats. We have been denied the medications that allowed us to have productive lives, raise our kids, work and take care of our homes, just have a nice life with our pain controlled. Who will tell the truth finally? 

We have followed the rules with our meds and this country is catering to the addicts with compassion because they have an addiction. Are you kidding me? Chronic pain patients don't get high off their meds. We take them to live without pain as much as we can.

The medical profession and the rule makers in this country are despicable. The overdose deaths are not from patients who have been taking these meds the way they have been prescribed for years and decades in some cases. Tell the truth!

Heroin is hitting the streets at an alarming rate and this country is okay with that. Something very wrong here. Very wrong. Could it be that the opioid epidemic that started with local news showing junkies nodding off (or dead) in their cars with little kids in the back seat was blamed on pain patients because we can be found with the click of a mouse?

My God, in Pennsylvania there will soon be a “safe injecting site” where addicts who have purchased their illegal heroin can go and shoot up!  Just in case they overdose on too much or tainted heroin, they can be revived. All the sympathy is for the poor addict who CHOOSES to do a drug that they know is addicting or could kill them in seconds.

We did not choose to have conditions that cause us pain. We just want to enjoy our lives, family and contribute to society. If a chronic pain patient goes to the ER with intractable pain, we are turned away and literally labeled drug seekers and addicts in the system. The addict who goes to the same ER is treated with compassion and offered treatment.

For myself, I am not confident that things will change. The insurance companies and the doctors’ malpractice insurance are now dictating what patients can have and how much. The state licensing agencies are also advising what meds can and cannot be prescribed.  

I found a medication that worked very well on my neck pain and constant muscle spasms, but I am not allowed to have it any longer. The reason is that this medication is, along with many others, abused on the street. That is exactly what I was told. Way too many people are deciding what is best for me, and it is not my doctor. She really has no say in what she can prescribe to me.  

I really don’t have any hope of enjoying this stage of my life with proper pain control. After working all my life, I am looking at years of suffering. This treatment is against our human and civil rights, but no one seems to care. Seems we are nothing but a burden on this country and the healthcare system.  

How many more chronic pain patients who have had their meds yanked from them with no warning or explanation have to commit suicide from uncontrolled pain? 

Kathleen Harrington lives in Michigan.

Pain News Network invites other readers to share their stories with us. Send them to editor@painnewsnetwork.org.

This column 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.