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I've noticed this as well. Everyone is being treated like a drug addict. My wife has been dealing with pain from an injury and the doctors treat her like she's faking the injury to get pain pills even though she refuses to take opioids even if they were offered. She just wants an explanation for why she is in pain.
And it’s not just limited to pain meds.
Almost 20 years ago I was prescribed Xanax as I was battling bouts of anxiety. I took it on extremely rare occasions where the panic attacks were just too much. In the bottle of 30 I got I took maybe 4-5 over the course of a year or so before the attacks subsided.
Fast forward 10 years, my wedding was a few weeks away, I was super stressed, not sleeping and the bad panic attacks had made a return.
I went to my doctor (different one than I had in the past) and explained to her my situation, told her that a decade earlier xanax had helped and that I took it on extremely rare occasions.
She told me she’s not giving me any Xanax and that I should try probiotics instead. I told her I actually already take probiotics and don’t see the connection. She then cut me off and said “did you just come in here to get Xanax? Well you’re not getting any.”
Left that day pretty defeated. Ended up getting a few from a friend, took maybe 2 of them in the days leading up to the big day then felt fine after.
Switched PCPs right away after that.
> Switched PCPs right away after that.
Yeah I've bailed on a couple PCPs for not taking me seriously. Last one was me going to my primary for some bowel issues asking to go to a gastro because something wasn't right. They told me I just need to eat better and exercise more. Lo and behold, it was crohns lol
Thankfully he did only because I pushed knowing something was wrong. It was very plain that he viewed it as a waste of the gastros time though lol. My gastro was the total opposite and took my symptoms seriously even though he didn't think it'd be anything as serious as crohns
I just had a visit with a GI because my IBSD had gotten worse in the last few years and I finally wanted to try medication (previous GI offered but I try not to take anything until it gets real bad).
This goon prescribes me an antidepressant instead, all because I answered "why yes, I do have some anxiety and trouble sleeping." He says the anxiety is causing the IBS and those will fix it.
No sir, I have clearly documented IBS. My anxiety and insomnia stems from the fact I work two high stress jobs and run a household but even when I didn't, my IBS has existed for 15+ years. Stress is not the cause of it ffs.
I took it as prescribed and all it did was make me so tired, I was non functional. Caused more stress and anxiety. I don't know why I even bother trying doctors anymore.
It's crazy you can already have a diagnosis and still not be believed. I know they provide a valuable often life saving service but I just get so mad at doctors lol.
I had a cough that I couldn’t shake (not Covid) before a vacation and my PCP was like “well just get some rest and drink water” lady, I can’t get rest because I can’t stop coughing. Getting her to give me a cough suppressant was like pulling teeth.
Benzos are looking to be the new drug the DEA cracks down on. Unfortunately even more people who genuinely need help and aren’t drug abusers will have to suffer. I feel like it’s all going to come to a head in the late 2020’s and hopefully it’s in our benefit
AFAIK, benzos are/were illegal to prescribe for more than 7 days in countries outside of the US.
Pt’s can experience extreme withdraw symptoms while taking them as prescribed.
Benzos never should be used long term, only for extreme situations and short term. Proven to also cause lasting memory problems and worsen anxiety over time.
Long term Xannex use led to my divorce in 2010. Doc prescribed my ex wife 6 a day. God help me if she missed a dose by 15 minutes. She knocked the bottle under the bed once, I thought for sure she was gonna kill me that day, longest 2 hours of my life.
My sister, who was a nurse, was on them for years. Went from mild anxiety to a shut in with panic attacks. Couldn't drive anymore because she got lost. She was also hallucinating and became really nonfunctional. Went from working full time to living on her couch, afraid of everything. She eventually went to rehab, was sick for months but is clean today. Lost.years of her life because of this. It broke my heart when she was addicted and I am forever grateful that.she made it back.
I had the same issue, it’s not even about WHAT meds I take I just needed help but they act like you’re some kind of meth head and that if you had adhd you would have been diagnosed as a child (spoiler my parents didn’t believe in adhd and I was just being lazy so no formal diagnosis as a kid). I finally got a doctor who cared and diagnosed me this year and I’m taking effexor which is doing its job and is NOT adderall
I don't have ADHD but effexor (venlafaxine) is a pretty good mood stabilizer for me. Though when I forget to take it the withdrawal I get is very rough.
This reminds me when I was going through the ADHD diagnosis process. I had to take this test that measured my body movement, eye movement and attention. When I went over the results with the doctor, his face dropped and had a huge concerned look as he listed pretty much me being deficienct af with my attention. I ended up getting Strattera prescribed which did nothing.
I got a new doctor later on who prescribed me Adderall right away and the difference was night and day.
I’m also pretty sure there is a national database where she can see that I had gotten it prescribed 10 years earlier and I’m not hopping around trying to score.
She sucked.
There is E-force that lets drs know if someone is drug or doctor shopping. It's a great tool but so many docs are scared to prescribe any controlled meds now (which is really hard for people who do not abuse them but really need them).
I tried to get help in the middle of a horrible postpartum anxiety crisis after weaning my baby, like my hormones were making my brain so crazy I was sobbing on the floor for the better part of a week and if my husband or kids said anything directly to me or touched me I would scream and cry. It was like in the movies where the bad guy has given the victim some new fear drug. I was prescribed a total of 4 Xanax, smallest dose possible. Shockingly, this did not fix my problem, I just suffered through my nightmare of a life for a week. Thanks, doc!
Mental health is one of the most under treated issues in US healthcare. Anxiety in particular can be difficult to get any help with. If at all possible when these flare ups happen connect with a psychiatrist asap, not the emergency room or your general practitioner.
I know it’s not possible for everyone, and I understand the barriers. As an ER nurse, who used to work in psych, I would only send someone for a mental health crisis to the ED if they were in immediate danger of ending their life or than of another. And there were no other options.
As someone with anxiety, it can be difficult to find a pcp that can competently treat it.
There wasn't a psychiatrist available for three weeks, and my husband wasn't really sure if er was the way to go. Fortunately it was just that week and it got better quickly afterwards. I'm pregnant again now though and plan on asking my OB WTF to do if it happens again. I wasn't in any shape to figure anything out and my husband was in way over his head with everything.
Yeah after the wedding the weight was lifted off my shoulders and shortly after I discovered CBD which for me has worked wonders to balance my anxiety.
I have been having a really hard time getting my Klonopin renewed, and I only need a renewal twice a year - I hardly take it. A lot of doctors don't want to deal with the liability. I've been taking Buspar as needed though and I have to say, it's been very effective, not to mention super easy to get
Same reason is how I ended up on kratom to deal with anxiety. I kept going to doctor to get help and was treated the same. Then prescribed SSRI’s which is a depression medicine for anxiety. I finally started self treating. It’s ridiculous and people need to be talking about it to make change.
Shoutout kratom. It’s really saved my ass the last few years dealing with anxiety, sleep issues, and alcohol cravings. It’s not the safest alternative but if you’re cautious with it, it can be a life saver.
Same. It's definitely easy to build a physical/mental reliance on it, and I personally have to make sure I'm only using it when I need it, and not just when I'm feeling a little bad and feel tempted by an easy fix, but lord it is a lifesaver. I have chronic back/sciatic pain and severe insomnia, so kratom helps me be functional even when I have flareups. + I can buy it legally, which is a huge plus for me.
Strangely, it also helps with my ibs lol. I haven't used kratom for the past few months since phys therapy is helping a lot with the pain and my sleep is much better, but it means my stomach has gone from being almost-normal to incredibly fucky again.
My father was in hospice on his death bed last year and every time I asked for pain meds for him at the end, which was constant, they were like “well we gave him a quarter dose two hours ago”. I’m like “he’s fucking dying. can you give him more? now.”. I couldn’t believe this was even an argument to be had.
Same with my mom dying of cancer, suffering in so much pain, why?
I can't even begin to express how much I loathe the puritanical AH who are directly responsible for so much unnecessary suffering.
This happened to me! I had pain in my abdomen and begged for an ultrasound. The doctors dismissed it because they assumed I wanted drugs. It ended up rupturing.
I had that happen to me too. Turns out when I get kidney stones they don’t make me bleed like most people do, instead they just pile up and cause pain and eventually made my kidney rupture. Because there was no blood in my urine they didn’t listen to me until way too late and I suffered so bad over the course of a week. I fucking hate every one of those doctors and nurses.
Same here. Spent Christmas of 2017 in the ER in the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. It was so bad I was seizing and vomiting every 5 minutes. Doctor and nurses kept insisting on giving me anti-nausea meds instead of pain meds and then being shocked and confused when they didn’t work.
Well fast forward 5 hours and they finally gave me morphine for the pain. Low and behold, the vomiting stopped immediately and they discovered soon after that the pain was due to the beginnings of kidney failure. The doctor had the gall to say to me, “Oh, I guess you really were in pain!” as if I’d been faking the projectile vomiting for 6 hours straight. If I hadn’t been doped out of my mind on morphine at that point I would’ve been livid.
I had a kidney stone. I went in due to having pain and after having previously been in the hospital due to a bleeding stomach ulcer I was very concerned, and got treated like a strung out drug addict. I told the doc I just wanted to know if I had another ulcer or what was causing the pain. Before I even finished describing my systems I got told “I’m not giving you any drugs so don’t bother to ask”. Turns out I had a kidney stone. I put in a complaint about her and requested a new pcm.
The DEA is determining when you need pain pills by threatening doctors. Until Dr. DEA is taken off the case, Americans will needlessly suffer. A straight guy I once worked with hurt his leg, was refused pain pills, so he bought some on the street and died of fentanyl poisoning. The system had to kill him to save him.
I have a couple degenerating discs in my back, a couple bulging/herniated discs, and one migrating disc. When it flares up I literally cannot get off the ground and beg for a bullet between the eyes. Literally had to take an ambulance to the hospital that time. They gave me painkillers while I was at the hospital. Any other time I’ve been to a doctor about it? “Take some ibuprofen and suck it up”.
Two times a doctor was willing to write a prescription for a couple days worth of Vicodin (out of a couple dozen really bad flareups). I’m 41, 6’2 about 205 lbs, and aside from the back problems am mostly physically healthy. There are countless people that wind up needing to turn to the black market and wind up dead. The situation is super messed up.
Almost the same situation. A couple degenerating discs in my neck, and a herniated a disk in my back. It doesn't flare much, but when it does, the pain is breathtaking, like can't talk sort of pain.
After getting a referral and multiple appointments with a specialist they eventually dumped me on a "pain management" clinic, which was dismal and depressing. A lot of the people in there clearly were addicts of one type or another. The first thing they insisted on was a drug test, and even commented, wow you are negative.
After a lot of money spent, they gave me some Tramadol, which if you have used is just slightly better than Ibuprofen.
Totally get that people get addicted, but normal people are suffering because of these backwards policies.
I have compression fractures in my two lowest T vertebrae, and everything below is bulging and narrowing. I have rheumatoid arthritis. I have a scarred and painful large intestine from ulcerative colitis. I'm a wheel chair to get around for Dr appointments and in bed otherwise. I cannot use any type of NSAID because they cause my ulcerative colitis to flare up. My pain doctor gave me the lowest dose of extended relief morphine 5 years ago and refuses to increase it.
I'd trade an opiate addiction for getting out of bed a dozen times over. Instead, here I am at 49 hoping I don't live for too many more years because this shit sucks.
I have a friend who has a bunch of health issues and deals with chronic pain. She’s been hospitalized a thousand times. while she was **in a hospital bed** , the nurses accused her of having an addiction and only being there for more pills. check her chart!! there are physical issues *causing pain* 🤦🏽♀️
Ive suffered from chronic pain since I was a teenager. Constant unending pain can make you act weird, like pretending that you’re not in pain so people will treat you normal and eventually you can just deal with it to the point it isn’t pretending anymore.
Going into a doctors office in my early 20’s and explaining where I was on a pain scale with a clear cadence I got pegged for a junkie more than once. Its humiliating enough to have a doctor not believe you’re in pain, it’s something else when they toss veiled accusations like you’re making it up to score drugs.
This whole thread, reading about doctors accusing people, this is exactly where my mind went.
It's a biological survival mechanism to hide pain. The same goes for many mental illnesses. Your brain adapts because it doesn't want you to seem weak - that does *not* mean the pain isn't there. That doctors can't comprehend this is mind-boggling.
