The Fake Opioid Crisis, Created & Manufactured By Your Elected Representatives & The V.A.
(Live Stream Text)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1395
- U.S. Code › Title 42 › Chapter 7 › Subchapter XVIII › § 1395
42 U.S. Code § 1395 – Prohibition against any Federal interference
prev | next
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to authorize any Federal officer or employee to exercise any supervision or control over the practice of medicine or the manner in which medical services are provided, or over the selection, tenure, or compensation of any officer or employee of any institution, agency, or person providing health services; or to exercise any supervision or control over the administration or operation of any such institution, agency, or person.
(Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title XVIII, § 1801, as added Pub. L. 89–97, title I, § 102(a), July 30, 1965, 79 Stat. 291.)
Prescription overdose deaths have not been increasing. They have been the same for 6 years {google NIH overdose deaths 1-17).
How many of you know or understand that the DEA, the agency terrorizing our doctors into not being willing to treat our chronic pain, is NOT paid by the United States Government, or our tax dollars? Nope! They are not! They get their money to operate, pay agents, and do what they do by keeping the spoils recovered from those they bust!
So if a drug dealer has 20 million in cash hidden in a ballroom of his mansion, and the DEA busts the drug dealer, guess what? Not only is the cash theirs to keep, but everything they get from selling the mansion, and everything in it, along with anything and everything that was bought with the drug money, cars, homes, businesses, stocks bonds, jewelry, clothes EVERYTHING.
By this same token, when the DEA busts a doctor, and drags that doctor through the mud, if that doctor is found to be guilty of what ever the DEA contends, EVERYTHING that doctor owns can be sold off, and that money goes into the DEA war chest too.
So it is in the DEA’s best interest to bust those who are easy targets. It’s much easier to bust a doctor with records, and a fixed practice location, with regular patients than it is to bust a drug dealer.
This is a profound conflict of interest, and a point we all need to keep in mind as we fight going forward.
They use bits and pieces of half truths to manipulate the American people and convince them that doctors and pain patients are the cause of this illegal drug crisis, because it’s easier for them if they have a fixed target.
We must learn to fight back the same way, only harder! We need Veterans who have been cut off or severely restricted of their pain meds to video their stories and litter social media with those stories. We need the family members of those who have committed suicide because of their meds being stopped or cut to a point where the pain was too much to bear, and we need stories of people who in desperation turned to illegal street drugs as a way to control their pain because they could no longer get safe effective pain medications from their doctors.
We need each and EVERY one of you to take the time to record a video telling your story, how much pain you are in, how your meds have been restricted or stopped all together, and the affects that has had on your life.
Once you’ve made your video, if you don’t know how to get it on the internet, or want help, we at passionate pachyderms will be happy to help! If you want we can upload your video to our channel here, and you can share to your hearts content! Or if you would rather, we can host your videos on our web site, PassionatePachyderms.com If you prefer, we’ll be happy to help you start a youtube account and channel of your own on which you can post your videos. All you need to do is say the word and I will do all I can to assist everyone who needs it.
Once we have a good number of pain patients videos posted, I would love to put together a compilation of them along with a succinct narrative that we can all share, bring to our elected representatives offices when we meet with them, share on our social media accounts on twitter, facebook, reddit, linked in, and elsewhere. A video we can inundate all of the news organizations with until they finally step up and start reporting the ugly life threatening untold stories of those hurt and killed by the governments war on pain patients and their doctors.
If they refuse to speak to us, or hear us, we will shame them into speaking with and hearing us!
There are 16 million+ chronic pain patients who need opiate pain medications daily to function. We are by no means ALONE in this, and it is high time we banded together and became an army with a roar impossible to ignore.
we need to remind the government and the DEA that we are chronic pain patients suffering intractable pain, but we are NOT DEAD YET!
As long as we are still alive, we are going to fight fire with fire, they want a war on Chronic pain Patients, they’ve got it! They should remember, those who believe they’ve got nothing left to lose tend to fight as though they’ve got nothing left to lose, and prove to be difficult opponents to beat but so be it.
I suggest video, because on an emotional level, seeing the very real faces of those of us involved is far more impactful, and difficult to denie than a letter they can easily set aside and forget. That does NOT mean you shouldn’t write your story out, and send copies of it to anyone and everyone you can think of who might be able to help. Remember, you can’t win if you don’t enter!
All of that having been said, the following was written by Mr. Robert Rose; I will share it with you now with his blessing:
Note:
This is written in a speech type format
as Robert intended to provide it, under oath, to the
Senate VA Committee on March 6, 2018.
