Do you know what really burns my ass? It’s those healthy know it all’s who weigh in on chronic pain treatments. You know them: the person who knows an addict, the politician who wants to punish doctors or “the state”, those who think they know best. Chronic pain comes in many forms too. There is Rheumatoid Arthritis, which is a real honey. It slowly spreads through your whole body destroying your joints and causing immense pain. Imagine the pain being in your fingers, toes, back, shoulders hips. Your fingers freeze in place like a claw, you cannot fully straighten your leg because your knee is locked. Your back is burning in pain all day and night. It is sad and hopeless. There is no real cure.
The pain is a harsh, intense burning sensation that never goes away. It makes it impossible to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time because you constantly wake up in PAIN. It’s impossible to stay in a position that does not make the back, hips, fingers, toes and joints scream at you. Loud. Stretching/yoga, hot soaks in a tub and keeping on the move mitigate the pain to some degree. But let me tell you, it’s not enough. And it’s exhausting. It sucks out energy. It drains you
Go here to see the symptoms for yourself:
www.msn.com/en-us/health/ask-professionals/rheumatoid%20arthritis?questionid=qid761&type=condition&ocid=entnewsntp
There are many causes of Chronic Pain. Sometimes, medications are the only thing that keep your parents or grandparents or the disabled comfortable enough to want to stay alive. But here’s what really burns my ass: sanctimonious idiots that think they know better. They are usually too young to have any disabling, painful and disfiguring diseases to appreciate the suffering.
They don’t know chronic pain, but they know they don’t like pain meds to mediate it. But hey, they know somebody who overdosed or became addicted or whatever, right? They know some younger (under 60) moron drug seeking junkie wannabe that stole granny’s meds and croaked. Or bought some made in Mexico fake pain meds brimming with Fentanyl and met an untimely end. Or, or, or…. Anything but take self-ownership and accept the fact that maybe it might be their own fault? Does a young person overdosing on heroin get the same sympathy? Nope.
My point is that the folks shrilling about pain meds being some kind of evil devil’s potion that makes good kids go bad is just plain BS. Sure, Purdue made a fortune messing up the lives of people who probably didn’t need those medications in the first place. They should be punished. But the solution is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Or make your grandparents suffer needlessly for the last few years of their lives in searing 24/7 pain. Patients in pain management programs who are monitored and subject to U.A.s are not the problem! Just because some “know it all” wants to keep their young miscreant safe from THEMSELVES, the answer is that others should suffer. I guarantee those folks in pain management programs are not parting with any of their meds! They need them!
Do those smug people ever seen a hand curled up and non-functioning from crippling Arthritis? Could they think that might hurt? They only need to listen to the moan of pain coming from grandpa’s room in the middle of the night. Have they watched grandma struggle to get up from the toilet because her legs and knees are dis-functional? Do they notice her limp? What about the improvement these meds make in the lives of people suffering in chronic pain? Consider Uncle Zelmo who hasn’t slept more than a couple of hours a night in years due to the pain?
Would they even know Chronic Pain if they saw it? Do they even care? What if these meds help old folks stay in their homes? Going away to the old folk’s home is terrifying! If they have their way, maybe the next person they know who died of an overdose will be Grandma Judy. And she got what she deserved. Out copping Mexican Fentanyl off the street again.
Because the “know it all’s” know better. And if that’s the case, the “know it all” can carry the full weight of their indifference on their conscience. If they have one. If they can live with it. Just because someone isn’t dying doesn’t mean they didn’t wish they were. Because real Chronic Pain left untreated can make you feel that shitty. I guess you have to live it to get it.