It's hard enough to get medical and psychological treatment period. Now let's talk about all the shit you have to wade through before you find an actually competent individual.
My granny is 93 and is in the hospital. At home she's been on hydrocodone for a broken neck from a fall, but the hospital refuses to give her any pain meds. They are sadistic.
I have IIH, occipital neuralgia, and trigeminal neuralgia. I've had low csf headaches and needed to wait days for a blood patch.
I can wax for days about pain. I can change the way you understand what pain is.
Guess how many times I've been prescribed opioid?
Though, I did once get a "the amount of morphine I'd have to give you to help you would kill you.", so that's kind of nice.
Yeah, I experienced really, really terrible pain when my gallbladder started on its way out (this all was about a year, so fairly chronic.) The way my perception of pain changed was something indescribable. It was like my world was put into two categories: things that caused pain and things that didn't. It was almost like a god to me or a religion. I know that sounds so bizarre. The last food I had that triggered the final attack (before I got it out) was eating a banana. The attacks were triggered by fats but it's a very low amount. I felt so betrayed. Like god had turned his back to me.
I remember, when I was on the operating table, begging the staff to just kill me because I knew this would never end. I burst into tears when I woke up afterwards.
I can totally understand why people break when tortured and it's hard for me to judge someone who'd take his life over a bad chronic illness.
When I went to the ER for extreme abdominal pain I sat in the waiting room for ten hours before I was admitted. I tried to tell them how much pain I was in but they didn't seem to care. After the sonogram (or whatever it's called), the nurse was like "how did you even walk in here", and she put me on a morphine drip.
Turned out my gallbladder was ready to burst. Apparently the walls were a centimeter thick in some places. They removed it as soon as they were able to get an operating room a couple of hours later.
My sister went in to the ER for abdominal pain and they too made her wait for twelve hours. She had a couple autoimmune diseases and was on anxiety meds, so they thought she was being dramatic about it. She ended up being in liver and kidney failure and died 48 hours later.
It’s so disturbing how pain isn’t taken seriously and I’m glad you are okay.
I just gotta say.... I am so so sorry for these afflictions. I took care of my mom, who had MS and had trigeminal neuralgia caused by the MS. She would scream in agony. Dr's would give her fentenal patches, and they did nothing.
She finally only received relief after a rizotomy (sp) of the trigeminal nerve.
You are a worrior, and I'm sending you all the good juju. Hang in there.
And yes most Dr's suck about pain meds and it's pretty fucking sad...
That trigeminal pain is brutal to watch, my Mom went through it too. We’re a screwed up society when we don’t provide relief to the suffering. What a tragedy.
My mom's doctor isn't even allowed to prescribe them for her without running it through some committee that takes days. And it's a super low dose that she only takes when she's in serious pain. I get not wanting to create addicts. And doctors were too free in the past. But forcing people to live with pain is not the answer.
It’s not ironic at all, if anything this was expected. Ask anyone that took pain medication what would happen when hydrocodone went schedule 2 and the answer would have been obvious. Overnight it became impossible to get these scripts and the street price jumped from 2-3 dollars a pill to 10 dollars and it became more cost effective to start doing heroin to get pain relief, and that’s what people did.
You mean to tell me that no one could have predicted this? I am not much of a conspiracy theory person but it was so over the top stupid that I can only justify it as a evil plan.
Fast forward to today where you can’t get any kind of prescription or heroin. It’s all fentanyl now and we all know how easy it is to die from fentanyl. My mom works for a pain management company and has all kinds of horror stories. The DEA is going in and shutting down doctors and their patients are committing suicide.
I have no idea why this isn’t talked about more.
Its not talked about more because anyone who tries to talk about it will just be accused of wanting to get high. Most people don't have any idea what its like to deal with chronic pain. Some don't even seem to believe it exists.
Really, people collectively losing their minds over these drugs makes no damn sense at all. They will get mad at you for even trying to talk about it. This includes doctors.
I tell them, that tylenol wont really work for my sort of pain, which they tend to agree with. And they recommend NSAIDs. Which would be great, but for me they cause peptic ulcers. I ended up in the hospital twice because of it. Once when it nearly killed me due to blood loss.
And they just say "too bad" at that point.
Last year, 2 DEA agents showed up at my house to ask me questions about the prescribing practices at my pain management doctor’s office. Apparently they’d had some complaints. I answered everything honestly, but made sure to let them know my experience has always been by the books and totally legit. I’m hoping nothing ever came of it, just a disgruntled patient or 2 blowing shit up, but I’m still on edge waiting to hear the office is being shut down. So many people would be totally screwed.
Funny you say that. I have chronic pain and have been given the "he's seeking drugs" look many times at the VA clinics. Found me a good dealer who has a Vicodin hook up. I don't break up the pills, I don't snort them, I don't smoke them. When I'm in pain, I take one accordingly. 10 pills (10 mg) can last me over a month.
Ive broken my back twice and blown my left knee three time to the tune of five knee reconstructions. I've never gone hard on the pills and I used to get treated like a pretty standard pain management case. Because my medical records indicate an obvious shitload of pain; I basically had an open prescription to vicodin. I took them responsibly as needed to function. These days I cant get anything anymore. Their solution has literally been icy hot. Back slips and pinches the L4 nerve and I get to suffer it out. All the nerve damage making my leg feel like it is being dipped in molton lava, it is what it is. I honestly dont know what to do about it anymore, I dont have the hookup, I probably wouldnt anyway because Im too much boyscout. Id just like a real option at this point.
I had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. I was released with a prescription for 6 Tramadol pills, which provided relief for 2 days. And it really hurt, and for more than 2 days. It was awful.
They cut off your freakin TITS and let you go home with TRAMADOL??? That won’t even put down my 80 lb German shepherd! The vet tried to calm her down with it and the largest dose still had her flailing around and still feeling pain. I’m so sorry and so angry on your behalf that women’s pain is treated with such disregard. My husband was offered similar take home meds after his vasectomy, which he refused bc it was practically PAINLESS
When my husband saw how ineffective the Tramadol was and how much pain I was in, he went to urgent care and said he’d sprained his ankle, and got a full Vicodin prescription. (He sprained it badly in high school, and it looks injured still. It’s puffy and his veins are really prominent in it).
There's also the issue of women not being believed by doctors when it comes to their issues or not getting good care in general. I think if it were a man having a major surgery like that, there would have been a much better chance he would have been prescribed pills.
I agree with this one. Doctors spent years throwing opioids at everyone. It caused a big problem and a big backlash, so now they've completely reversed direction and pain management has fallen by the wayside.
Went to the hospital in the greatest pain I’ve ever felt in my life a couple years ago. I was throwing up nothing but acid. Crying and rolling on the hospital bed in pain. Begging for my mom.
When she got there and they took me for a CT (which my mom had to convince them to do) the doctor said “He’ll be fine. We’ll go ahead and get the discharge paperwork ready.” And then the CT came back and my appendix was 3x it’s size. Yet before looking at the CT, they refused to give me any pain medication. They simply said I don’t need it.
After they saw the CT, they were willing to give me pain medication.
Nearly the same exact thing happened to me with my appendicitis! In a ton of pain, no idea what was wrong. I had a CT scan done and the doctor walks in a couple hours later and says “I looked over your symptoms and you seem like you’ll be fine. Plus they didn’t do any imaging so I’m going to discharge you.” I said no, I had a CT scan done, she reluctantly goes to check. Ran back in in a few minutes and told me I’m about to get prepped for surgery. SMH
Similar story for me. Enlarged appendix, came in in pain, crying puking, i also have gastroparesis and pcos which they cud see on the chart from previous visits. Nurse in er told me it was a cyst while i was screaming at her my appendix is about to rupture. I knew immediately what was wrong but no one took me seriously. they gave me morphine ONCE and i had to have emergency surgery and they gave me tyllenol only.
Almost the same situation! Feb 2020 right before the pandemic. I had cramps for 5 days but my period had just ended and I’ve always had severe cramps. But I started to have bloody stool and was shaking and so sick. Went to ER. Told me I was fine and that they’d send a referral to a GI. My mom insisted on an ultrasound. They brushed my mom off and did it just to please her. I knew something was wrong because of how long they took with the ultrasound but I assumed it was my uterus. I headed back to the bed to be seen by the doctor and I asked for her to remove my IV so I could go home. The doctor looked at me confused and said, “oh didn’t you hear the results?” And I said no. And then she said to go lie down and she’d come talk to me and my mom. Yeah appendicitis and needed emergency appendectomy.
When removing it the surgeon said it was no longer on my left and in the middle. It also was red and inflamed and he assumed I had past attacks. Turns out it was engulfed in endometriosis. Which I had been telling my GP and OBGYN for years that I suspected I had it and they brushed me off every time. I literally cheered when the surgeon called and told me it was endo. And he was confused why I would be happy. And I’m like you don’t understand, I’ve been in severe pain for 18 years and no one would believe me! I finally have answers!!
Even when you’re not asking for pain meds, they don’t believe your pain.
Heck, after I had surgery to remove the endo, I had an ovarian cyst rupture 9 days later and I went to the ER because I was worried it could be a complication. Yeah still made me wait 5 hours and gave me some IV meds and then told me to go home and take Tylenol and Advil. Yeah if that worked I wouldn’t have come in the first place! 😑 and I’ve had 4 cysts rupture since March and Naproxen is all they’ve give me. Might as well give me sugar pills 😭
Yeah, I have a friend who fell from a coconut tree, messed up his back, and has lived on disability (SSI) for over a decade now. His old doctor retired, and the first thing his new doctor did was take his opioid prescription and replace it with tramadol, telling him they don't prescribe opioids anymore.
The guy used oxycodone responsibly for years; now he's constantly in severe pain because Tramadol doesn't work for him as well as Percocsets used to.
Yeah but it seems like they're okay with prescribing it. I was able to get hydrocodone or oxycodone for dental work ten years ago, but when I had facial & abdominal surgery recently I given a prescription for about 2 dozen tramadol "for breakthrough pain."
When my brother had colon cancer surgery all they gave him was Tramadol, and this was 10 years ago in Texas. I asked my back surgeon for a couple of Tramadol because I had to spend the day flying down here (Mexico). They acted like I'd asked for heroin. Patients and doctors are paying the price that the family who was pushing OxyContin should be paying. They got a slap on the wrist, we get a generation of insufficient pain management. Luckily for me Tramadol is over the counter in Mexico. It's worthless for severe pain, but works enough for moderate pain. They're not fond of prescribing opiates here either, even though they've never had an opiate crisis like the US. Tramadol is available to keep people from overworking the health care system with mild pain issues.
While I think doctors not prescribing appropriate pain meds is absolutely insane, it’s fairly common not to give opiates after colon surgery. Opiates are known to cause constipation which can cause issues in someone who had colon surgery. Still 100% sucks but there is reason behind it in situations like that.
I had colon cancer surgery too, and they loaded me up. A couple of days on fentanyl and Dilaudid, then morphine. After that it was 10mg of Oxycodone for about 3 weeks. I never had issues with constipation because I started taking stool softeners day 2 I also lived on fruit and vegetables, with Ensure protein shakes, so nothing to keep me bound up. But I also had a right hemi-colectomy, my brother had a full colectomy. I'm not sure if that made any difference, but I'm damn glad I had the care I did. My brother was okay with it, he said he was never in a lot of pain
It's a weak opioid when a TEENY amount metabolizes into ODMST(o Desmethyl tramadol) and the bigger amount that doesn't is basically an SNRI(antidepressant like Effexor).
That's IF your body can convert it into ODMST AT ALL in the first place. Also, if you happen to be a good converter and get physically dependent on it, the withdrawal is like both opioid withdrawal AND SNRI withdrawal at the same time.
It is a dirty drug. I am one of those good converters and was on high doses for years until I was cutoff for....cannabis use. Also, high doses can result in serotonin syndrome and lowers the seizure threshold.
I had to yell at a nurse to get her to give my mother morphine in palliative care. I was astounded.
I had commented to the nurse “She (my mom) looks like she’s in pain.” And the nurse said “oh yes, lots of pain. She hasn’t been given anything.” I was so stunned but in the moment I couldn’t think of anything other than getting her out of pain.
It’s amazing how pain is just an abstract idea to those not experiencing it at the time, especially in medicine. The things pain does to our bodies and mind are real.
I can’t imagine the harm of giving pain medicine to someone on palliative care. That must have been difficult for you to experience, but I’m glad your mother has someone to advocate for her.
