"Doctors And Patients Held Hostage"

By Curt Graham

          You've said it!  You've thought it!  How much pain medication is enough?  The truth is that each patient is born with or develops their own unique pain threshold and tolerance. 

          Supposedly, your medical doctor has been given the licensure permission to prescribe the right dose level of pain medication for you. 

          We're talking about chronic pain problems here.  Ones that drag you into depression, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, and isolation.  You can't live life suffering with intolerable chronic pain.  Nobody can.  But almost all do!

          Seeking chronic pain relief becomes the one and only concern of any patient with chronic pain.  All normal living patterns and responsibilities take second place.

 Now, if that doesn't get your dander up, what will? 

Have you experienced these barriers to your pain treatment?

          And you wonder why all this is being put on you when you don't deserve it?  It's so easy to get good strong pain medication for a sprained ankle, but not for persistent pain.  If you think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes, you are right!

          It isn't you or your doctor that decides how much pain medication is enough---the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and Medical Boards (appointed by the state governors) have taken over the job. 

          They work under the premise that many doctors over-prescribe narcotic pain medications that patients fool doctors into prescribing.  Then patients purposely sell the medications for street drug business. 

Your medical doctor is equated with a street
drug trafficker.

          The fight against illegal drug traffic steers right down through your doctor to your low back pain problem.  How does the DEA find out about a doctor over-prescribing narcotic pain medications?

How the over-prescribing is uncovered:

1. Pharmacists report to the DEA all unusual (let's say---what they personally believe to be amounts of narcotics that are well above what average doctors prescribe) narcotic over-prescribing practices by local doctors (for patients filling their prescriptions at their pharmacy).
   
             Although it is not public knowledge, there is an underground railroad of information about narcotic prescribing habits of doctors circulating among the local and regional pharmacies.  Of course they'll deny it forcefully.  Who could prove it?
    

2. DEA investigations of narcotic addicts that lead back to a doctor.
    

3. DEA oversight of the doctor's use of special approved narcotic prescription pads (issued in at least 8 states) they issue to doctors registered with the DEA (permits them to prescribe Schedule II narcotics).
    

4. State Medical Board investigations of "borderline" doctors who repeatedly are in trouble with the board.

          Are many doctors caught over-prescribing?  Research indicated in 1995 in the USA 392 doctors were in violation, 11 were pursued, and one conviction resulted.  It sure doesn't sound like much, but the impact is felt throughout the medical profession. 

          Doctors are gun-shy of the DEA!  Why?  Because most doctors are not aware of being investigated for over-prescribing narcotics.  Suddenly one day federal agents invade the medical office, confiscate all medical records, and threaten the doctor.  The results are devastating to those healthcare providers it happens to.

          Being blindsided like this commonly ruins the doctor's reputation, destroys the medical practice, and includes Medical Board punishment---even if the doctor is later vindicated of all suspicion of wrong-doing. 

          If you were a doctor, would this scare you enough to restrict narcotic prescribing, or even quit prescribing them altogether?  Destruction of a doctor's professional career is a powerful motivation not to prescribe narcotics to any patient. 

What do chronic pain patients do?  

• Join chronic pain message boards and forums on the Internet.
   

• Rely on non-prescription pain medications that rarely help.
   

• Find a doctor willing to take a risk and prescribe narcotics for your pain.
   

• Many reach the hopelessness phase and contact any doctor who believes in PAS (patient assisted suicide)--still legal in Oregon.
   

• Join other forums having to do with discussions of pain treatment such as a pain relief forum.
   

• Try every form of alternative medical treatment of pain.
   

• Search for strategies for coping with chronic pain and illness from all sources.

          Anyone who tells you to, "learn to live with your pain," has never experienced chronic pain.  They might even need a bodyguard if they say it to you again!

          Patients join chronic pain message boards and forums and discover from other patients strategies for coping with chronic pain and illness.  Even pain relief forums are beneficial for educating chronic pain sufferers.

The Real truth about pain medication that
may shock you:

          Many more patients die (or destroys their health) from over-dosing with non-prescription (alternative) pain drugs than from using narcotic or prescription pain medications--a fact! 

          Tylenol can destroy the liver.  Aleve, ibuprofens, and aspirin compounds cause stomach and intestinal bleeding with ulcers.  One study revealed that alternative medications kill 17,000 pain patients a year.  That's impressive!

   Narcotic pain treatment by doctors can addict you, but it doesn't kill you!

          Want to know the truth about addiction to narcotics?  First, two kinds of narcotic (opiate) addiction exist---psychological and physiological. 

          Physiological addiction is that which occurs with the use of narcotic pain medication for treatment of "REAL" pain.  When the medication is no longer needed, you taper off the usage and are back to normal.

          Psychological addiction is the narcotic addiction a person depends on to escape reality and problems of life that they can't face and handle.  Stopping the medication releases them back into the insurmountable turmoil of life that they use the narcotics to cover up. 

It's a brain verses pain difference.

Advice:

• Join chronic pain message boards and forums on the Internet and communicate with other chronic pain patients who are in the same boat as you.  Pain relief forums lead patients to new forms of treatment for chronic pain.
   

• Use these forums to discover strategies for coping with chronic pain and illness.  You may find the one or two treatments you haven't thought of.  Sometimes patients stumble on to the secondary added on treatment that potentiates the effectiveness of the narcotics.
   

• Remember to be persistent in your search for chronic pain relief.  There are doctors out there who will help you.  Actually, most will!  The majority---grudgingly!

          Anyone with chronic pain who doesn't believe that they are being held hostage by the DEA and Medical Boards must believe that their sacrifice is more important than living itself---and must be a DEA or Medical Board employee.

          I understand that saying all these things may put me at risk because I am a medical doctor.  Other doctors in practice couldn't and wouldn't write these comments for the general public to read because of repercussions that would follow.  Wake up folks!  The "1984 Big Brother" era is here.

          If you have the same concerns as I do, make your thoughts known.  Don't let the DEA tell you how much pain medication is enough.