Bill your starting to come across as a mg cop. Where’s the compassion? In my case, while it may be in the guidelines, the pain is worse and the dosage isn’t enough. Guidelines are kind of dumb in a pain situation as pain isn’t a one size fits all.
9 Likes
There’s an important point in this that over prescribing is a major cause of addiction. The reduction in prescribing is designed to prevent more people from becoming addicted and then winding up desperate and going to these ‘dangerous street drugs’.
5 Likes
Thank you for your comment. While overprescribing was an issue in the past, current regulations have gone too far in the other direction. Many chronic pain patients are now being denied care altogether, leading to devastating consequences such as suicide and turning to dangerous street drugs. Doctors are so afraid of prescribing medication due to stigma and legal risks that even patients who have been treated responsibly for decades are suddenly cut off.
There’s a huge difference between addiction and dependence, yet the current system labels everyone as an “addict.” This one-size-fits-all approach ignores the reality that most chronic pain patients use their medication responsibly to manage their conditions and live functional lives. The hysteria surrounding opioids has created barriers that are causing more harm than good.
This policy seeks to address these issues by ensuring that legitimate patients have access to the care they need without unnecessary stigma or punishment, while still focusing on addressing addiction and the dangers of street drugs like fentanyl. Thank you for engaging in this important conversation!
14 Likes
Do not cut production of these medications anymore YOU UAVE ALREADY CUT THEM BACK WAY MORE THAN THEY SHOULD HAVE EVER BEEN CUT!!!
Prescription Opioid pain medicine is extremely safe when taken as directed BY A DOCTOR!!!
They are Safe FDA APPROVED medications!!! They do not cause addiction THATS BEEN PROVEN!
Heroin & illicit fentanyl are what is killing people NOT OUR LEGIT RX PAIN MEDICATION and YOU KNOW THIS IS A FACT!
THE ONLY THING YOU ACCOMPLISH BY TAKING THE CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS COMMUNITY PAIN MEDICATIONS AWAY IS FORCING THEM TO THE BLACK MARKET FUELED BY ILLICIT FENTANYL LACED COUNTERFEIT DRUGS SO ALL YOU ARE DOING IS ACCELERATING OVERDOSE DEATHS BY PUSHING THEM ONTO ILLICIT FENTANYL & for those that do not go this route YOU PUSH THEM TO COMMIT SUICIDE DUE TO PAIN!!! THESE ARE ALL PROVEN FACTS!!!
The CDC & DEA HAVE NO BUSINESS IN OUR DOCTORS OFFICES AND GIVE US BACK OUR PAIN MEDICATIONS!!!
We have the right to quality pain care with opioid pain medications that we have all been stable & safely taking for the last 100 YEARS!!! I
Our community is starting to FILE LAWSUITS ONE AFTER THE OTHER AGAINST ALL THOSE WHO ARE HURTING OUR CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS COMMUNITY WHICH IS 100+ MILLION PATIENTS!!
We have RIGHTS AND WE DEMAND YOU ALL RESPECT THAT!!! The DEA & CDC DO NOT HAVE LICENSES TO PRACTICE MEDICINE SO STOP THIS NONSENSE JUST STOP IT NOW INFRINGING ON OUR RIGHTS!!!
17 Likes
We the American People deserve to be treated as human, doctors should not be afraid to properly address patient pain. It is so wrong the American people are being treated like drug seekers. If a person is going to be an addict, they will be an addict and should also be treated appropriately for their disease. American people that have pain should not be punished and forced into taking medications that do nothing for the pain but then cause horrible side effects and more issues to also medicate.
Please help Americans in pain…
12 Likes
This is a issue that needs to addressed IMMEDIATELY & WE NEED TO BE TREATED BETTER I have lived with since 2011 & I will be in a wheelchair eventually for the rest of my life I have been treated like a horrible human when I am not asking for anything but a quality of life
12 Likes
This government overreach must stop. I too have been faced with the interventionql pain docs who cut me off of an extremely low dose of Percocet unless I agreed to some damaging procedure that would only cause more harm. Pain docs love that revenue.
10 Likes
First, let me thank all of those who have come out in support of our cause. We know all too well what it is like to live a life in pain with a cloud of stigma hanging over us. Knowing at any moment, our needed medications can be stripped from us on a whim. We are the forgotten in this “Opioid Crisis.” We are not criminals, yet we are treated like we are on parole! Some of us have had our medication taken away and are suffering at the hands of government overreach. Last time I checked, the DEA didn’t have a medical degree.
We ARE NOT the cause of the “Opioid Crisis”!