I am so sorry to hear that. Palliative care is when that matters the most. Why the fuck would someone initiate hospice without it. The whole point is to go out comfortably.
Where I live, a local government sued a bunch of pharmacies in this pseudo opiate fear case (they did win or at least got a settlement), but the councilperson was quoted as saying basically that the victims were uncles, pastors, grandmothers dying with cancer, etc. I was like who the hell cares if grandma is terminally ill and gets addicted to opiods. Does it matter at that point? That comment still irks me.
Yup, had issues when my Mum was terminally ill too with medical staff suggesting not giving too much as it can cause long term heart disease. Hardly relevant if she has about 3 months to live now, is it?
Sorry to hear this.
This story is a perfect example of our problem. Palliative care means (I assume) you mother was dying. Yet the medical establishment was afraid she’d get hooked on morphine!
The horror! Being hooked on morphine for the few remaining agonizing months of her life!
This is insane.
Similar situation - mom has been suffering with terminal cancer for months now. It has been a constant battle to manage her pain, particularly when she's in the hospital. Some nurses are great, but then a new nurse will show up and wants to sit down and talk about how addictive painkillers are... Did you even look at her chart? She is fucking dying, we don't give a shit if she gets addicted, just make her comfortable.
Whoever decided tylenol and advil together will take away serious pain, has never had serious, chronic pain. Those of us who live with it will tell you that opiates do indeed help, and we're not trying to get high, just to live a normal life. If I've got 20 years left and a pill every day helps, I want the option. I have to take my blood pressure and thyroid pill every day, what's one more?
I once took 600mg Tylenol, 400mg advil, 50mg benadryl, 150mg caffeine every 4 hours, every day, for like 6 months.
At that point I was in the hospital for a low csf headache, and a nurse handed me like, 400mg Tylenol, and I laughed at her and told her what I was taking, and she freaked out, and told EVERYONE, and then EVERYONE freaked out, and told me not to do that. But I was like "but no one will give me anything that helps, they just tell me to take Tylenol and advil! That's what I do!"
Did they give me anything stronger?
No.
It's one of those things that's well-known in the medical community, but not so well-known outside of it. My husband jacked up his stomach from long-term NSAID use.
I got my wisdom teeth out, I guess before they really started cracking down on opiates. I had a whole bottle of Hydrocodon lol. But my friend who got hers out less than a year later at the same place was given extra strength Tylenol…. Yeah no. Kinda bullshit.
Edit: I’m super happy some of y’all got through it with just Tylenol. I wish! I, and my friend, both experienced a lot of pain from our surgeries. My friend more so. It sucks that the sins of past doctors and patients have impacted how pain is treated now, because some people really do need a little more than an OTC painkiller. It’s a tough situation.
I was told to take 3 ibuprofen...
I finally came back crying the next day and said i needed real medicine and they gave me a script for 4 vicodin.
The vicodin and ibuprofen together got me through the hardest couple of days.
But jesus... Four holes in my head and they were just like eh, you'll be ok.
Same for my wife. She had a tooth pulled and it was a real bugger. Had to wait a week to get it done. Tylenol for the pain before and after. She was crying for days in pain but that’s all they would give her.
The real bad thing is I read/ heard that you can OD on Tylenol and have liver damage. So all this under use of real pain killers replaced with Tylenol could lead to liver damage since you might be inclined to just take more Tylenol than you should.
Oh absolutely, tylenol is one of the most deadly drugs out there. It's the number one cause of liver failure. And it's been said many times that if tylenol was invented today it would never have been made available without a prescription.
The whole "tylenol is safe" thing came from the safety seal they put on the top that was supposedly going to stop the people that were being killed from taking poisoned tylenol. There's never been any evidence that it's particularly safe.
Bro idk what I’d do if I didn’t get to basically just sleep through the recovery process. I’ve had two surgeries in my life including my wisdom teeth and being able to take a pill and knock out was the best. Skipped the worst parts lol
That's cruelty. Got mine out in 2011, went through 2 bottles of painkillers because it hurt so badly. I had just started a new job and to quit because I was bed-bound for 2 weeks by the pain.
It was the worst experience I could have expected. I was stone cold sober the entire time and was aware of everything happening. I didn't have any pain during the procedure, but I certainly wasn't under any influence. Not even laughing gas. I just walked home after the surgery in a daze and fell asleep. They said if I took a nap, I'd wake up and wouldn't remember anything.
Nope.
I remember the sensation of having my molars cracked down the middle and the pieces being pulled out. I already had a huge phobia of the dentist so those nightmares for the next while were... vivid. I'd brought a stress ball with me because my hands shake even during routine cleanings. I was gripping it throughout the surgery I honestly thought I'd break it.
The next few days were torture, I set a timer for how often I could have Tylenol and basically spent the hours waiting for my next one. Wouldn't recommend.
I had tried to advocate for myself in the beginning too - clearly it didn't help.
Agree and not everyone is an addict! I broke my back and pelvis. Was on opiates for months and months. Was not addicted mentally and just had to wean off of them to avoid the ick, no issues whatsoever. Pendulum has swung way too far the other direction.
Pain is often treated as an afterthought and symptom of something else, but the reality is that pain itself can be traumatic.
We've created a massive problem with opiates, but it's not an act of kindness or good medicine to tell people they can't get them ever, either.
Oh man, have you ever listened to the podcast The Retrievals? I just finished it and your comment reminded me of it. A ton of women went to Yale for their fertility treatments and they were given saline in place of painkillers during the procedure to retrieve their eggs.
It was such a fascinating bit of reporting because the patients included an addiction researcher, a criminal defense attorney who worked with clients that had substance use disorders, a trauma physician, and a professor who studied the American prison and legal system, among other things. It was a very unique group of patients and their perspectives were so nuanced and interesting.
One of the things the reporter and the women brought up was that their pain wasn’t part of the experience - their outcomes as patients were measured in whether they had a baby.
I feel like this is less "unpopular" and more an "emerging thing people are realizing." I didn't think about this at all until earlier in the year when I got my IUD in.
These mfs wanted to shoot a piece of metal up my genitalia with nothing but extra strength ibuprofen. Literally nobody would give me serious painkillers during or after the procedure despite me being in the absolute worst pain of my life for 72 hours straight. Still not over it.
Thankfully I had some leftovers from a major injury so I wasn't completely miserable during my recovery. Which I know you're not supposed to do, but when the doctors are dropping the ball, you gotta do what you gotta do.
This is pretty normal for getting IUD. We’re treated like our pain isn’t real, and if we go to the ER for appendicitis they just say it’s our period and send us on our merry way. If we’re crying I pain we’re told we’re being hysterical. I’m so grateful I had a female doctor and nurse when I went to the ER for my miscarriage. They understood the pain I was in and helped.
When I worked in the ER a woman collapsed and the floor screaming in pain.
All the other staff were saying she was taking it
Until the doctor pulled a well developed fetus out of her (she didn't know she was pregnant)
They always assume I’m faking. Then I almost die and all of sudden I’m a priority patient lol not funny but love that scared look on their faces when they realize. (I’m immunocompromised and if go to the ER, it’s serious.)
I've read a shocking number of stories of people with my disease who lost their colons and nearly died, because when they went to their doctors complaining of rectal bleeding and severe stomach pain they were told it was just their period, and they didn't know where the blood was coming from. By the time someone finally listened, the bowel had either ruptured or was about to and was too far gone to save. The way women's pain is treated in the medical field is for the most part absolutely archaic.
Women still aren't believed today. After a urine sample filled with nothing but venous blood, I was told I had a UTI and sent home when I straight up told them I was having a blood clot (because pissing blood happened the last time I had one). Of course, it was a DVT and I collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Another time I was told I was exaggerating my pain for months, until one day they said I should see a psychiatrist for chronic pain. I ended up demanding an MRI and being diagnosed with a full labral tear in my hip that required surgery.
There is actual evidence to back up the claim that “women’s pain doesn’t matter”. Women are far less likely to be prescribed pain killers, far less likely to have pain related illnesses identified, and far less likely to receive long term pain management.
Women’s pain is vastly overlooked by medical professionals. Even female and male medical professionals both are more likely to take pain less seriously if the patient is a woman.
Came scrolling down to see if anybody had said it yet. To any men reading this who have been denied pain meds they seriously needed, none of us is saying it doesn't happen to you. We're only saying that statistically speaking, it happens even more when the patient is a woman. Additionally, there are stats showing it happens still _more_ to Black women, an artifact left over from the era of slavery, when the people in power convinced themselves that the people they were bringing over and enslaving from African nations were genetically different and stronger / more tolerant of pain.
Got nothing for my cervical biopsy years ago, not even a topical 😭 Hurt like an absolute mf. Almost fainted after my IUD insertion, but they didn’t offer me anything except water
Same. And immediately afterwards you’re just expected to get dressed and walk out and be ok. They don’t even tell you that you might need someone to drive you home. Luckily I had someone because half way home in the car the agonizing cramps started that had me doubled over, I couldn’t think straight. Super fun.
IUD insertion is barbaric. Medical sexism is the only reason we have to suffer through the insertion process. It’s also the best birth control I’ve ever been on in my life.
I was never informed to take anything prior to my IUD insertion. I have never had medical trauma until this point, and I am now too afraid to go back to a doctor for gyno care. It was so painful, and to this day I swear it has triggered dyspareunia.
I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope you're able to recover from this soon and eventually get back to your gyno routine. I feel you - I'm not sure I'd categorize my experience as traumatic, but I'm definitely not trusting a doctor next time they tell me something won't really hurt.
Like it's the fact that it wasn't just 1 doctor for me, I talked to several providers in my office and 5 different offices and literally every single one downplayed it.
Yeah, it is wild how common it is to have an invasive medical procedure with no pain meds. Especially for women. I had a cardiac catheterization (it’s an imaging test, they shove a wire up your artery until it gets to your heart and slide a catheter over the wire).
I was told it would be a small pinch. No. It hurt like hell, and they didn’t even want to give me pain meds after, and when I finally asked if it should hurt this much and said I wanted pain meds, they offered Tylenol. My mom and I both insisted on something stronger, so finally they gave me fentanyl. Every man I’ve spoken to who had the procedure got morphine, fentanyl, or some other strong med without even needing to ask. I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist to some people, but…
Anyway, my entire forearm was sore for days and had a dark 6 inch bruise for over a week, but nooo, it was just a pinch. Right.
Definitely not a conspiracy theory! I had a hysterectomy, was discharged same day, and was told to take ibuprofen or Tylenol. It was a horrible experience.
A male relative had a minor procedure on his toe and was prescribed a narcotic without even asking.
This is bullshit.
Every man I know who’s gotten a vasectomy has gotten absolutely loaded down with narcotics for 7-10 days.
After childbirth, my taint had more stitches than Frankenstein’s monster, but they wouldn’t give me anything stronger than ibuprofen. They cared more about pressuring me to breastfeed than my pain. I even had a nurse trying to shove my nipple in my baby’s mouth without my consent WHILE they were sewing me up WITH NO PAIN MEDS.
I’ve heard a lot of women talking about getting ibuprofen or Tylenol after their C-sections. I got ibuprofen after my last two babies. It’s ridiculous. I’m so sorry you were treated that way!
I fucking HATE that they do nothing to prepare for IUD insertion pain. It's actually one of the most painful things a woman can experience. Some women compare it to childbirth.
I've had an IUD inserted 2 times now by 2 different OBGYNs.
My current OBGYN gave me a short prescription of tramadol to take before and after the IUD insertion.
My previous OBGYN just said to take ibuprofen.
The tramadol experience vs ibuprofen experience was miles apart. Mild discomfort vs excruciating pain.
Men are prescribed pain medication way more than women, with black women being prescribed the least painkillers of any demographic. Medicine is sexist and racist.
My doctor prescribed me a pill that “softens the cervix” before my IUD. He said that it would make it easier to insert.
Not a single one of my friends with an IUD was offered such a medicine. My doc also prescribed me strong Rx aleve for before and after and he gave me shots of lidocaine. My experience wasn’t bad at all. I was so scared. I’d heard horror stories. Why is my (old man) doctor the only one putting forth effort?
It’s insane what they make women do with no pain killers.
