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In the past 2 years I have had the misfortune of dealing with doctors who have left me feeling like a drug addict trying to get my fix due to the stigma attached to taking opioids for pain.<\/p>\n
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I have felt the judgment, been grilled by pain management doctors about my behavior and use of medications, been given the suspicious glances and been treated rudely when I ask for and even fill my prescriptions, as if someone taking narcotics need not be treated like a human. Why would I, after all, in their eyes, I am just a drug addict.<\/p>\n
The sad thing is, sometimes I don\u2019t feel all that far from one. I am chemically dependent on my medication. Without it, I can\u2019t function, can\u2019t move, can\u2019t do household chores, nor can I do physical therapy. In short, I can\u2019t do much to heal or help myself without them. Am I an addict? No! Am I dependent on these meds to scrape through my days? Absolutely! \u00a0I don\u2019t get high off my medications. I don\u2019t take them to feel happy or euphoric and I don\u2019t take more than I am prescribed. \u00a0So, if I am not an addict, why am I treated like one by the very people who prescribe the medication to me? Why do I have to take urine drug screens when I admit that I take medication?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t the suspicion going a bit too far??<\/p>\n
I do my part. I do physical therapy, massage therapy, and I have tried all sorts of pain management tactics, including meditation and therapy. I am doing my part, all I ask is that these medical professionals do theirs. But because there are so many people trying to \u201cscrew the system\u201d to obtain narcotics illegally, everyone is suspect, even those of us who truly need it.<\/p>\n
The cruel twist is that I want to tell the doctors, \u201cYou wrote me the prescription. You gave me the damn pills and told me to take them around the clock. You got me dependent on drugs and now you have the nerve to give me a hard time when I need to refill them?\u201d Every month I have a knot in my stomach when I go for my appointment because I never know if I will be treated as a real person in real pain, or a malingering drug addict looking for a fix.<\/p>\n
Oh what I wouldn\u2019t give to tell my medical \u201cprofessionals:\u201d Please, please don\u2019t judge me! Please don\u2019t make me feel bad when I ask for my medication, please don\u2019t make me pee in a cup and please don\u2019t treat me like I am an idiot when you speak to me. I may be on medication, but I am intelligent and I know what is going on. Please understand that I didn\u2019t choose this for myself. I don\u2019t want these damn pills, but I have no other choice right now as I have exhausted my other options for pain relief. Don\u2019t hold my condition against me. I understand the pen is mightier than the sword, so I can\u2019t even ask to change dosages, I can\u2019t request anything different, I certainly can\u2019t be rude in any way (regardless of how you treat me) and I can\u2019t question you because you hold my ability to move and get out of bed in your little prescription pad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Please understand that 80% of the doctors I come in contact with are wonderful, understanding and amazing. I do not<\/span> feel judgment from all doctors. But, in my experience, the doctors who prescribe these medications are the ones who judge me for being on them.<\/p>\n I hope to one day not need these pills. But until that day comes, I only ask that I be treated with compassion and understanding.<\/p>\n Have you experienced judgement or difficulties with your pain medication?<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of\u00a0Auntie P<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0Compfight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past 2 years I have had the misfortune of dealing with doctors who have left me feeling like a drug addict trying to get my fix due to the stigma attached to taking opioids for pain. I have felt the judgment, been grilled by pain management doctors about my behavior and use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chronic-pain","tag-dbtag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/painvalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}