Chronic Pain Treatment Getting Harder to Find

It is bad enough with have to live with a chronic condition but chronic pain too? Pain whether acute or chronic interrupts our daily life. Why is it that acute pain doesn't have stigma attached but chronic does? Why do Drs jump instantly on acute while pushing away chronic? Why are Federal and State Guidelines containing more red tape, hoops to jump through, making it harder to find treatment? Why are many medical professionals confusing acute vs chronic in relationship to the Opioid Crisis?

Our options are becoming harder to find, harder to obtain, and quickly closing down. We officially now have our own crisis! If you don't believe this just start searching for Chronic Pain Clinics and/or Doctors willing to treat with medications. In the clinic I go to, ppl are driving several hours for their appointment with a Dr who is the singular owner, in his mid/late 70's. He doesn't have to take insurance, or jump through any hoops by insurance such as precerts for meds because he realizes just how limited the services he offers are. So just to see him, you pay cash then you buy your medications out of pocket. When he closes, he has nobody in place to take over his practice. That is scary!

So I have realized that it is important to start making noise. I am now starting a campaign to alert my State Gov and his Surgeon General. I will start with letters to them both, then will add in agencies. If need to, these will become a weekly process, followed by phone calls to these and State Reps. Next I will start searching for local new agencies who will start reporting on this problem. Social media posts, Videos, anything will be added to start trying to bring attention to this. If all of us would do the same thing it certainly couldn't be ignored for long.

We have heard my body my choice now for years, we have been told the Gov shouldn't get in the way of health care choices so why are we allowing this? All it takes is for us to be as loud as all those other groups fighting for their rights. I resent we have a stigma attached to us needing medications. That is exactly why they were invented. I will also say that the opioid crisis isn't just from prescribed medications. We have had illegal drugs easier to find than getting a legal prescription. It is worse that the local high school has a better selection than our own pharmacies. They need a direction to start with this fight and we became the easy target. This must end now, we need decreased red tape, people retrained on how to think about chronic pain, and most of all the stigma removed. We only have 2 options: fight for what is right or allow them to take away all options. I am not one to give up. Call your State Gov, Representatives, any agencies which might can help. Write letters, sign petitions, talk to local groups to help push your voice. We didn't ask to be sick but we do need respect and a quality of life. Are you ready?