Playing with "Deadly Morals" and Chronic Pain part 2

We need to stop treating pain patients as mental patients (literally, if you ask your personal doctor if they believe in chronic pain disease they will most likely tell you that they don't.  Or else they will say something about the advances in medications for depression as a treatment for pain, or how there is no conclusive evidence proving that chronic pain exists)

We need to stop treating pain patients as having an addiction problem.  Are there patients out there that could have an addiction problem?  Sure.  I'm not stupid, naive, or set on my position to the point where I am not willing to admit that there could be pain patients with a problem.  But IS that problem addiction?  Or are they dependent on these medications in order to maintain a quality of life?  This is the difference we need to emphasize.  And if it is addiction, then odds are is that they don't actually suffer from pain.  If you have been addicted to a pain medication long enough, you may have started with medication, but not actually know how much pain your body is in.  This is the difference that needs to be recognized.  I know a man who once checked himself into a detox to find out exactly how much pain he was in because he knew that some of the side effects of the wrong pain medication can cause pain.  I'm not saying that anyone else should do this.  In fact I don't recommend it under any circumstances.  But I told that anecdote to make a point.  If a person is "chasing a high" then they are not utilizing the medications to manage their pain in order to life their life, they are using the medication in order to gain the euphoric effect.  What needs to be done is to stop the stereotype that all people who receive or ask for medications classified for the treatment of pain are addicted to the medication.

As of December of 2011 there were 8,113,000 people receiving social security for disability.  (www.ssa.gov)  Out of 310,500,000 US citizens. (www.census.gov)  That is 1 in every 38 US citizens.  Does that seem acceptable to you?  The question isn't "Why can't these people work and stop mooching off the government?" the REAL question is "Why is no one helping them regain control of their lives?"  THAT is the real question.  Throwing money at people doesn't help them get their lives back.  The basic necessities of life:food, water, shelter, hygiene, work and compassion.  These are the things that people need to live.  But the greatest thing we need to have for one another is Love.

Anyway, enough of the rant for now, but some further reading for you.  There are some staggering statistics and facts in each of these articles.  Enough to make me sick to my stomach and shocked and heartbroken while reading them.

The Deadly Morals

The Stigma of Chronic Pain

Playing with "Deadly Morals" and Chronic Pain part 1

I recently read an article called "Deadly Morals" and it opens up eyes to a lot of the reasons why our modern health care or lack there of exists.  But before I get to that I need to bring up a couple of other points.

1) Why is it that the only profession where you get paid ahead of time, and if the services are inadequate there are no means to complain (ie: service or complaint department) is the field of medicine?
2)Why is it that the only profession where it is legal and they are actually PROTECTED by the law to be able to discriminate without reason is the field of medicine?
3)Why is it that the only profession where there is nobody to hold them accountable, or press charges for wrongful action until someone is severely injured or dead (And you have to be able to physically prove it in court too!) is the field of medicine?

The answer to all of these questions is actually quite simple.  In one word the answer is power.  People protect the field of medicine and all of those who work within it because they are the people who hold our healths and livelihoods in their hands, these are the people who are one of the biggest financial profiteers in the country, these are the people who can literally get away with murder.  Now giving credit where credit is due, the federal government has a lot to do with this.  Starting with the DEA.  They go into clinics where they literally deceive doctors who are helping hundreds sometimes thousands of patients and shut them down.  Some clinics are shut down for the actions of one patient.  Federal Agent "Friedman" stated "The DEA here is very active at getting at this burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse."(http://www.oregonlive.com)
     This burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse.  What burgeoning problem of prescription drug abuse?  (First of all, if drug addicts want to get their fix bad enough they will steal, lie, cheat, sometimes even kill in order to get it.  I was watching and episode of Dr. Phil the other day (yes, I am slightly ashamed to even write that) and this woman was on who was a nurse who had been through several jobs getting fired from each of them because she would steal doctors' prescription pads, she would steal patients' identities in order to get more scripts, she would steal her family's identities and money in order to buy drugs off the street.  She had no pain whatsoever she just had to get her fix.  THAT is a drug addict.  But someone who is addicted to pain killers is not going to continue going to doctors over and over again, trying through legitimate means to receive minimal help.  An addict is not trying to regain control of their life.  A pain pill addict is someone who is addicted to the euphoric response created by the medication, some similar to the response addicts can get from drugs such as heroine, cocaine, opium, whip-its, crack, I can't think of any other street drugs off of the top of my head, but many of the drugs listed above have very similar chemical reactions in the brain, some even attach to the same receptors as many prescription medications that are prescribed for whatever reason.
      That being said, these patients that people place in a stereotype of "pain pill seeker" especially when diagnosed with chronic pain diseases, is not preventing the pain pill addict from receiving medication, IT IS preventing the pain patient from receiving the medications that can enable these patients to get out of bed, rehabilitate their bodies, get back to work, get back to being productive members of society, and getting off of state and federal aid. "Back injuries cost $126 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity."(National Center for Health Statistics)  That is $126 billion dollars a year that could be going towards our children and their educations, that is $126 billion dollars a year that could be going towards work programs to create opportunities for those who are out of work not due to health problems and that is $126 billion a year that could be going towards veterans coming back from war with injuries that will prevent them from leading a normal life after their sacrifice for our country.  Let me write it out: $126,000,000,000.00.  per year.  Can you even imagine what that much cash looks like?  And that is only for back injuries.  Now add in leg injuries, arm injuries, brain injuries, nerve damage, burn victims, cancer patients, other chronic pain patients such as lupus, fibromyalgia, rsd/crps, phantom pain, peripheral neuropathy, and on and on and on.  Can you imagine how much money each year our federal government is dishing out to help these people through their times?  Now imagine just how many of them would be back in the work force already if only they would have received: 1) the medical care (Whether it be the medications they need or other modalities of treatment, but I'm focusing on the modality that those in power have made nearly impossible for those who need it to receive.) they needed in order to maintain a good quality of life and ability to move around independently (to do basic things such as groom, eat, sleep, dress, bathe on their own. All things that we as healthy individuals take for granted) 2) Once those things are accomplished assistance in regaining control of their lives (help finding housing, jobs, social therapy for those who have been alone except for doctors for years and need it)

