Okay, I understand the reason why the government is trying to regulate the narcotics. My sister-in-law went to a pain clinic and was given so much pain medication that she accidently overdosed and died.
This is my issue, I need pain medication and can see why people go to pain clinics.
Four and a half years ago I had what my mother called a nervous breakdown. I couldn't cope with some crappy emotional issues and circumstances in my life, and my mind couldn't take anymore. I contemplated suicide and then made the biggest mistake of my life. I drove myself to the hospital and asked for help.
Two days later, as I sat in the psyc ward drugged with Ativan, I was convinced by the psyciatrist that I was a drug addict. It just so happened that I was also in a great deal of pain while I was "mentally crashing" and was prescribed opiates to deal with the pain.
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I did everything they told me to do and detoxed from the opiates. It was the worst thing I have ever gone through. Three weeks after I stopped and went through the sleepless nights, great agitation, nausea, sweats (horrible), and pain, I ended up having a migraine headache that lasted for more than a week. I thought I had some kind of brain tumor. It was like an ice cream headache times 1000.
So after all of that, I learned how to deal with pain in a couple of different ways. I used over the counter medication and learned how to meditate.
Now my pain has returned with a vengence. I can't move on some days. I have a herniated disc in my lower back and I have chronic kidney stones (one or two every 4-6 weeks).
Do you think I ever get any pain medication that actually works on these issues? ABSOLUTELY NOT! If I even mention that I am in pain or would like some pain medication, I am accused of drug seeking. I don't even want to go to the doctor anymore. I am judged constantly.
There are days that I would like to just shove a kidney stone up my doctor's penis and into his kidney so he can feel how painful they are when they aren't moving down and out (he admitted that he never had a kidney stone). I have a child, and would rather have ten more children than deal with the large stones I pass. (That includes raising them through the pre-teen years!)
I take Neurontin for the fibromyalgia and auto-immune inflammatory disease I have. It works for that, but doesn't touch the back and stone pain.
The lawyers for Kaiser have put so many restrictions on the doctors about pain medications, that I don't think that Kaiser will ever help me with my pain more than what they are doing with the Neurontin.
I like Kaiser other than this issue. I don't want to change my insurance, but if I can't get help to manage my pain, I will have to go to an insurance where I can see a doctor that doesn't have the information about my supposed addiction.
If anyone has a suggestion on what to do, I would appreciate it very much.