The Patient Speaks!

While settled in my “reading chair” a couple of days ago, drinking my morning coffee and reading the newspaper, the following headline caught my eye: “Pain Management’s Dismal State”. (Wall Street Journal, Health, The Informed Patient/By Laura Landro, Wednesday July 13, 2005) Funny, I thought, as my own personal pain levels were in an elevated state due to the barometric pressure of late. I’ve been supplementing my daily pain medication for the past few weeks as the heat, mugginess and thunderstorms have reeked havoc on my migraine. Supplementing with my doctor’s OK, I might add. My interest was double-piqued as I’ve always enjoyed Ms. Landro’s “Finicky Traveler” columns as she writes about hotels she and her husband have encountered over the years. What could the Finicky Traveler possibly have to say about the pain in my head?

“There are very few doctors who understand pain management or really know what an ordeal chronic pain can be for patients” she quotes a pain sufferer as saying. Further, the Executive Director of the Chronic Pain Association is quoted “There is a real lack of understanding, knowledge and awareness of the issues of pain”. Sound familiar? Have you personally said this or at least thought it? The article points out another truth we in the chronic pain world already know. Some doctors worry about the legal risks involved in prescribing pain medications which implies they are reluctant or even refuse to prescribe them. Plus some pharmacists refuse to honor certain prescriptions for their own ethical reasons, something I personally have experience with. How many of us have gone to an Emergency Room in full “puke mode” simply to be glared at and turned away with only an aspirin and a $200.00 bill?

In paragraph five is a statement many of us already realize and I’ve chatted about on this website before: “…Though most chronic pain can be managed or greatly eased, it remains one of the most poorly understood and improperly treated conditions in the U.S.”. Meaning we all – sufferers, patients, doctors, researchers, pharmacists, government agencies, etc. – must never stop educating ourselves and searching out answers.

So, is it all bad news? Or is there a bright light on the horizon? Fortunately, there is good news. The National Pain Care Policy Act is back on the front burner. See:
http://olpa.od.nih.gov/legislation/109/pendinglegislation/paincare.asp for more information. When you click to the Link, you’ll see that the great Albert Schweitzer stated that pain is more to deal with than death! There are organized pain lobbies, plus individuals like you and me becoming more vocal about getting proper pain management. As we become more educated in our malady, many of us make a conscious decision to make due with any side-effects of the meds we take. Indeed, early in my migraine travels I was offered, on two separate occasions, permanent disability. However, through perseverance and the love and understanding of a great wife and our four children, I found a doctor who worked with me to find the proper pain management regimen so I could remain a productive member of society, a husband and father.

To see our plight validated by a respected world-wide news outlet is great news indeed. We must continue to educate ourselves so we can construct a positive environment for appropriate pain management. Read, study, scour the internet, the bookstores, the library, talk with your doctors and government regulators, speak with your significant other plus family and get involved. After all, the only thing we have to lose is pain.