How to help the cause of chronic pain sufferers?

[MyKnee2010]

I would like to start some sort of grass roots effort to bring the needs & concerns of chronic pain sufferers to the forefront. The rise in the number of heroin/fentanyl overdoses in the US (maybe in other countries?) have caused politicians to call for the medical community to stop or severely limit the number of prescriptions written for opioid pain killers. As you can imagine this has a very negative impact on those of us who have chronic pain & who depend on opioids to give us some little pain relief so we may have some sort of life as limited as it may be.

If you are interested in joining forces to work to bring the plight of the chronic pain sufferer to light, I would love to hear from you.

[dal_knee]

I would love to get involved, not sure how to help though.

[Chester57]

I understand your concern about chronic pain sufferers. I too have suffered with chronic pain. I have had Arthrofibrosis in my left knee for decades as well as lyme disease and neuropathy. However, I think a very important point is being missed with regard to the issue of opioids. Do you realize that these drugs were never intended for this use? They were meant to treat acute pain for a very short duration of time.

I happened to see a town hall meeting on TV a few months ago regarding this very subject. I think you might find the discussion interesting. http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/health/sa ... must-lead/

I know how difficult it is to deal with chronic pain but becoming dependent upon drugs (and that is what it is....a dependency) because you quickly develop a tolerance to them and have to keep increasing the dose or begin combining drugs to get the same or any relief is certainly not the answer.

The opioid epidemic is completely out of control. And, for the most part, it ties back to doctors overprescribing these highly addictive pain medications. And, by the way, I'm the one kcknee was referring to in her post to you. I was sent home from the hospital with 120 oxycodone. Just how absolutely absurd is that.

Bringing chronic pain to light is one thing, but I honestly don't see why anyone would object to the abolition of the practice of overprescribing these highly addictive medications. Those individuals who have become addicted to them need to be weaned off of them so they don't suffer withdrawal. They sure as hell don't need to be handed another prescription for the substance they have become addicted to and which was never meant for long term use.

Christine aka Chester57

[MyKnee2010]

I think the point is: what should chronic pain sufferers use to combat their pain? I am not asking this to be combative but for the information as I am looking for that answer myself. I currently take ibuprofen & acetaminophen & I have so much pain I am severely limited in what I can do.

Phoebe

[Audice]

I'm a medical marijuana user because like so many who were prescribed opioids, I was not happy taking them. I disliked having to increase dosage in order to get relief & so sought other means of dealing with chronic pain.

Knowing that my state has legalized medical marijuana, I asked my pain management PA about it. She thought it might work for me & submitted my medical records to one of the state approved doctors who can certify a patient.

The state of Connecticut governs medMJ very closely & despite the cost, the changeover for me has been quite beneficial. Medical MJ is a whole new journey & requires some serious looking into. There are so many strains of that you need to know what you're getting into. But it's a very viable option for those who want no more to do with opioids.

[tinydinosaur]

Agree with Audice, MM is a good alternative but requires research and can be a lot of trial and error depending on how your body reacts. IE. What type works better for you, what strain, what combination of THC/CBD. Smoking it you lose about 90% of the medicinal aspect of the plant, vaporizing is better - there are also other options such as topical or transdermal application or ingesting it (through oil, tincture, edibles).

The side effects are no where near what opiods and even NSAIDs will do long term. There's no physical addiction (you can become psychologically addicted) so there is no withdrawal, and the negative side effects are limited, which can be nausea/vomiting (usually from taking too much) or anxiety. The most important thing is you cannot OD.

There are some documentaries up on youtube if anyone is interested Weed featuring Dr Sanjay Gupta.