a reply to:
tiredoflooking
Hey tiredofloosking: I am a diagnosed chronic pain patient for over thirty years now. Yeah, I'm an old lady. Have had three back surgeries.
I was once a national athlete, and recovered to the point I competed on a national level after all those surgeries.
Now: about chronic pain, and the dirty little secret of painkillers. Yes, I've done lots of them, and then lived through many years doing onne of
them. At one time, I had a surgeon refer me for a morphine bag inserserted in my abdomen, which would have been filled monthly.....
So, I am no stranger to your story. And it's hardly a new story for chronic pain sufferers. Pardon my possible spelling errors, as I am currently
without my glasses. However, this is hardly new news. There's always a new spin on it, however. Is it a culling? Absolutely. At least, imho.
Much of what we go through in life is perhaps, induced, to test us, as to how we handle it. Has my chronic pain turned me into a drug addict?
Certainly, quite honestly? Has that challenged my ethics and personal integrity? Certainly.
I congratulate and welcome threads like yours and informtion like this, so that folks like me, earlier in their thoes of pain and beginning addiction
have the necessary information to understand what awaits them.
So, congrats to you for alerting us all.
Pain is a funny, strange, thing. I invite people who suffer from it daily to research it and its affects on the brain, for that is very important to
understand. Chronic pain affects a human beings' brain in profound ways, chainging its chemistry, forever altering it, and therefore, your reactions
and emotions to everyday life. People who do not suffer it, do not understand it, including doctors......
I do not blame them, doctors, for the most part. Some of them understand the attendant mechanisms, and some of them don't. Their reactions to their
level of understanding vary greatly: prescribing and not prescribing to alleviate the effects.
It's no simple matter. There is prescribing to alleviate, whilst being aware of the chemical differential that takes place in the brain vis a vis
depression and literal suppressing of dopamine receptors and their reactions.....
Any good pain specialist will encourage their patients, in other words, while still prescribing to alleviate pain, to actively do things to encourage
the natural dopamine receptors to not only produce serotonin, but receive it, like exercise, for instance.... This, in my experience, will stave off
addiction to painkillers, even while using them when necessary. But this is a slippery lsope of responsible use of chemicals, when necessary, and
once pain rules one's life, this is asking quite a lot, for any of us, being human, will do almost anything to escape the daily cycle of pain and
what it does to us. And make no mistake, it forever alters us, our brain, our thought patterns, our behavior, our personality.
Good for you, for bringing attention to the possible political and social applications of what all this means to the populous, at large.
regards,
tetra