Posted on 04/04/2002 1:02:23 PM PST by Flipper4
After three decades of chronic, searing pain, Marie Dabrowski was finally able to sleep. She was able to think. And sometimes, thanks to her new pills, she could almost forget about her fibromyalgia, a mysterious nerve disorder characterized by fatigue, migraine headaches and full-body aches.
But Dabrowski's respite did not last. The medication responsible for her two-year break from daily misery was OxyContin. And about a month ago, Dabrowski's doctor cut her off. The move had nothing to do with callousness or lack of concern, says Dabrowski, who asked that her doctor remain anonymous. Instead, the doctor was spooked by a proposed Virginia law designed to intensify scrutiny of physicians who prescribe the drug. In the end, says Dabrowski, it was the prospect of police interrogation that pushed her doctor over the edge.
That drug has been in the news alot lately...it has earned a bad reputation that it has earned...too many people are becoming addicted to the drug and if that is not bad enough, one of the side effects is that after long term use, deafness can occur.
It is not the proper role of government to condemn this woman to a lifetime of pain because there is a chance that somewhere down the line she might lose her hearing.
She should be allowed to evaluate the risks and decide what course of treatment is best for her.
If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.
-- Thomas Jefferson
OR?
The voters in this country should not be expected to decide which medicines are safe and effective.
-- Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey
I've resisted taking pain medication because pain killers are notoriously addictive. Instead I've used chiropractors, message therapy, lots of sleep and exercise to combat it.
However within the last 3-4 years the deterioration of my spine has progressed to the point where I occasionally suffer bouts of intense pain and incapacitation.
While I have become conditioned to withstand reasonable amounts of pain, these bouts are intolerable and require medical intervention.
I have had a very difficult time getting doctors to prescribe even the lowest strength painkillers. And these are doctors who have been treating me for years.
I cannot express enough anger at those who pressure my doctors to deprive me of the treatment I so desperately require. For what? So some junkies don't OD? They do it to themselves and they have no one to blame but themselves. Why should I suffer because of their problems?
When legitimately sick people are denied treatment, there is a serious misjudgment of priorities.
Oxycontin has made it possible for me to live a half way normal life most of the time. Some days though the pain is so bad that nothing helps.
I wish you well in your fight. NEVER give up. I've never been part of any pain support group because I think support groups can be a bunch of grown ups holding hands and having a pity party, and that's not my style. But if you'd ever like to talk about it, feel free to FRmail me.
People who do not suffer from severe pain have no clue how it destroys one's life.
BTW, my husband is graduating from medical school next month and this generation of doctors are being taught that relief outweighs addiction concerns. They are taught to relieve the pain, have strick med schedules, and to keep a close eye on addiction signs.
Hopefully it will get better in the future.
It's been a hard battle but I mean to win the war.
Do you all have fibromyalgia?
I don't think the doctor I'm going to right now knows much about fibromyaglia but at least I'm better now than 2 years ago when I first started going to him. The doctor said I had symptoms of fibromyalgia but he said there wasn't much they can do about it, that there isn't much known about it. I'm just repeating what he said and asking for more info from your experiences and knowledge.
Fibromyalgia itself can attack a nerve like the trigemingal nerve and make it hurt so badly? I knew I had some of the other symptoms of fibomyalgia but I'd thought that the trigeminal nerve problem was a separate problem...maybe I wasn't understanding what is truly going on.
And is myalgia the same as fibromyalgia or a close relative?
I'm glad that the doctors are finally coming around and understanding that pain is a very bad thing and cuts down on the quality of a person's life, makes a body weaker from all the energy spent dealing with pain, tires one out (or that could be all the other medicines they make me take hehehe) and makes it harder to heal faster when dealing with pain.
I had one doctor (WWII era) tell me that one should just live with pain like they did in his prime. I don't agree with him.
I look upon this as a war with battles. We should get together and celebrate all the victories we win against whatever some of this stuff is that causes so much pain and the victories over each segment of pain itself.
Thank you all very much.
I had a mother who died of breast cancer and spent three years trying to help her get healthy. It is well known in the NORMAL COMMUNITY that there are tons of drugs that are legal out there that can better help than the illegal ones that seem to get used mostly for liesure.
Don't push the bunk. You can get medically anything you need legally to cut pain or help with advanced symptoms of all rotten diseases.
These back door ways to gain sympathy to legalized recreational use are so pathetic.
If you have a medical condition you can get prescribed plenty of stuff to help you feel nothing if you wish.
I think a lot of these articles have found people previouly addicted to some of these liesure drugs and once they are sick they want them legally.
These pro-drug threads need **BUNK ALERTS**
If the doctors prescribe this for no reason they should be at risk.
If the drug-addicts make it themselves then what would it have to do with legally prescribed medicine.
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