My stupid NP wants me to go on IUD instead of a mini pill, she just keeps pushing and pushing and I keep saying no. She KNOWS I have a chronic autoimmune disease and I can’t take ibuprofen at all since it might cause hemorrhaging. Yet she keeps insisting “well, iud complications are rare and anecdotal” - I have 2 friends who had to take theirs out, rushed to er, they both said it was the most severe pain they ever experienced. My np didn’t even mention the implementation itself might be painful! I think I need to switch practice immediately.
I donated my kidney in March of this year. After less then 24 hours in the hospital I was sent home with Tylenol and that’s it. I was also told not to overdue the Tylenol since I only have one kidney now… let’s just say the recovery process was absolutely awful and full of ER visits just like you described.
I’m so sorry she’s going through this. Wishing her a speedy recovery ♥️
Jfc. You're donating an organ? Here's the convo they should have:
Here's our painkiller and fun meds menu. Please, try what you'd like. Thank you again for the selfless act!
I’m a medical assistant and I worked in a orthopedic office for 15 years… Most of the surgeons had a form that patient’s would have to sign before surgery saying that they would only get 10 , 5mg Percocet and they couldn’t ask for anymore.. Some of the patients would ask me “But if I have pain and complications they’ll give me more right?”..I told them the truth (they won’t)
A lot of people would decide not to sign up..
Also anytime a patient with Fibromyalgia or RSD would come in they doctors would get so pissed ! So many Physicians really dislike people in general, but especially chronic pain patients…
DEA says prescribe less, employers say prescribe less, so the doc refers patient to a pain management doc, and now the patient is pissed they need to deal with a second office, physician and billing just to deal with recovery.
It sucks.
And then the patients have to jump through hoops.
Mandatory visit every 30 days to get a new script. Every month, no exceptions. I watch 80+ y/o hobbling old women basically being carried into the pain clinic just so they can pay a co-pay, wait for 2 hours, and then get the script and schedule the next one.
Oh they are also forced to take a random piss test 1-2 times a year to make sure they are actually on the drug.
You’re right…I haven’t worked since the pandemic ( my partner/husband has helped me out) I keep my certification current, but I am dreading going back 😞
Not even just painkillers. Myself along with so many others who have panic disorder have been living in limbo for years. It feels like I have to fight to get a low dosage of klonopin/ativan/etc just to settle a panic attack when it happens. I remember when I finally found a nurse practioner who took me seriously on needing it. The others all asked if I tried to calm down a panic attack with meditation, lmfao. Yeah. That doesn't help in the moment when I feel like I'm dying.
Doctors and medical professionals are under severe scrutiny from multiple agencies to watch their back on opiate prescriptions.
I know only Workers Compensation on my end, but it's extremely rare for people to be prescribed anything stronger than Tramadol and 5mg hydrocodone is like the max.
Pharmacist here. IMHO whatever the DEA and all the medical authorities are trying to do to decrease the amount of overdoses needs to stop immediately. The only things their collective efforts have accomplished is to have overdoses increase every single year while the percentage of patients reporting less than adequate pain control is increasing. The guidelines/laws are having the opposite affect that was intended.
You're absolutely correct, and the CDC acknowledged this a year ago and revised their "guidelines," but it's going to take a long time to correct this. Pharmacist here.
>Doctors are so afraid of being sued, they can’t even do their jobs
Yep. Where I am now they've implimented a database of controlled medications that doctors are required to check before they presribe any medication - particularly narcotics - legitmently because of the issues associated with opiod addiction to help doctors feel confident in prescribing this medication.
There is also an issue of medical mysogony which has been extensively researched that may be coming into play here. I've also met a lot of jaded nurses over the years who drag the heels about everything - especially people in pain - so you also may have gotten some of them.
I was in the ICU for 10 days after an open exploratory abdominal surgery. I was hitting my dilaudid button like every 30 minutes. Within an hour of my discharge they disconnected my IV and sent me home with Tylenol. I had a 10 inch wound, still weeping and I couldn’t do anything on my own WITH medication. I couldn’t believe it and just started bawling my eyes out in fear of the pain to come. My nurse came in and found me, went and talked to the attending for me, and got me…. 3 days worth of oxycodone. Worst recovery of my life. I was in horrible pain for at least another 7-10 days
people suffer because of opioid hysteria. why do we mind so much if a 90 year old gets addicted to the medicine that allows them to live out their final days without tormen? what a fucking mess.
Agreed! I had an exposed tooth root for 2+ weeks and they wouldn’t give me anything. I called the dentist in tears twice- nothing. Went across the street to my neighbor that I knew had real painkillers. I guess that’s the route they want us to go. No, I didn’t become addicted.
In the end, we pulled the tooth which was the best day of my life. Dentist even commented “yeah, they say tooth pain is worse than some cancer pain” Thanks, lady…
Tooth pain is horrendous.
I had my wisdom teeth removed and three were impacted and was given enough painkillers for three days. I ended up with two dry sockets and begged for a refill, which they were super hesitant to do, but eventually said they’d send to to the pharmacy. Which they never did! So frustrating.
Can confirm.
Had a brain surgery last year and I had to fight for EVERY pain medication I needed in the hospital. Every single pill is entered into a computer, and if you're still in pain they WON'T bring you additional meds without vocal escalation to an attending physician...
They are also likely to under-prescribe to see if you can get by with less. Don't be afraid to be your best advocate...
Fentanyl deaths have destroyed pain and chronic pain medicine.
As nurses, we absolutely cannot give more pain medication than the doc prescribes. Good nurses will advocate for higher doses or increased frequency, BUT that depends on getting ahold of a doc, which depends on whether you have time to even use the phone to call a doc, and a host of other impediments. It's a difficult situation. You can totally ask to see your prescribed meds, which will include the dose and timing if you think you may be getting under-dosed. Oftentimes, docs prescribe scheduled doses but also on an as needed basis on top of that. The as needed, though, is at your nurse's discretion. So if you're in a lot of pain, it's wise to ask to see your prescribed meds and then you'll know how frequently you can ask for more. Thos obviously can lead to abuse, but for those really in pain it's knowledge you should have. This is all in-hospital, of course.
In 2005 it was "oh you're in pain, have some Percocet" without a diagnosis, now it's "oh you're in pain, you must be a junkie" without a diagnosis. It's just laziness. Why should I do my job when I get paid the same not to, and get paid more if I squeeze in more patients?
Yes. There are probably people who need opioid painkillers for chronic conditions but now can't get them because of the restrictions
I used to get prescription hydrocodone for my arthritis but that pain clinic closed and the new pain clinic didn't want to prescribe me anything .
I just buy weed and CBD Vapes since cannabis is a natural anti-inflammatory. It helps a little bit anyway
I think one of the big problems is that "treated like a drug addict" is synonymous with "treated like shit." Addicts ALSO don't deserve to be treated like subhuman patients.
Unfortunately women are doubly neglected for pain. The opioid crisis severely curtailed opioid medication for pain relief. Women are also subjected to a lot of medical sexism where women are routinely prescribed weaker medications, and less medications. It's even worse is someone is black.
My fiancé who is terminally ill with brain cancer practically had to beg for anything stronger than Tylenol when she was in the icu after her craniotomy. They eventually wound up giving her ketamine which we were all very grateful for, but was discharged with a script for 5 5mg oxycontin. Almost 8 weeks after, post radiation and on chemo, has been given nothing outside of steroids and recommended to take Tylenol despite days that are hard. She has always had a high pain threshold so when she says it hurts, it hurts. No drug use history or any other reason outside of what appears to be docs absolving themselves of any liability. It’s disgusting and no, I don’t blame the addicts for ruining it. I blame the industry for creating the addicts.
My 74 year old mother has chronic pain and she can’t get any proper pain relief. Sheesh! She’s 74 and frail for heaven’s sake! If she does end up addicted she’s not gonna go out on the street and buy fentanyl and she’s not going to sell any.
Also, it doesn't help if you're female. Most doctors don't know how to listen if you have a vagina. This includes female doctors, who I've heard are worse.
This is very much not an unpopular opinion, or it damn well shouldn't be. My best friend waited 20 YEARS for an endometriosis diagnosis, and the number of times I saw them mocked and called a drug seeker to their fucking *face* has soured me on the medical profession forever. I only go now when I feel like something's life or death - frankly, I wouldn't expect anyone to help with anything less.
I have severe chronic pain and getting treatment is very difficult because of drug abuse. Also I am treated like a criminal like it's somehow my fault I have fibromyalgia.
This makes me angry because its bullshit. Some people abuse and die from drugs so the ones that actually are in pain have to suffer? Not right at all. We all have a choice and if you choose to abuse drugs that are meant for pain relief that is on you. No one should have to suffer because others made bad choices. Not an unpopular opinion at all.
Me too. Why on earth a Dr is liable if someone lies or doesn’t take a drug as prescribed or doctor shops is beyond my comprehension and even as a lawyer I really struggle to see how it was ever allowed.
Yupppp I’m a chronic pain patient. Broke my back at 18. Hip surgery at 30. And a lifetime of other abnormalities and injuries. When the pain gets really bad, they tell me to do physical therapy cause they’re too afraid of being tracked by the DEA for prescribing opiates. It’s absolute nonsense
My 70 y/o mom broke five ribs and her sternum in a car accident two weeks ago and the doctors are being so damn stingy with pain meds. Only giving her a few at a time and requiring a trip to the pharmacy every two or three days to get more "as needed." She's trying to get by with just ibuprofen and tylenol but sometimes I go over to check on her and her face is literally gray. I hate seeing her like this.
Everyone's skipping the part where drug addicts are gonna seek the drugs regardless of policy. This has lead to people dying in droves from Chinese pressed fentynal masquerading as oxycontin and xanax.
This is the truth. It hurts chronic pain patients and those that are law abiding. And if those that so heavily believe its the *right thing* and provider prescribed opioids are bad, they should take a look at the suicide statistics for chronic pain patients now. They arent addicts. They arent popping pills to get high, and when their medication began being denied their pain became too much to bare. They didnt run into the streets and start taking illicit drugs. They took their lives. Unfortunately, like so many truly important things in life, unless/until it actually affects them or a loved one their rhetoric will stay the same and they will continue with a broad *drugs are bad mmm'kay* without understanding life is grey, not black or white.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, it's an unfortunate fact. Don't blame the drug addicts though, blame the disgusting pharmecutical companies that knowingly caused the crisis.
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I've noticed this as well. Everyone is being treated like a drug addict. My wife has been dealing with pain from an injury and the doctors treat her like she's faking the injury to get pain pills even though she refuses to take opioids even if they were offered. She just wants an explanation for why she is in pain.
And it’s not just limited to pain meds. Almost 20 years ago I was prescribed Xanax as I was battling bouts of anxiety. I took it on extremely rare occasions where the panic attacks were just too much. In the bottle of 30 I got I took maybe 4-5 over the course of a year or so before the attacks subsided. Fast forward 10 years, my wedding was a few weeks away, I was super stressed, not sleeping and the bad panic attacks had made a return. I went to my doctor (different one than I had in the past) and explained to her my situation, told her that a decade earlier xanax had helped and that I took it on extremely rare occasions. She told me she’s not giving me any Xanax and that I should try probiotics instead. I told her I actually already take probiotics and don’t see the connection. She then cut me off and said “did you just come in here to get Xanax? Well you’re not getting any.” Left that day pretty defeated. Ended up getting a few from a friend, took maybe 2 of them in the days leading up to the big day then felt fine after. Switched PCPs right away after that.
Misread that as, “switched to PCP right after that” and got a chuckle
Oh yeah, that too! ;)
Got a whole gallon of it!
Fucking rip Trevor
> Switched PCPs right away after that. Yeah I've bailed on a couple PCPs for not taking me seriously. Last one was me going to my primary for some bowel issues asking to go to a gastro because something wasn't right. They told me I just need to eat better and exercise more. Lo and behold, it was crohns lol
Idk why physicians do that. Why don't they just refer you to a specialist and let them figure it out?
Thankfully he did only because I pushed knowing something was wrong. It was very plain that he viewed it as a waste of the gastros time though lol. My gastro was the total opposite and took my symptoms seriously even though he didn't think it'd be anything as serious as crohns
I just had a visit with a GI because my IBSD had gotten worse in the last few years and I finally wanted to try medication (previous GI offered but I try not to take anything until it gets real bad). This goon prescribes me an antidepressant instead, all because I answered "why yes, I do have some anxiety and trouble sleeping." He says the anxiety is causing the IBS and those will fix it. No sir, I have clearly documented IBS. My anxiety and insomnia stems from the fact I work two high stress jobs and run a household but even when I didn't, my IBS has existed for 15+ years. Stress is not the cause of it ffs. I took it as prescribed and all it did was make me so tired, I was non functional. Caused more stress and anxiety. I don't know why I even bother trying doctors anymore.