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a 46-year-old writer, mother, wife, and business owner. I also have scoliosis with multiple herniated discs that cause severe pain. Without my opioid medications, I would be bedridden and have been over the past twenty years. No amount of eating right, behavioral therapy, or exercise will ever fix me. I’ve had epidural steroid injections, and the last one almost killed me, and I mean that literally. I was bedridden for three weeks, and even with my medications was in so much pain I wanted to die! Never again will anyone stick a needle in my back.
With my Opioid medications, I am able to have a somewhat “normal” life. I have been able to raise three amazing children, take care of my parents, and grow a construction business with my husband. Build homes, remodel houses, and most of all, learn to enjoy the moments when the constant pain in my body is not so bad with the help of these medications. I am no one special. The people who are here with me on this page and countless others just want to live our lives without the threat that at any moment we could be thrust into a life of suffering because of someone else’s mistakes, and the CDC, DEA, and DOJ telling us we are the problem. When in fact, it is illicit Fentnly. This madness has to stop!
WE MATTER!
17 Likes
Facts. Please pay attention to the front line on this. We are the people and the patients. Enough is enough.
11 Likes
#chronicpain #chronicillness #spoonies #mentalhealth #mentalillness #Trump2024
Are you a chronic pain patient and victim of DEA/ CDC draconian healthcare policy? It stops here go to macoilpharmcarts.com and get help.
3 Likes
I am this person. I am a disabled 51 year old who is stuck in bed and requires help with bathing, grocery shopping, housework, Dr Visits etc, etc because of highly undertreated severe degerative and chronic pain. I am made to go to the doctor every single month (closest is 1.5 hrs away) take a urine test ( never failed), take shots, treatments, and medications that do not help with pain by any means. This has been going on for 7 years. I have panic disorder and severe anxiety but was forced to stop taking the medications that help that because I am a pain patient. Was on all meds for years before the horrific guidelines and persecutions started without any trouble. I am made to feel like a criminal, when my only crime is being a chronic pain patient. Please, I beg with every ounce of what’s left of my being. Stop these rules and government overreach. I am severely depressed and have considered the alternative ONLY because I cannot get true relief. I was a hard worker and a go-getter before this and was not depressed but now there is ZERO quality of life because of pain and torture.
12 Likes
Cord compression in every vertebra of my cervical. Missing disc at T11/T12. Cord compression every vertebra of my sacrum. I also am rare that I have an extra vertebra in my sacral area. Multiple lesions in my brain with Hx of falls, confusion and memory loss. Hx of EBV with 7 day hospital stay and a flare up in my 30’s. My pain started in my 30’s. I am on 10/325mg hydrocodone/acetaminophen 3x a day. They started decreasing my meds. I never ask for stronger meds because these allow me to do activities of daily living. I am 54 now and I am on disability. My pain is worse with activity. I can not do simple things like laundry, grocery shopping etc without pain management. Stop treating me like a drug addict. Allow our Dr.'s to make the informed decisions as to whether or not we are justified for needing pain management.
5 Likes
As Ronald Reagan said : “The government IS the problem.” I’m a fifty year nurse, half that time spent in pain management. If we could get the government out of the exam room, medical professionals could back to the ministry of medicine and out of the business of healthcare. My husband, a pain management anesthesiologist, is nearly 80 and still working. By removing Big Brother and its financial-narcotic, we’d see how quickly the allure of a career in medicine would reveal only those who truly are called to do no harm to their fellow man. God bless you all, young warriors. May you right this ship to return to course. The concepts outlined in this policy are a strong start.
12 Likes
Pain patients don’t become addicts because they have access to prescribed pain meds they get addicted because they don’t. I know Mr. Kennedy realizes this. I feel that he will understand this policy proposal and I believe he will give Claudia Merandi at least 30 minutes of his time and help creating this policy.
8 Likes
This is good. Where is this policy intended to land? I’m asking because all of this is not relevant to every state. I’m assuming it is each state that has different rules, because for example, I’m on long term opioids for chronic pain, and I only have to see my doctor or his PA every 3 months. For the 2 months that I don’t see them in person, I just call and request my prescription be sent in.
So basically I’m saying the policy changes proposed here need a home. What policies are you trying to change exactly? The CDC “recommendations” ? State policies? A federal policy? Individual pharmacy policies?
These are good suggestions for reform and a great jumping in point to try and effect change!
In my experience as a nurse and a chronic pain patient, one of the biggest problems is misinformation. Many healthcare workers have been told, or “heard” that certain things are rules or laws, that are not. Even some doctors I’ve seen are not fully aware of the newest rules and laws for their states! Maybe make a review of current state rules and laws part of CE credits for each class of healthcare staff!
