5/20/16 Friday
A large part of having a disability for millions of
Americans is living with chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting
longer than 6 months. Chronic doesn’t mean constant. WebMD defines chronic pain very succinctly on
their website. For most sufferers of pain, it fluctuates. There are good days
and bad days and days that are in between. Many people who’ve suffered injuries
have very little relief at all.
The new CDC Guidelines, as well
as many inflammatory, dismissive, and downright condescending articles, as well
as news
broadcasts (article written in response to a
report by CNN), discount the many Americans suffering with chronic pain. Many
of whom rely on controlled substances to get them to have one good day or
enough reduced pain for a few hours of relief. This is not meant to diminish
the seriousness of addiction and abuse of drugs. But the ones seeking drugs
illegally aren’t always getting prescriptions. The illegally obtained
prescription drugs are a result of pharmacies being robbed.
This situation presents a conundrum for pain sufferers. As
many Americans are also faced with the choice of finding a way to obtain their
meds by any means necessary. This presents a two-fold problem. The first being
the support of those that would traffic in illegal substances and setting
themselves up for being further denied pain management. The second being the
legal ramifications of obtaining substances without a prescription whether
they’re legal substances or illegal ones to ease their pain. Not every
desperate person is an addict. But these new restrictions, this atmosphere of
fear evoked by the DEA in response to opioid addiction is hampering all the
interested parties. Doctors are too afraid to treat patients and patients are
treated like junkies whether they are or not. Even the most responsible prescription
drug patient is made to feel ashamed and unheard. Creating a culture of fear
and shame around an epidemic is a sure way to drive it underground and make it
into the very thing they are fighting against.
This culture of fear and shame is being further fueled by
articles like the one recently posted on Global
News Centre’s website. This article is not only
shameful but extremely condescending to chronic pain sufferers. They made a
comment about a program that CNN aired that addressed the opioid epidemic and
had only one chronic pain sufferer. This article, as well as the news
broadcast, went on to dismiss and discredit her. The news program made her look
like a small voice in a sea of unimportance. And the article took a dig at the
fact that apparently she was helped to and from her seat, despite claiming to
be active and taking opioid pain meds for many years. Regarding her being
assisted to and from her seat: many times if you go to any public place and
inform them that you have a disability, they offer you help whether you need it
or not. It is probably a matter of legality and covering their own assets,
so-to-speak. Furthermore chronic pain fluctuates daily, sometimes even
throughout the day. We have no way of knowing how long she was sitting there in
the same place. Some chronic pain sufferers have difficulty remaining seated
for long periods of time. Especially when it is a certain type of chair. We,
and the writer of this article, have no way of knowing the policies of the
people who helped her. She may not have chosen the help. We have no way of
knowing the circumstances. Television shows often take much longer to film than
most people realize. This defaming of a person who is suffering is just further
proof of what people with invisible disabilities deal with every day.
People often make judgments about your abilities and
credibility based on how you appear once, rather than over time. Anything that
is chronic is very inconstant and fluid. There are days when someone who is
sick may have a great day and be able to go out and socialize, but to the
casual observer she is fine. Those observing on a good day don’t see her on the
other days when she’s unable to leave her bed for long periods of time. Because
most chronically ill people have to wait until they are better in order to be social
at all. One of the main problems here is compassion, empathy, and
understanding. This will be a very difficult wall to break as so many people
can’t believe in what they don’t see. There needs to be more work and more
activism to ensure that this epidemic is properly addressed. No one should live
with shame for their suffering or dismissal of their distress.
Many people are also under the erroneous notion that
chronic means complaining, exaggerating, or malingering. That couldn’t be
further from the truth. Most chronic sufferers (not just pain) actually tend to
downplay their suffering to avoid putting people off. No one wants to be the
downer that nobody wants to talk to. Human beings are social creatures, so for
the chronic pain patient one of the hardest things that they deal with is the
isolation it causes as friends stop inviting them places and begin to have less
and less contact with them. They often feel ostracized by their experience and
isolated from those that they care about. Support is the thing that they need
the most and the thing which is also the most difficult to find and/or
maintain.
Chronic pain sufferers need to be heard and there need to
be measures in place to take care of those patients who rely on opioids but are
also responsible, compliant patients. What we need are more articles like this
one from the New
York Times. Those who do not exhibit any
drug-seeking behavior don’t deserve to be punished. Drunk drivers kill people
every day, but they don’t restrict alcohol and it’s a much more dangerous drug
with its availability and ease of purchase. With the restrictions that pain
patients have to deal with many of them are forced to stay in bed or be very
depressed. More and more chronic pain patients are committing suicide every
year because they can’t face one more day of pain. They can’t face one more
clinic that treats them like a drug addict. They can’t face one more doctor who
refuses to prescribe them medication to make them feel better. Doctors are
being forced to go against their oath when they deny patients what they need.
They’re doing harm by being negligent. New measures, new strategies, and new
guidelines need to be set for the DEA, as well as less restrictions on the
doctors. If they’re hampered by law, how are they going to be able to help
their patients? Doctors aren’t all to blame, but these new rules and
restrictions are damaging to doctors. It’s damaging to patients. As well as
damaging to society as a whole.
*Any factual errors
contained in this article are the fault of the author and not of the
publications referenced. –Layla Rose