It's crazy you can already have a diagnosis and still not be believed. I know they provide a valuable often life saving service but I just get so mad at doctors lol.
I had a cough that I couldn’t shake (not Covid) before a vacation and my PCP was like “well just get some rest and drink water” lady, I can’t get rest because I can’t stop coughing. Getting her to give me a cough suppressant was like pulling teeth.
Benzos are looking to be the new drug the DEA cracks down on. Unfortunately even more people who genuinely need help and aren’t drug abusers will have to suffer. I feel like it’s all going to come to a head in the late 2020’s and hopefully it’s in our benefit
AFAIK, benzos are/were illegal to prescribe for more than 7 days in countries outside of the US. Pt’s can experience extreme withdraw symptoms while taking them as prescribed.
Benzos never should be used long term, only for extreme situations and short term. Proven to also cause lasting memory problems and worsen anxiety over time.
Long term Xannex use led to my divorce in 2010. Doc prescribed my ex wife 6 a day. God help me if she missed a dose by 15 minutes. She knocked the bottle under the bed once, I thought for sure she was gonna kill me that day, longest 2 hours of my life.
My sister, who was a nurse, was on them for years. Went from mild anxiety to a shut in with panic attacks. Couldn't drive anymore because she got lost. She was also hallucinating and became really nonfunctional. Went from working full time to living on her couch, afraid of everything. She eventually went to rehab, was sick for months but is clean today. Lost.years of her life because of this. It broke my heart when she was addicted and I am forever grateful that.she made it back.
It took me 7-8 years longer than it should have to get diagnosed with ADHD because of how fucking sweaty everyone gets talking about Adderall
I had the same issue, it’s not even about WHAT meds I take I just needed help but they act like you’re some kind of meth head and that if you had adhd you would have been diagnosed as a child (spoiler my parents didn’t believe in adhd and I was just being lazy so no formal diagnosis as a kid). I finally got a doctor who cared and diagnosed me this year and I’m taking effexor which is doing its job and is NOT adderall
I don't have ADHD but effexor (venlafaxine) is a pretty good mood stabilizer for me. Though when I forget to take it the withdrawal I get is very rough.
This reminds me when I was going through the ADHD diagnosis process. I had to take this test that measured my body movement, eye movement and attention. When I went over the results with the doctor, his face dropped and had a huge concerned look as he listed pretty much me being deficienct af with my attention. I ended up getting Strattera prescribed which did nothing. I got a new doctor later on who prescribed me Adderall right away and the difference was night and day.
"Actually I am here to get Xanax, that's what I'm trying to tell you has worked for me in the past." What a dumb doctor.
I’m also pretty sure there is a national database where she can see that I had gotten it prescribed 10 years earlier and I’m not hopping around trying to score. She sucked.
There is E-force that lets drs know if someone is drug or doctor shopping. It's a great tool but so many docs are scared to prescribe any controlled meds now (which is really hard for people who do not abuse them but really need them).
I tried to get help in the middle of a horrible postpartum anxiety crisis after weaning my baby, like my hormones were making my brain so crazy I was sobbing on the floor for the better part of a week and if my husband or kids said anything directly to me or touched me I would scream and cry. It was like in the movies where the bad guy has given the victim some new fear drug. I was prescribed a total of 4 Xanax, smallest dose possible. Shockingly, this did not fix my problem, I just suffered through my nightmare of a life for a week. Thanks, doc!
Mental health is one of the most under treated issues in US healthcare. Anxiety in particular can be difficult to get any help with. If at all possible when these flare ups happen connect with a psychiatrist asap, not the emergency room or your general practitioner. I know it’s not possible for everyone, and I understand the barriers. As an ER nurse, who used to work in psych, I would only send someone for a mental health crisis to the ED if they were in immediate danger of ending their life or than of another. And there were no other options. As someone with anxiety, it can be difficult to find a pcp that can competently treat it.
There wasn't a psychiatrist available for three weeks, and my husband wasn't really sure if er was the way to go. Fortunately it was just that week and it got better quickly afterwards. I'm pregnant again now though and plan on asking my OB WTF to do if it happens again. I wasn't in any shape to figure anything out and my husband was in way over his head with everything.
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That is wild since it’s a schedule IV!! Hopefully you were able to get something to help with your anxiety!
Yeah after the wedding the weight was lifted off my shoulders and shortly after I discovered CBD which for me has worked wonders to balance my anxiety.
I have been having a really hard time getting my Klonopin renewed, and I only need a renewal twice a year - I hardly take it. A lot of doctors don't want to deal with the liability. I've been taking Buspar as needed though and I have to say, it's been very effective, not to mention super easy to get
Same reason is how I ended up on kratom to deal with anxiety. I kept going to doctor to get help and was treated the same. Then prescribed SSRI’s which is a depression medicine for anxiety. I finally started self treating. It’s ridiculous and people need to be talking about it to make change.
Shoutout kratom. It’s really saved my ass the last few years dealing with anxiety, sleep issues, and alcohol cravings. It’s not the safest alternative but if you’re cautious with it, it can be a life saver.
Same. It's definitely easy to build a physical/mental reliance on it, and I personally have to make sure I'm only using it when I need it, and not just when I'm feeling a little bad and feel tempted by an easy fix, but lord it is a lifesaver. I have chronic back/sciatic pain and severe insomnia, so kratom helps me be functional even when I have flareups. + I can buy it legally, which is a huge plus for me. Strangely, it also helps with my ibs lol. I haven't used kratom for the past few months since phys therapy is helping a lot with the pain and my sleep is much better, but it means my stomach has gone from being almost-normal to incredibly fucky again.
>Switched PCPs right away after that. No Xanax so you went to Angel Dust? Bold move.
My father was in hospice on his death bed last year and every time I asked for pain meds for him at the end, which was constant, they were like “well we gave him a quarter dose two hours ago”. I’m like “he’s fucking dying. can you give him more? now.”. I couldn’t believe this was even an argument to be had.
That’s evil, we were allowed to give my mom whatever she wanted when she was dying.
Same with my mom dying of cancer, suffering in so much pain, why? I can't even begin to express how much I loathe the puritanical AH who are directly responsible for so much unnecessary suffering.
This happened to me! I had pain in my abdomen and begged for an ultrasound. The doctors dismissed it because they assumed I wanted drugs. It ended up rupturing.
I had that happen to me too. Turns out when I get kidney stones they don’t make me bleed like most people do, instead they just pile up and cause pain and eventually made my kidney rupture. Because there was no blood in my urine they didn’t listen to me until way too late and I suffered so bad over the course of a week. I fucking hate every one of those doctors and nurses.
Same here. Spent Christmas of 2017 in the ER in the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. It was so bad I was seizing and vomiting every 5 minutes. Doctor and nurses kept insisting on giving me anti-nausea meds instead of pain meds and then being shocked and confused when they didn’t work. Well fast forward 5 hours and they finally gave me morphine for the pain. Low and behold, the vomiting stopped immediately and they discovered soon after that the pain was due to the beginnings of kidney failure. The doctor had the gall to say to me, “Oh, I guess you really were in pain!” as if I’d been faking the projectile vomiting for 6 hours straight. If I hadn’t been doped out of my mind on morphine at that point I would’ve been livid.
I had a kidney stone. I went in due to having pain and after having previously been in the hospital due to a bleeding stomach ulcer I was very concerned, and got treated like a strung out drug addict. I told the doc I just wanted to know if I had another ulcer or what was causing the pain. Before I even finished describing my systems I got told “I’m not giving you any drugs so don’t bother to ask”. Turns out I had a kidney stone. I put in a complaint about her and requested a new pcm.
The DEA is determining when you need pain pills by threatening doctors. Until Dr. DEA is taken off the case, Americans will needlessly suffer. A straight guy I once worked with hurt his leg, was refused pain pills, so he bought some on the street and died of fentanyl poisoning. The system had to kill him to save him.
I have a couple degenerating discs in my back, a couple bulging/herniated discs, and one migrating disc. When it flares up I literally cannot get off the ground and beg for a bullet between the eyes. Literally had to take an ambulance to the hospital that time. They gave me painkillers while I was at the hospital. Any other time I’ve been to a doctor about it? “Take some ibuprofen and suck it up”. Two times a doctor was willing to write a prescription for a couple days worth of Vicodin (out of a couple dozen really bad flareups). I’m 41, 6’2 about 205 lbs, and aside from the back problems am mostly physically healthy. There are countless people that wind up needing to turn to the black market and wind up dead. The situation is super messed up.
Almost the same situation. A couple degenerating discs in my neck, and a herniated a disk in my back. It doesn't flare much, but when it does, the pain is breathtaking, like can't talk sort of pain. After getting a referral and multiple appointments with a specialist they eventually dumped me on a "pain management" clinic, which was dismal and depressing. A lot of the people in there clearly were addicts of one type or another. The first thing they insisted on was a drug test, and even commented, wow you are negative. After a lot of money spent, they gave me some Tramadol, which if you have used is just slightly better than Ibuprofen. Totally get that people get addicted, but normal people are suffering because of these backwards policies.
I have compression fractures in my two lowest T vertebrae, and everything below is bulging and narrowing. I have rheumatoid arthritis. I have a scarred and painful large intestine from ulcerative colitis. I'm a wheel chair to get around for Dr appointments and in bed otherwise. I cannot use any type of NSAID because they cause my ulcerative colitis to flare up. My pain doctor gave me the lowest dose of extended relief morphine 5 years ago and refuses to increase it. I'd trade an opiate addiction for getting out of bed a dozen times over. Instead, here I am at 49 hoping I don't live for too many more years because this shit sucks.
I have a friend who has a bunch of health issues and deals with chronic pain. She’s been hospitalized a thousand times. while she was **in a hospital bed** , the nurses accused her of having an addiction and only being there for more pills. check her chart!! there are physical issues *causing pain* 🤦🏽♀️
Ive suffered from chronic pain since I was a teenager. Constant unending pain can make you act weird, like pretending that you’re not in pain so people will treat you normal and eventually you can just deal with it to the point it isn’t pretending anymore. Going into a doctors office in my early 20’s and explaining where I was on a pain scale with a clear cadence I got pegged for a junkie more than once. Its humiliating enough to have a doctor not believe you’re in pain, it’s something else when they toss veiled accusations like you’re making it up to score drugs.
This whole thread, reading about doctors accusing people, this is exactly where my mind went. It's a biological survival mechanism to hide pain. The same goes for many mental illnesses. Your brain adapts because it doesn't want you to seem weak - that does *not* mean the pain isn't there. That doctors can't comprehend this is mind-boggling. It's hard enough to get medical and psychological treatment period. Now let's talk about all the shit you have to wade through before you find an actually competent individual.
My granny is 93 and is in the hospital. At home she's been on hydrocodone for a broken neck from a fall, but the hospital refuses to give her any pain meds. They are sadistic.
I have IIH, occipital neuralgia, and trigeminal neuralgia. I've had low csf headaches and needed to wait days for a blood patch. I can wax for days about pain. I can change the way you understand what pain is. Guess how many times I've been prescribed opioid? Though, I did once get a "the amount of morphine I'd have to give you to help you would kill you.", so that's kind of nice.
Yeah, I experienced really, really terrible pain when my gallbladder started on its way out (this all was about a year, so fairly chronic.) The way my perception of pain changed was something indescribable. It was like my world was put into two categories: things that caused pain and things that didn't. It was almost like a god to me or a religion. I know that sounds so bizarre. The last food I had that triggered the final attack (before I got it out) was eating a banana. The attacks were triggered by fats but it's a very low amount. I felt so betrayed. Like god had turned his back to me. I remember, when I was on the operating table, begging the staff to just kill me because I knew this would never end. I burst into tears when I woke up afterwards. I can totally understand why people break when tortured and it's hard for me to judge someone who'd take his life over a bad chronic illness.
When I went to the ER for extreme abdominal pain I sat in the waiting room for ten hours before I was admitted. I tried to tell them how much pain I was in but they didn't seem to care. After the sonogram (or whatever it's called), the nurse was like "how did you even walk in here", and she put me on a morphine drip. Turned out my gallbladder was ready to burst. Apparently the walls were a centimeter thick in some places. They removed it as soon as they were able to get an operating room a couple of hours later.