Melinda I’m so sorry. I know exactly what you’re going through! You should seriously consider moving to a state where the laws/rules are not like this! I have lived in three different states in the last 10 or so years, and have found good care in each state. Most times I’ve found that it is either the managing company who owns the practice, the doctor himself/herself, or the insurance that puts these unfair policies into play! Try to hang in there and keep exploring, there are still good, compassionate doctors out there!
2 Likes
Arianne this is the best comment I’ve read! You truly have experience in every facet of this problem! I totally agree about access to the drug prescribed database! NO ONE should be able to get this info about me but MY doctor and pharmacist! I found out that pretty much anyone can get this info, including anyone in the law enforcement (or friend of a law enforcement officer asking for a “favor”!), and basically anyone who works in or around law enforcement, first responders, drivers, it’s CRAZY how many people can snoop and read what you have been prescribed! It not only is a HUGE violation of privacy, but it’s dangerous! We can become targets of robbery or worse if that info gets out through conversation (guess what so & so is on??)! Thank you for such an informative comment.
5 Likes
My name is Amber ODonnell I’m a 37 yr old single mother of one. After I had an emergency c section. I started getting sick and it progressively got worse by the year. I started feeling really off and I was begging these drs and anyone to listen. Something didn’t feel right. Took my 7 years to be listened to after being told it’s stress and too lose weight and it’s in my head. 7 years to get mid diagnosed I had to beg for this test to be done because I had to do the research to find what was wrong. Ankylosing spondylitis, Raynaud’s disease, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis. I have 6 herniated discs, cysts on my spinal cord, bursitis of my right hip, fluid in both knees I need a knee replacement but they won’t do it until my back is fixed. My back they won’t do surgery until my 4th round of injections non fda approved and since getting them my back has crumbled. 3rd round of pt and then he said we can discuss surgery. I have pre cancerous cells in my uterus and I’ve been made to go for 2 colposcopies and since asking if I could be number the third time around since it is painful to me I have been treated like trash. I had to leave my pain management due to them not taking me seriously and being told to prove I’m in pain went for a 3rd mri still no die and they read two lines of the 3 page report and dismissed me. Because I was upset I was discharged. I have been begging drs for 9 years to please help me to be a mom again please help me so I can shower please help me so I can have some form of life. Not being on my couch or bed all day everyday. My child has seen me deteriorate before there eyes and it’s killing us. I am severely depressed and the drs don’t care. I have been in bed for almost a year so depressed I don’t even make appts I’m about to lose everything. And I just don’t have it in me I’ve been fighting so hard and so long to keep going. I’m begging anyone please help me. Please help the pin community I can’t take it much longer. I miss being a mom. And if they took me seriously I could have been on the medication that’s supposed to slow the progression of the disease I feel so defeated and I’m absolutely heartbroken and a loser for not being up the drs Butt’s. 
5 Likes
Alicia when I moved to a different state, until I found a new doctor, my old doctor continued to see me through tele-health appointments, then sent my prescriptions to my regular pharmacy. I had my daughter pick them up and mail them to me (or you could use a mail order pharmacy in your home state). Since the law in PA was that you only had to be seen in person every three months, that gave me three months to find a new doctor.
The pharmacists in your new state are right, it would be illegal to fill rx from another state!
Honestly, a chronic pain patient needs to be VERY prepared before moving! Get all your records (I had my pharmacy print out FIVE years of my rx’s history to take with me!), arrange with your old doctor to help you until you get a new one, and even time your move when you first fill your script! Dont put yourself in a situation where you are in a new state, with no meds and no doctor. You will get much farther being viewed as a responsible patient taking an active role in managing your healthcare.
4 Likes
Carla you are obviously not a pain patient. There may be alternative treatments that help SOME people with SOME pain, but for severe, chronic pain, sometimes medication is the only thing to give proper relief! Even before the current opioid situation, most doctors did NOT give opioids out “like candy”! I have had surgeries and disease since I was 12 years old, and even way back then, it was hard to get most doctors to order proper pain relief. Some doctors did get rx happy, but it’s untrue that all were.
Also, the opioid induced rebound pain is not as common as you make out. It’s also very easy to determine if it is in fact occurring. Pain is pain, there should not be one standard for cancer and another for kidney disease or rheumatoid arthritis! Why would that be ok?? Your comment sounds like you are regurgitating things you have read or opinions you have heard. Talk to some real pain patients, work on your compassion, be better! Oh and btw, even if patients did want to explore other means of pain reduction than medication (and most of us DO use other means, either in addition to, or before asking for pain meds!), but the vast majority of them are not covered by insurance and are expensive!
3 Likes