Common Sense,Medicine and Michigan

If you live in the state of Michigan, and you own a television, it is likely that you have seen the commercial about prescription drug abuse.  It has cheesy sayings and statistics about how 1200 people died last year from prescription drug abuse.  Just something to think about...How many people have died because of not being able to access the prescription drugs they need for treatment, because of fear?

With the way that Michigan has changed their Medicaid laws, and their prescription drug laws in the past five years has made it impossible to receive any sort of pain killer in the state of Michigan.

The World Health Organization has said that undertreated pain is the number one health problem in America...The number of patients with chronic pain in the U.S. exceeds diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.

Here's a few more statistics for you...

In one study of elderly cancer patients in nursing homes, 26% of patients... received no analgesic at all...Finally, chronic pain caused by arthritis, other bone and joint disorders, and low back syndrome... affecting 25-50%... and similar to cancer pain...untreated.

Just in my direct area, and my limited current contact with the outside world, I know of over a hundred patients with chronic pain on disability benefits that can not gain control over their lives because no doctor will prescribe them anything to assist them with managing their pain.  There are specialists all over the world that agree if a patient with chronic pain can manage their pain, they  can go on to live productive, and full-term lives.  But because of lack of care, and a flat out lack of caring on doctors' parts, these patients are home or bed bound left with nothing but collecting the little bit that SSI can provide financially. 

Even from a common sense point of view let me give you some food for thought.

1. The people who are simply drug addicts looking for a high are going to find a way to get access to these drugs no matter what, doctors being afraid to or restricted on their prescription drug "powers" is yes making it more difficult for drug abusers to gain access, but no stopping them, however those patients who need the medication to control their lives are now stopped from getting the help they need.
2. The many patients who collect SSI or State Disability Aid would be able to work at least part time with the appropriate medical care for them, allowing the money from the disability benefits to be used to help others in need, and also would help unemployment numbers, lower numbers of deaths caused by depression, shock or withdrawal, or loss of will to live, would help patients recover fully which would completely wipe out a portion of the funds neccessary for SSI, and help patients have a good quality of life, not to mention stimilate the economy by having productive members of society.
3. If you are not currently affected by chronic pain and the effects that the fear of prescription drug abuse effects (your personally or a member of your family) liklihood is that before you die someone you know will.  The fear that is in the hearts of doctors is getting shut down by the DEA or similar organizations for overprescribing will only get worse if it isn't stopped now, and that means no treatment for you or your loved ones if/when the time comes that you need it.
4. The families of the patients that die because of undertreatment are basically left with nothing.  No loved one and no financial stability especially in households where the spouse is the primary caretaker for the pain patient.  They do not have the finances to sue doctors for malpractice, negligence or abuse which is what it is in almost every case of untreated/undertreated chronic pain.

Why should untreated chronic be considered a terminal illness?
In my opinion it should be recatergorized as such.  Patients that are treated for their chronic pain are treated with extensive painful surgeries, low doses of medication that doesn't touch their pain and doctors who are only running tests to humor the patient with no real care about their quality of life.  But when the body is under stress it begins to deteriorate.  Think about when you are sick with the flu, you stay home, you sleep, you allow your body to heal.  Now combine that feeling, with not being able to sleep, being in undescrible pain, and being told that it is in your head and you are a drug addict and no one will ever help you.  That is the story of almost every untreated pain patient.  The body will slowly break down and shut down if it is not allowed to heal.  This can be seen in cancer patients, diabetes patients, flu victims, infection victims...etc.  Not enough research is done on the nervous system, and the regeneration and damage of the nerves.  Just because you can not see a cause for pain yet, doesn't mean it is in the patients head.  This should be taught in medical schools, but it's not. 

As a matter of fact the average doctor spends 1 hour in medical school covering the treatment of pain.  One hour out of years of studying.  Think about that.
 




To Be Continued...




~Yours Truly

• National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2006,with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans.  Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services;2006:68–71

• Geriatric medicine: an evidence-based approach; By Christine K. Cassel

An estimated 20 percent of children experience chronic pain and millions do not receive effective pain relief. Children in pain often bounce from doctor to doctor. If they do not get the appropriate treatment they are at risk of developing a pain condition that might remain into adulthood.vii