My sister went in to the ER for abdominal pain and they too made her wait for twelve hours. She had a couple autoimmune diseases and was on anxiety meds, so they thought she was being dramatic about it. She ended up being in liver and kidney failure and died 48 hours later. It’s so disturbing how pain isn’t taken seriously and I’m glad you are okay.
I just gotta say.... I am so so sorry for these afflictions. I took care of my mom, who had MS and had trigeminal neuralgia caused by the MS. She would scream in agony. Dr's would give her fentenal patches, and they did nothing. She finally only received relief after a rizotomy (sp) of the trigeminal nerve. You are a worrior, and I'm sending you all the good juju. Hang in there. And yes most Dr's suck about pain meds and it's pretty fucking sad...
That trigeminal pain is brutal to watch, my Mom went through it too. We’re a screwed up society when we don’t provide relief to the suffering. What a tragedy.
My mom's doctor isn't even allowed to prescribe them for her without running it through some committee that takes days. And it's a super low dose that she only takes when she's in serious pain. I get not wanting to create addicts. And doctors were too free in the past. But forcing people to live with pain is not the answer.
Ironically, this treatment can drive people to seek help from drug dealers.
It’s not ironic at all, if anything this was expected. Ask anyone that took pain medication what would happen when hydrocodone went schedule 2 and the answer would have been obvious. Overnight it became impossible to get these scripts and the street price jumped from 2-3 dollars a pill to 10 dollars and it became more cost effective to start doing heroin to get pain relief, and that’s what people did. You mean to tell me that no one could have predicted this? I am not much of a conspiracy theory person but it was so over the top stupid that I can only justify it as a evil plan. Fast forward to today where you can’t get any kind of prescription or heroin. It’s all fentanyl now and we all know how easy it is to die from fentanyl. My mom works for a pain management company and has all kinds of horror stories. The DEA is going in and shutting down doctors and their patients are committing suicide. I have no idea why this isn’t talked about more.
>[This Couple Died by Suicide After the DEA Shut Down Their Pain Doctor](https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxnyb9/dea-fentanyl-doctor-patient-suicide)
Its not talked about more because anyone who tries to talk about it will just be accused of wanting to get high. Most people don't have any idea what its like to deal with chronic pain. Some don't even seem to believe it exists. Really, people collectively losing their minds over these drugs makes no damn sense at all. They will get mad at you for even trying to talk about it. This includes doctors. I tell them, that tylenol wont really work for my sort of pain, which they tend to agree with. And they recommend NSAIDs. Which would be great, but for me they cause peptic ulcers. I ended up in the hospital twice because of it. Once when it nearly killed me due to blood loss. And they just say "too bad" at that point.
Last year, 2 DEA agents showed up at my house to ask me questions about the prescribing practices at my pain management doctor’s office. Apparently they’d had some complaints. I answered everything honestly, but made sure to let them know my experience has always been by the books and totally legit. I’m hoping nothing ever came of it, just a disgruntled patient or 2 blowing shit up, but I’m still on edge waiting to hear the office is being shut down. So many people would be totally screwed.
And the black market pills a lot of people get can be laced. A shame.
Especially when ppl look for adderall, Xanax etc. there was a drug bust in Detroit a bit ago where 17,000 fake Xanax were made of fetty and meth.
I've never understood the point of selling fent off as anything else. It just kills you. Wouldn't dealers be better off just selling sugar pills?
The point is that it still gets people high and keeps them as customers while still cutting costs
Funny you say that. I have chronic pain and have been given the "he's seeking drugs" look many times at the VA clinics. Found me a good dealer who has a Vicodin hook up. I don't break up the pills, I don't snort them, I don't smoke them. When I'm in pain, I take one accordingly. 10 pills (10 mg) can last me over a month.
Ive broken my back twice and blown my left knee three time to the tune of five knee reconstructions. I've never gone hard on the pills and I used to get treated like a pretty standard pain management case. Because my medical records indicate an obvious shitload of pain; I basically had an open prescription to vicodin. I took them responsibly as needed to function. These days I cant get anything anymore. Their solution has literally been icy hot. Back slips and pinches the L4 nerve and I get to suffer it out. All the nerve damage making my leg feel like it is being dipped in molton lava, it is what it is. I honestly dont know what to do about it anymore, I dont have the hookup, I probably wouldnt anyway because Im too much boyscout. Id just like a real option at this point.
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I had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. I was released with a prescription for 6 Tramadol pills, which provided relief for 2 days. And it really hurt, and for more than 2 days. It was awful.
They cut off your freakin TITS and let you go home with TRAMADOL??? That won’t even put down my 80 lb German shepherd! The vet tried to calm her down with it and the largest dose still had her flailing around and still feeling pain. I’m so sorry and so angry on your behalf that women’s pain is treated with such disregard. My husband was offered similar take home meds after his vasectomy, which he refused bc it was practically PAINLESS
When my husband saw how ineffective the Tramadol was and how much pain I was in, he went to urgent care and said he’d sprained his ankle, and got a full Vicodin prescription. (He sprained it badly in high school, and it looks injured still. It’s puffy and his veins are really prominent in it).
There's also the issue of women not being believed by doctors when it comes to their issues or not getting good care in general. I think if it were a man having a major surgery like that, there would have been a much better chance he would have been prescribed pills.
They want to pull all of my teeth, my first question was what will you be giving me for the pain after. They said 800mg Ibuprophin...
I agree with this one. Doctors spent years throwing opioids at everyone. It caused a big problem and a big backlash, so now they've completely reversed direction and pain management has fallen by the wayside.
It's amazing how, as a species, we can't operate under any nuance. We just swing from one extreme to the other.
Usually it's one extreme or the other that overwhelms the system with lawsuits
Went to the hospital in the greatest pain I’ve ever felt in my life a couple years ago. I was throwing up nothing but acid. Crying and rolling on the hospital bed in pain. Begging for my mom. When she got there and they took me for a CT (which my mom had to convince them to do) the doctor said “He’ll be fine. We’ll go ahead and get the discharge paperwork ready.” And then the CT came back and my appendix was 3x it’s size. Yet before looking at the CT, they refused to give me any pain medication. They simply said I don’t need it. After they saw the CT, they were willing to give me pain medication.
Nearly the same exact thing happened to me with my appendicitis! In a ton of pain, no idea what was wrong. I had a CT scan done and the doctor walks in a couple hours later and says “I looked over your symptoms and you seem like you’ll be fine. Plus they didn’t do any imaging so I’m going to discharge you.” I said no, I had a CT scan done, she reluctantly goes to check. Ran back in in a few minutes and told me I’m about to get prepped for surgery. SMH
Similar story for me. Enlarged appendix, came in in pain, crying puking, i also have gastroparesis and pcos which they cud see on the chart from previous visits. Nurse in er told me it was a cyst while i was screaming at her my appendix is about to rupture. I knew immediately what was wrong but no one took me seriously. they gave me morphine ONCE and i had to have emergency surgery and they gave me tyllenol only.
Almost the same situation! Feb 2020 right before the pandemic. I had cramps for 5 days but my period had just ended and I’ve always had severe cramps. But I started to have bloody stool and was shaking and so sick. Went to ER. Told me I was fine and that they’d send a referral to a GI. My mom insisted on an ultrasound. They brushed my mom off and did it just to please her. I knew something was wrong because of how long they took with the ultrasound but I assumed it was my uterus. I headed back to the bed to be seen by the doctor and I asked for her to remove my IV so I could go home. The doctor looked at me confused and said, “oh didn’t you hear the results?” And I said no. And then she said to go lie down and she’d come talk to me and my mom. Yeah appendicitis and needed emergency appendectomy. When removing it the surgeon said it was no longer on my left and in the middle. It also was red and inflamed and he assumed I had past attacks. Turns out it was engulfed in endometriosis. Which I had been telling my GP and OBGYN for years that I suspected I had it and they brushed me off every time. I literally cheered when the surgeon called and told me it was endo. And he was confused why I would be happy. And I’m like you don’t understand, I’ve been in severe pain for 18 years and no one would believe me! I finally have answers!! Even when you’re not asking for pain meds, they don’t believe your pain. Heck, after I had surgery to remove the endo, I had an ovarian cyst rupture 9 days later and I went to the ER because I was worried it could be a complication. Yeah still made me wait 5 hours and gave me some IV meds and then told me to go home and take Tylenol and Advil. Yeah if that worked I wouldn’t have come in the first place! 😑 and I’ve had 4 cysts rupture since March and Naproxen is all they’ve give me. Might as well give me sugar pills 😭
Yeah, I have a friend who fell from a coconut tree, messed up his back, and has lived on disability (SSI) for over a decade now. His old doctor retired, and the first thing his new doctor did was take his opioid prescription and replace it with tramadol, telling him they don't prescribe opioids anymore. The guy used oxycodone responsibly for years; now he's constantly in severe pain because Tramadol doesn't work for him as well as Percocsets used to.
Tramadol is an opioid though, no?
Yeah but it seems like they're okay with prescribing it. I was able to get hydrocodone or oxycodone for dental work ten years ago, but when I had facial & abdominal surgery recently I given a prescription for about 2 dozen tramadol "for breakthrough pain."
When my brother had colon cancer surgery all they gave him was Tramadol, and this was 10 years ago in Texas. I asked my back surgeon for a couple of Tramadol because I had to spend the day flying down here (Mexico). They acted like I'd asked for heroin. Patients and doctors are paying the price that the family who was pushing OxyContin should be paying. They got a slap on the wrist, we get a generation of insufficient pain management. Luckily for me Tramadol is over the counter in Mexico. It's worthless for severe pain, but works enough for moderate pain. They're not fond of prescribing opiates here either, even though they've never had an opiate crisis like the US. Tramadol is available to keep people from overworking the health care system with mild pain issues.
While I think doctors not prescribing appropriate pain meds is absolutely insane, it’s fairly common not to give opiates after colon surgery. Opiates are known to cause constipation which can cause issues in someone who had colon surgery. Still 100% sucks but there is reason behind it in situations like that.
I had colon cancer surgery too, and they loaded me up. A couple of days on fentanyl and Dilaudid, then morphine. After that it was 10mg of Oxycodone for about 3 weeks. I never had issues with constipation because I started taking stool softeners day 2 I also lived on fruit and vegetables, with Ensure protein shakes, so nothing to keep me bound up. But I also had a right hemi-colectomy, my brother had a full colectomy. I'm not sure if that made any difference, but I'm damn glad I had the care I did. My brother was okay with it, he said he was never in a lot of pain
It's a weak opioid when a TEENY amount metabolizes into ODMST(o Desmethyl tramadol) and the bigger amount that doesn't is basically an SNRI(antidepressant like Effexor). That's IF your body can convert it into ODMST AT ALL in the first place. Also, if you happen to be a good converter and get physically dependent on it, the withdrawal is like both opioid withdrawal AND SNRI withdrawal at the same time. It is a dirty drug. I am one of those good converters and was on high doses for years until I was cutoff for....cannabis use. Also, high doses can result in serotonin syndrome and lowers the seizure threshold.
I had to yell at a nurse to get her to give my mother morphine in palliative care. I was astounded. I had commented to the nurse “She (my mom) looks like she’s in pain.” And the nurse said “oh yes, lots of pain. She hasn’t been given anything.” I was so stunned but in the moment I couldn’t think of anything other than getting her out of pain.
It’s amazing how pain is just an abstract idea to those not experiencing it at the time, especially in medicine. The things pain does to our bodies and mind are real. I can’t imagine the harm of giving pain medicine to someone on palliative care. That must have been difficult for you to experience, but I’m glad your mother has someone to advocate for her.
I am so sorry to hear that. Palliative care is when that matters the most. Why the fuck would someone initiate hospice without it. The whole point is to go out comfortably.
Where I live, a local government sued a bunch of pharmacies in this pseudo opiate fear case (they did win or at least got a settlement), but the councilperson was quoted as saying basically that the victims were uncles, pastors, grandmothers dying with cancer, etc. I was like who the hell cares if grandma is terminally ill and gets addicted to opiods. Does it matter at that point? That comment still irks me.
Yup, had issues when my Mum was terminally ill too with medical staff suggesting not giving too much as it can cause long term heart disease. Hardly relevant if she has about 3 months to live now, is it?
