When is the last time you had major issues getting medications, treatments, tests and so forth that your physician orders due to either insurance denying, Medicare issues, or lets say state and/or federal government stepping in to tell your doctor exactly what he can and cannot do, what he can and cannot prescribe, what he can run as far as testing or cannot do? Well this is just exactly what is happening at this very moment.
For myself, I have ran into numerous times that either my insurance wanted a special form from my doctor, for a test, evaluation, a certain "non-generic" or name-brand prescription I need because the generic version is NOT the same, or you need a "prior authorization" to get a certain procedure, surgery and so forth done. I am sure I have not been the only one with what my OWN DOCTOR says is correct for me, over rode by some pen pusher sitting behind a desk, that does NOT know my history, my physical condition, my medications, or anything about me. That always infuriated me, when I feel they have no right to go over my doctors head.
Well, now here is something even worse. Not only is our own Federal government involved with this, now one of our states, Washington State, has decided to step in and meddle in the affairs of our doctors and what they deem is proper therapy for us.
Anyone who is a chronic pain patient, who has jumped through hoops for years trying to get properly treated, with medications, therapies, surgeries, alternative therapies, getting test after test, having multiple surgeries, spending not only money, but our time, trying to do exactly what our physicians tell us, in order to gain the proper relief from ongoing, unending, nagging to the point you cannot function horrible, nightmarish chronic pain. For myself, as well as many, many of the hundreds of thousands in pain, it it a living hell. Your time, your life is NOT you own, but lived through the body of never ceasing pain. You awake with pain, you eat pain, you sleep pain, it rules your life like a bad dream. You cannot escape its evil grips. So, you go through all it takes to get the proper medications, that almost immediately change your course of life forever. You finally can function, you get your life back, you can possibly work again, take vacations again, take care of not just yourself, but your home, your family again. These tiny pills or one patch take the horror filled days of pain, and change them into days and days of feeling like you do want to live life to its fullest. But, you are under the gun constantly. You must abide by the very strict guidelines of a pain contract, which you happily do if that means that you are NOT ever pain free, but enough of it is gone that you can function. You dare NOT ask for a higher dose, or to try a different type, thinking the relief might get better, for fear of the stigma given by some doctors, specialists, and society over narcotic pain medications.
Too many times, you have heard it, or read articles about "addiction", about the stigma of being a "dope" head, a "drug" seeker, an abuser, and all of the other terrible things associated with those who "are addicted" to pain medications. You even hesitate to ask or find relief because of the social stigma placed upon those who use the medications illegally look for a "high" which you just cannot fathom. Any person who is legitimately in pain, looking for a doctor who will finally put an end to sometimes what is years or even decades of needless suffering. You have ran the gamut of doctors, specialists, therapists, psychologists, and done each and every thing asked of you. You possibly have gone through doctor after doctor, pages and pages of doctors notes, your files 5 or 6 inches thick, where you have griped, fussed, complained, cried, begged, done it all in the name of knowing that there has to be someone, something, somewhere to give you relief from the never ending, life altering, nagging, severe, chronic daily pain, the shadow of hell that lives for you, many times, it is you. Your body ravaged, your spirit dampened, your family, your friends, those that know you seeing the suffering that you have needlessly gone through before finally THAT RAY OF HOPE comes forth.
You finally find that miracle worker. Finally someone takes you seriously. Finally you get through the red tape, the paperwork, the diagnosis, after diagnosis, and one doctor finally gives you the prescription that changes your dark, black clouds into days of blue skies, without the pain.
My story, is not unique. I am one of the hundreds of thousands that have spent years doing just so. Trying to find someone who listens. At last, the medication you have needed for years is given to you. You follow the rules, you adhere to the very, very strict guidelines of your only saving grace. You go through the steps, you never take more medication than absolutely prescribed. You never call early for a refill, you willing take a "pee" test if necessary, you make your appointments on time, never missing one whether they are monthly, quarterly etc. Yet, one day a new "law", a governmental body, one that has never seen you steps in, and suddenly, your world is crushed, they are demanding that you be taken off the very thing that has practically saved your life. What have you done wrong? What have you abused, why is it that someone that does not know you, sitting behind a desk, who is NOT your doctor, not a family member, no one you would even meet on the street is making the decision to say you do NOT need your prescription pain medications?
So, does that mean you do not need your insulin if you are diabetic? Does that mean your high blood pressure pills are also "addictive"? Does that mean the cancer medications are causing a "high"? Does that mean the cholesterol medications that keep your triglycerides in check causing you to be a "junkie"? NO! And neither does the fact you need your narcotic pain medication because of the suffering of pain that you cannot help, that you endured, that is something physically that happened and you did not want it, cause it, and are not "making it up", or it is NOT all in your "head". Of course our bodies may become "accustomed" to medication. But, that is any medication you take due to a lack of something your body does not do without them. Whether you are taking blood pressure medications daily because without them your blood pressure would rise high enough to cause a stroke or heart attack, you take insulin injections daily for without them your sugar levels would rise high enough to cause kidney failure, coma and possibly death, your cholesterol levels are dangerously high, and without your daily medications, they could cause plaque to build up in your arteries, where it could break off causing blood clots, or narrow your arteries enough to cause a heart attack or stroke. Or take your daily medications for thyroid. Without them you would suffer from lack of or too much hormones that your body cannot regulate without proper medications. Think of the number of chronic illnesses we have, that without the life saving medications that are body does NEED, does REQUIRE, that without them, we would not only be ill, but possibly die without those medications. One might say our bodies are "addicted" to any number of daily prescriptions our doctors deem necessary due to our bodies not making enough, or making too much, or something we need in order to live. What if the Federal or State government one day suddenly decided that those were addictive, thus they take them away from the very patients that need them? This is just how it is for anyone that has their life altered due to chronic pain, that your body has, that you have NO control over, but with the proper medications and/or treatments.
The growing population is growing in the number of those of us that become completely disabled due to lack of taking care of pain. Migraines, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetic Neuropathy, Nerve Pain, Severe back pain due to chronic degeneration or injury, etc....
to be continued......
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