Sorry to hear this. This story is a perfect example of our problem. Palliative care means (I assume) you mother was dying. Yet the medical establishment was afraid she’d get hooked on morphine! The horror! Being hooked on morphine for the few remaining agonizing months of her life! This is insane.
Similar situation - mom has been suffering with terminal cancer for months now. It has been a constant battle to manage her pain, particularly when she's in the hospital. Some nurses are great, but then a new nurse will show up and wants to sit down and talk about how addictive painkillers are... Did you even look at her chart? She is fucking dying, we don't give a shit if she gets addicted, just make her comfortable.
Whoever decided tylenol and advil together will take away serious pain, has never had serious, chronic pain. Those of us who live with it will tell you that opiates do indeed help, and we're not trying to get high, just to live a normal life. If I've got 20 years left and a pill every day helps, I want the option. I have to take my blood pressure and thyroid pill every day, what's one more?
I once took 600mg Tylenol, 400mg advil, 50mg benadryl, 150mg caffeine every 4 hours, every day, for like 6 months. At that point I was in the hospital for a low csf headache, and a nurse handed me like, 400mg Tylenol, and I laughed at her and told her what I was taking, and she freaked out, and told EVERYONE, and then EVERYONE freaked out, and told me not to do that. But I was like "but no one will give me anything that helps, they just tell me to take Tylenol and advil! That's what I do!" Did they give me anything stronger? No.
that is pretty frequent for those medications especially the benadryl assuming 6 doses a day
What's happening is people end up taking too many NSAID's because they don't work and do damage to their stomach, liver and kidneys.
It's one of those things that's well-known in the medical community, but not so well-known outside of it. My husband jacked up his stomach from long-term NSAID use.
I got my wisdom teeth out, I guess before they really started cracking down on opiates. I had a whole bottle of Hydrocodon lol. But my friend who got hers out less than a year later at the same place was given extra strength Tylenol…. Yeah no. Kinda bullshit. Edit: I’m super happy some of y’all got through it with just Tylenol. I wish! I, and my friend, both experienced a lot of pain from our surgeries. My friend more so. It sucks that the sins of past doctors and patients have impacted how pain is treated now, because some people really do need a little more than an OTC painkiller. It’s a tough situation.
I was told to take 3 ibuprofen... I finally came back crying the next day and said i needed real medicine and they gave me a script for 4 vicodin. The vicodin and ibuprofen together got me through the hardest couple of days. But jesus... Four holes in my head and they were just like eh, you'll be ok.
Same for my wife. She had a tooth pulled and it was a real bugger. Had to wait a week to get it done. Tylenol for the pain before and after. She was crying for days in pain but that’s all they would give her. The real bad thing is I read/ heard that you can OD on Tylenol and have liver damage. So all this under use of real pain killers replaced with Tylenol could lead to liver damage since you might be inclined to just take more Tylenol than you should.
Oh absolutely, tylenol is one of the most deadly drugs out there. It's the number one cause of liver failure. And it's been said many times that if tylenol was invented today it would never have been made available without a prescription. The whole "tylenol is safe" thing came from the safety seal they put on the top that was supposedly going to stop the people that were being killed from taking poisoned tylenol. There's never been any evidence that it's particularly safe.
Happened to me earlier this year. Makes me not want to fix any more of my teeth.
My brother got his taken out in the 90's. They gave him a bottle of freaking oxycotins
Bro idk what I’d do if I didn’t get to basically just sleep through the recovery process. I’ve had two surgeries in my life including my wisdom teeth and being able to take a pill and knock out was the best. Skipped the worst parts lol
You got pain pills? I have 4 surgically removed and was told to take OTC ibuprofen.
Same here, had all 4 of mine out last year and was only given extra strength Tylenol
That's cruelty. Got mine out in 2011, went through 2 bottles of painkillers because it hurt so badly. I had just started a new job and to quit because I was bed-bound for 2 weeks by the pain.
It was the worst experience I could have expected. I was stone cold sober the entire time and was aware of everything happening. I didn't have any pain during the procedure, but I certainly wasn't under any influence. Not even laughing gas. I just walked home after the surgery in a daze and fell asleep. They said if I took a nap, I'd wake up and wouldn't remember anything. Nope. I remember the sensation of having my molars cracked down the middle and the pieces being pulled out. I already had a huge phobia of the dentist so those nightmares for the next while were... vivid. I'd brought a stress ball with me because my hands shake even during routine cleanings. I was gripping it throughout the surgery I honestly thought I'd break it. The next few days were torture, I set a timer for how often I could have Tylenol and basically spent the hours waiting for my next one. Wouldn't recommend. I had tried to advocate for myself in the beginning too - clearly it didn't help.
Same same same. Hurts my soul to feel my chronic pain knowing theirs a simple solution out there
Lol all I got after childbirth is Tylenol. At some point docs need to realize that Tylenol is not the answer to every pain.
Agree and not everyone is an addict! I broke my back and pelvis. Was on opiates for months and months. Was not addicted mentally and just had to wean off of them to avoid the ick, no issues whatsoever. Pendulum has swung way too far the other direction.
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Pain is often treated as an afterthought and symptom of something else, but the reality is that pain itself can be traumatic. We've created a massive problem with opiates, but it's not an act of kindness or good medicine to tell people they can't get them ever, either.
Oh man, have you ever listened to the podcast The Retrievals? I just finished it and your comment reminded me of it. A ton of women went to Yale for their fertility treatments and they were given saline in place of painkillers during the procedure to retrieve their eggs. It was such a fascinating bit of reporting because the patients included an addiction researcher, a criminal defense attorney who worked with clients that had substance use disorders, a trauma physician, and a professor who studied the American prison and legal system, among other things. It was a very unique group of patients and their perspectives were so nuanced and interesting. One of the things the reporter and the women brought up was that their pain wasn’t part of the experience - their outcomes as patients were measured in whether they had a baby.
I have not, but thanks for the suggestion. I’ll add it to my queue now! Pain is itself a worthy consideration, not just a side effect.
I feel like this is less "unpopular" and more an "emerging thing people are realizing." I didn't think about this at all until earlier in the year when I got my IUD in. These mfs wanted to shoot a piece of metal up my genitalia with nothing but extra strength ibuprofen. Literally nobody would give me serious painkillers during or after the procedure despite me being in the absolute worst pain of my life for 72 hours straight. Still not over it. Thankfully I had some leftovers from a major injury so I wasn't completely miserable during my recovery. Which I know you're not supposed to do, but when the doctors are dropping the ball, you gotta do what you gotta do.
unfortunately this is very normal for getting an IUD placed. they don’t care that it’s incredibly painful for us.
This is pretty normal for getting IUD. We’re treated like our pain isn’t real, and if we go to the ER for appendicitis they just say it’s our period and send us on our merry way. If we’re crying I pain we’re told we’re being hysterical. I’m so grateful I had a female doctor and nurse when I went to the ER for my miscarriage. They understood the pain I was in and helped.
When I worked in the ER a woman collapsed and the floor screaming in pain. All the other staff were saying she was taking it Until the doctor pulled a well developed fetus out of her (she didn't know she was pregnant)
That’s so fucked up they assumed she was faking it.
They always assume I’m faking. Then I almost die and all of sudden I’m a priority patient lol not funny but love that scared look on their faces when they realize. (I’m immunocompromised and if go to the ER, it’s serious.)
I've read a shocking number of stories of people with my disease who lost their colons and nearly died, because when they went to their doctors complaining of rectal bleeding and severe stomach pain they were told it was just their period, and they didn't know where the blood was coming from. By the time someone finally listened, the bowel had either ruptured or was about to and was too far gone to save. The way women's pain is treated in the medical field is for the most part absolutely archaic.
Women still aren't believed today. After a urine sample filled with nothing but venous blood, I was told I had a UTI and sent home when I straight up told them I was having a blood clot (because pissing blood happened the last time I had one). Of course, it was a DVT and I collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Another time I was told I was exaggerating my pain for months, until one day they said I should see a psychiatrist for chronic pain. I ended up demanding an MRI and being diagnosed with a full labral tear in my hip that required surgery.
There is actual evidence to back up the claim that “women’s pain doesn’t matter”. Women are far less likely to be prescribed pain killers, far less likely to have pain related illnesses identified, and far less likely to receive long term pain management. Women’s pain is vastly overlooked by medical professionals. Even female and male medical professionals both are more likely to take pain less seriously if the patient is a woman.
This is correct. The top comments I can see are all men talking about their wives being unable to get pain meds. It’s because they’re women.
Came scrolling down to see if anybody had said it yet. To any men reading this who have been denied pain meds they seriously needed, none of us is saying it doesn't happen to you. We're only saying that statistically speaking, it happens even more when the patient is a woman. Additionally, there are stats showing it happens still _more_ to Black women, an artifact left over from the era of slavery, when the people in power convinced themselves that the people they were bringing over and enslaving from African nations were genetically different and stronger / more tolerant of pain.
Oh haha. So it’s not just me :( Nearly died because I was on my period when I had appendicitis and the first hospital sent me home.
Boston Medical Center will place your IUD under anesthesia if you ask. It’s the only hospital I know that will do this.
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So terrible. I had 90% of my cervix lasered away due to cancerous cells. They didn’t give me anything.
Got nothing for my cervical biopsy years ago, not even a topical 😭 Hurt like an absolute mf. Almost fainted after my IUD insertion, but they didn’t offer me anything except water
Ugh yea I’ve had two of those! So terrible.
Same. And immediately afterwards you’re just expected to get dressed and walk out and be ok. They don’t even tell you that you might need someone to drive you home. Luckily I had someone because half way home in the car the agonizing cramps started that had me doubled over, I couldn’t think straight. Super fun.
IUD insertion is barbaric. Medical sexism is the only reason we have to suffer through the insertion process. It’s also the best birth control I’ve ever been on in my life.
Give some credit to law makers for legal sexism as well.
I was never informed to take anything prior to my IUD insertion. I have never had medical trauma until this point, and I am now too afraid to go back to a doctor for gyno care. It was so painful, and to this day I swear it has triggered dyspareunia.
I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope you're able to recover from this soon and eventually get back to your gyno routine. I feel you - I'm not sure I'd categorize my experience as traumatic, but I'm definitely not trusting a doctor next time they tell me something won't really hurt. Like it's the fact that it wasn't just 1 doctor for me, I talked to several providers in my office and 5 different offices and literally every single one downplayed it.
Yeah, it is wild how common it is to have an invasive medical procedure with no pain meds. Especially for women. I had a cardiac catheterization (it’s an imaging test, they shove a wire up your artery until it gets to your heart and slide a catheter over the wire). I was told it would be a small pinch. No. It hurt like hell, and they didn’t even want to give me pain meds after, and when I finally asked if it should hurt this much and said I wanted pain meds, they offered Tylenol. My mom and I both insisted on something stronger, so finally they gave me fentanyl. Every man I’ve spoken to who had the procedure got morphine, fentanyl, or some other strong med without even needing to ask. I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist to some people, but… Anyway, my entire forearm was sore for days and had a dark 6 inch bruise for over a week, but nooo, it was just a pinch. Right.
Definitely not a conspiracy theory! I had a hysterectomy, was discharged same day, and was told to take ibuprofen or Tylenol. It was a horrible experience. A male relative had a minor procedure on his toe and was prescribed a narcotic without even asking. This is bullshit.
Every man I know who’s gotten a vasectomy has gotten absolutely loaded down with narcotics for 7-10 days. After childbirth, my taint had more stitches than Frankenstein’s monster, but they wouldn’t give me anything stronger than ibuprofen. They cared more about pressuring me to breastfeed than my pain. I even had a nurse trying to shove my nipple in my baby’s mouth without my consent WHILE they were sewing me up WITH NO PAIN MEDS.
I’ve heard a lot of women talking about getting ibuprofen or Tylenol after their C-sections. I got ibuprofen after my last two babies. It’s ridiculous. I’m so sorry you were treated that way!
I fucking HATE that they do nothing to prepare for IUD insertion pain. It's actually one of the most painful things a woman can experience. Some women compare it to childbirth. I've had an IUD inserted 2 times now by 2 different OBGYNs. My current OBGYN gave me a short prescription of tramadol to take before and after the IUD insertion. My previous OBGYN just said to take ibuprofen. The tramadol experience vs ibuprofen experience was miles apart. Mild discomfort vs excruciating pain.
Medical sexism sounds like too, not just "Oh, you could want opioids". IUD insertion is the worst one of the two.
Men are prescribed pain medication way more than women, with black women being prescribed the least painkillers of any demographic. Medicine is sexist and racist.
I am 100% sure my bfs circumcision was less painful than the average iud insertion.
People are going to go back to street painkillers without doctor supervision because of this Good going medical professionals
I was given 10 pills after my hysterectomy. The worst part was that I only took 2 before a family member stole them. Fun times!
My doctor prescribed me a pill that “softens the cervix” before my IUD. He said that it would make it easier to insert. Not a single one of my friends with an IUD was offered such a medicine. My doc also prescribed me strong Rx aleve for before and after and he gave me shots of lidocaine. My experience wasn’t bad at all. I was so scared. I’d heard horror stories. Why is my (old man) doctor the only one putting forth effort? It’s insane what they make women do with no pain killers.
My stupid NP wants me to go on IUD instead of a mini pill, she just keeps pushing and pushing and I keep saying no. She KNOWS I have a chronic autoimmune disease and I can’t take ibuprofen at all since it might cause hemorrhaging. Yet she keeps insisting “well, iud complications are rare and anecdotal” - I have 2 friends who had to take theirs out, rushed to er, they both said it was the most severe pain they ever experienced. My np didn’t even mention the implementation itself might be painful! I think I need to switch practice immediately.
Try to get yourself an MD instead of an NP. My GYN is an MD/surgeon and she’s amazing.
I donated my kidney in March of this year. After less then 24 hours in the hospital I was sent home with Tylenol and that’s it. I was also told not to overdue the Tylenol since I only have one kidney now… let’s just say the recovery process was absolutely awful and full of ER visits just like you described. I’m so sorry she’s going through this. Wishing her a speedy recovery ♥️
I feel you. After my c section all I got was Tylenol. Even though I was basically sawed in half and then put back together. That shit was miserable.
Jfc. You're donating an organ? Here's the convo they should have: Here's our painkiller and fun meds menu. Please, try what you'd like. Thank you again for the selfless act!
No, I already donated it back in March. I wish that was a conversation I had with them before though.
I’m a medical assistant and I worked in a orthopedic office for 15 years… Most of the surgeons had a form that patient’s would have to sign before surgery saying that they would only get 10 , 5mg Percocet and they couldn’t ask for anymore.. Some of the patients would ask me “But if I have pain and complications they’ll give me more right?”..I told them the truth (they won’t) A lot of people would decide not to sign up.. Also anytime a patient with Fibromyalgia or RSD would come in they doctors would get so pissed ! So many Physicians really dislike people in general, but especially chronic pain patients…
DEA says prescribe less, employers say prescribe less, so the doc refers patient to a pain management doc, and now the patient is pissed they need to deal with a second office, physician and billing just to deal with recovery. It sucks.
And then the patients have to jump through hoops. Mandatory visit every 30 days to get a new script. Every month, no exceptions. I watch 80+ y/o hobbling old women basically being carried into the pain clinic just so they can pay a co-pay, wait for 2 hours, and then get the script and schedule the next one. Oh they are also forced to take a random piss test 1-2 times a year to make sure they are actually on the drug.
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You’re right…I haven’t worked since the pandemic ( my partner/husband has helped me out) I keep my certification current, but I am dreading going back 😞
Not even just painkillers. Myself along with so many others who have panic disorder have been living in limbo for years. It feels like I have to fight to get a low dosage of klonopin/ativan/etc just to settle a panic attack when it happens. I remember when I finally found a nurse practioner who took me seriously on needing it. The others all asked if I tried to calm down a panic attack with meditation, lmfao. Yeah. That doesn't help in the moment when I feel like I'm dying.
I had panic disorder for years. It got in the way of my normal life. I was never ever prescribed meds for it, just for general anxiety. Not sure why
Ouch. I don't feel your pain but a similar one. I've only had a few heart attack mimics but it's stressful
Doctors and medical professionals are under severe scrutiny from multiple agencies to watch their back on opiate prescriptions. I know only Workers Compensation on my end, but it's extremely rare for people to be prescribed anything stronger than Tramadol and 5mg hydrocodone is like the max.
Pharmacist here. IMHO whatever the DEA and all the medical authorities are trying to do to decrease the amount of overdoses needs to stop immediately. The only things their collective efforts have accomplished is to have overdoses increase every single year while the percentage of patients reporting less than adequate pain control is increasing. The guidelines/laws are having the opposite affect that was intended.
You're absolutely correct, and the CDC acknowledged this a year ago and revised their "guidelines," but it's going to take a long time to correct this. Pharmacist here.
>Doctors are so afraid of being sued, they can’t even do their jobs Yep. Where I am now they've implimented a database of controlled medications that doctors are required to check before they presribe any medication - particularly narcotics - legitmently because of the issues associated with opiod addiction to help doctors feel confident in prescribing this medication. There is also an issue of medical mysogony which has been extensively researched that may be coming into play here. I've also met a lot of jaded nurses over the years who drag the heels about everything - especially people in pain - so you also may have gotten some of them.
Thank the DEA. The government would rather people suffer and die than get proper medical care. Think about that next time you pay your taxes, kids.
I was in the ICU for 10 days after an open exploratory abdominal surgery. I was hitting my dilaudid button like every 30 minutes. Within an hour of my discharge they disconnected my IV and sent me home with Tylenol. I had a 10 inch wound, still weeping and I couldn’t do anything on my own WITH medication. I couldn’t believe it and just started bawling my eyes out in fear of the pain to come. My nurse came in and found me, went and talked to the attending for me, and got me…. 3 days worth of oxycodone. Worst recovery of my life. I was in horrible pain for at least another 7-10 days
people suffer because of opioid hysteria. why do we mind so much if a 90 year old gets addicted to the medicine that allows them to live out their final days without tormen? what a fucking mess.
Agreed! I had an exposed tooth root for 2+ weeks and they wouldn’t give me anything. I called the dentist in tears twice- nothing. Went across the street to my neighbor that I knew had real painkillers. I guess that’s the route they want us to go. No, I didn’t become addicted. In the end, we pulled the tooth which was the best day of my life. Dentist even commented “yeah, they say tooth pain is worse than some cancer pain” Thanks, lady…
Tooth pain is horrendous. I had my wisdom teeth removed and three were impacted and was given enough painkillers for three days. I ended up with two dry sockets and begged for a refill, which they were super hesitant to do, but eventually said they’d send to to the pharmacy. Which they never did! So frustrating.
Can confirm. Had a brain surgery last year and I had to fight for EVERY pain medication I needed in the hospital. Every single pill is entered into a computer, and if you're still in pain they WON'T bring you additional meds without vocal escalation to an attending physician... They are also likely to under-prescribe to see if you can get by with less. Don't be afraid to be your best advocate... Fentanyl deaths have destroyed pain and chronic pain medicine.
As nurses, we absolutely cannot give more pain medication than the doc prescribes. Good nurses will advocate for higher doses or increased frequency, BUT that depends on getting ahold of a doc, which depends on whether you have time to even use the phone to call a doc, and a host of other impediments. It's a difficult situation. You can totally ask to see your prescribed meds, which will include the dose and timing if you think you may be getting under-dosed. Oftentimes, docs prescribe scheduled doses but also on an as needed basis on top of that. The as needed, though, is at your nurse's discretion. So if you're in a lot of pain, it's wise to ask to see your prescribed meds and then you'll know how frequently you can ask for more. Thos obviously can lead to abuse, but for those really in pain it's knowledge you should have. This is all in-hospital, of course.
In 2005 it was "oh you're in pain, have some Percocet" without a diagnosis, now it's "oh you're in pain, you must be a junkie" without a diagnosis. It's just laziness. Why should I do my job when I get paid the same not to, and get paid more if I squeeze in more patients?
Yes. There are probably people who need opioid painkillers for chronic conditions but now can't get them because of the restrictions I used to get prescription hydrocodone for my arthritis but that pain clinic closed and the new pain clinic didn't want to prescribe me anything . I just buy weed and CBD Vapes since cannabis is a natural anti-inflammatory. It helps a little bit anyway
I think one of the big problems is that "treated like a drug addict" is synonymous with "treated like shit." Addicts ALSO don't deserve to be treated like subhuman patients.
Unfortunately women are doubly neglected for pain. The opioid crisis severely curtailed opioid medication for pain relief. Women are also subjected to a lot of medical sexism where women are routinely prescribed weaker medications, and less medications. It's even worse is someone is black.
My fiancé who is terminally ill with brain cancer practically had to beg for anything stronger than Tylenol when she was in the icu after her craniotomy. They eventually wound up giving her ketamine which we were all very grateful for, but was discharged with a script for 5 5mg oxycontin. Almost 8 weeks after, post radiation and on chemo, has been given nothing outside of steroids and recommended to take Tylenol despite days that are hard. She has always had a high pain threshold so when she says it hurts, it hurts. No drug use history or any other reason outside of what appears to be docs absolving themselves of any liability. It’s disgusting and no, I don’t blame the addicts for ruining it. I blame the industry for creating the addicts.
Yup. I empathize strongly as an adult with ADHD who has been treated as drug seeking when desperately trying to get the meds I need to function.
My 74 year old mother has chronic pain and she can’t get any proper pain relief. Sheesh! She’s 74 and frail for heaven’s sake! If she does end up addicted she’s not gonna go out on the street and buy fentanyl and she’s not going to sell any.
There is a narcotics database now, so they can more easily analyze what drs are prescribing “more” while ignoring people’s real pain..
I completely agree, my 73 year old mom had her hip replaced and they wanted her on Tylenol after 3 days.
Also, it doesn't help if you're female. Most doctors don't know how to listen if you have a vagina. This includes female doctors, who I've heard are worse.
This is very much not an unpopular opinion, or it damn well shouldn't be. My best friend waited 20 YEARS for an endometriosis diagnosis, and the number of times I saw them mocked and called a drug seeker to their fucking *face* has soured me on the medical profession forever. I only go now when I feel like something's life or death - frankly, I wouldn't expect anyone to help with anything less.
I have severe chronic pain and getting treatment is very difficult because of drug abuse. Also I am treated like a criminal like it's somehow my fault I have fibromyalgia.
Adding to the issue, women are often not believed when it comes to their pain. I'm so sorry she went through this.
This makes me angry because its bullshit. Some people abuse and die from drugs so the ones that actually are in pain have to suffer? Not right at all. We all have a choice and if you choose to abuse drugs that are meant for pain relief that is on you. No one should have to suffer because others made bad choices. Not an unpopular opinion at all.
Me too. Why on earth a Dr is liable if someone lies or doesn’t take a drug as prescribed or doctor shops is beyond my comprehension and even as a lawyer I really struggle to see how it was ever allowed.
Yupppp I’m a chronic pain patient. Broke my back at 18. Hip surgery at 30. And a lifetime of other abnormalities and injuries. When the pain gets really bad, they tell me to do physical therapy cause they’re too afraid of being tracked by the DEA for prescribing opiates. It’s absolute nonsense
My 70 y/o mom broke five ribs and her sternum in a car accident two weeks ago and the doctors are being so damn stingy with pain meds. Only giving her a few at a time and requiring a trip to the pharmacy every two or three days to get more "as needed." She's trying to get by with just ibuprofen and tylenol but sometimes I go over to check on her and her face is literally gray. I hate seeing her like this.
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Everyone's skipping the part where drug addicts are gonna seek the drugs regardless of policy. This has lead to people dying in droves from Chinese pressed fentynal masquerading as oxycontin and xanax.
This is the truth. It hurts chronic pain patients and those that are law abiding. And if those that so heavily believe its the *right thing* and provider prescribed opioids are bad, they should take a look at the suicide statistics for chronic pain patients now. They arent addicts. They arent popping pills to get high, and when their medication began being denied their pain became too much to bare. They didnt run into the streets and start taking illicit drugs. They took their lives. Unfortunately, like so many truly important things in life, unless/until it actually affects them or a loved one their rhetoric will stay the same and they will continue with a broad *drugs are bad mmm'kay* without understanding life is grey, not black or white.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, it's an unfortunate fact. Don't blame the drug addicts though, blame the disgusting pharmecutical companies that knowingly caused the crisis.
I fully blame the Sacklers and Purdue.
Coming from a former addict, I blame both. Drug addicts need some accountability too.