Sadly all elected officials in the House & Senate
VA Committees refused to respond to numerous
phones calls, emails & Twitter messages
requesting fifteen minutes during the Veterans
Services Officer (VSOs) testimonies regarding the needs of veterans.
(The VSOs were handpicked employees of the Veterans Administration whose responsibility is supposed to be helping veterans receive quality healthcare and to address issues for veterans benefits.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Good afternoon.
My name is Robert Rose.
I am a Christian. I am a Marine.
To the Senate VA Committee & members of
Congress in general I represent a threat.
They fear me because I am not afraid of exposing
their genocidal policies of DENY till DEAD
targeting veterans.
If you doubt this claim, please ask yourself the following questions:
The official end to the Vietnam War was April 30, 1975. In the intervening 42 years much research has confirmed the harmful effects of Agent Orange.
A few of the illnesses include increased rates of cancer, nerve, digestive, skin, respiratory disorders as well as more than twice the rate of highly aggressive prostate cancers.
Veterans filed 39,419 claims from 1977 till April 1993; of those only 486 Agent Orange victims received benefits.
To this day, Congressional & VA policies continue to deny benefits to many surviving veterans.
All you need to do is ask a Blue Water or a C-123 Veteran what benefits they are receiving all these years later.
I can tell you this, in 2017, Congress & the VA again dismissed eighteen months of new research into the harms Agent Orange effectively denying benefits once again. [1][2]
Even with the research regarding the harm from the burn pits being so similar to that of the Agent Orange during the first Gulf War and since, Congress & the VA are already beginning the same DENY till DEAD policies.
As proof I offer you in 2017, the VA indicated even more research would be required to assess what if any benefits should be provided for Gulf War Syndrome.
All is not well within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
They allocate millions of dollars on a propaganda machine whose sole purpose is to hide and distort controversial findings.
One such discovery in December 2017 was that the VA has been hiring unlicensed doctors and medical professionals for at least fifteen years.
Shulkin’s excuse, “I don’t know how any organization or any human being could appropriately understand and follow 66,000 policies.”
Seems pretty straight forward to me, if a person does not have a license, you don’t hire them.
Now if this had been a civilian medical facility, it would still be the top headline in every major news outlet.
But since it was only veterans, the media, like Congress turns their backs on us.
Unfortunately, as organizations like the American Legion, the DAV, the Wounded Warriors Project to name but a few continue to protect their tax breaks and huge membership donations, paying their directors hundreds of thousands each year, these policies will not change until the truth is exposed; politically correct or not.
Most recently, government leaders would have you to believe the United States has an opioid epidemic.
This is just not the case.
The streets of America have an illegal drug use problem but that includes Heroin, illicitly manufactured fentynal, cocaine, crystal meth, even bath salts.
The problem for the government is that these drugs don’t have the same monetary benefit as targeting legally prescribed pain medications.
Basically we have a problem of greed among our elected officials which is leading them to target innocents; veterans and over 100 million Americans with chronic, debilitating injuries and disease who suffer intractable daily chronic pain.
The propaganda though did not just manifest itself on its own.
Our government and the VA are both complicit in using veterans as guinea pigs to develop and implement these policies over a long period of time.
If I am not mistaken, it began with another Senate committee in 2008.
For that hearing, Dr. Alex Deluca provided medically based testimony in the continuing war on drugs.
From his research he stated “if people with chronic pain conditions are denied all pain medications it would be a DEATH SENTENCE.”
Listen closely to what he said to the Senate in 2008.
“Unrelieved pain can be accurately thought of as the “universal complicator” which worsens all coexisting medical or psychiatric problems through the stress mechanisms to create chronic cardiovascular stress, hyperglycemia which both predisposes to and worsens diabetes, splanchnic vasoconstriction leading to impaired digestive function and potentially with catastrophic consequences.
We must also consider often profound decrements in family and occupational functioning, and iatrogenic morbidity.
What happens to patients denied needed pharmacological pain relief is well documented for example with the morbidity and mortality resulting from the high incidence of moderate to severe postoperative pain and continues to be a major problem despite an array of available advanced analgesic technologies.
With untreated and inadequately-treated pain the risk of death by suicide is more than doubled in chronic pain patients as is relative to national rates.”
This is a small portion of Dr. DeLuca’s overall report to the Senate.
Again that was in 2008.
Two short years later in 2010, the VA confirmed the reports accuracy with their research;
“Severe pain predicts greater likelihood of subsequent suicide!”
This is just the title of the report so you can only imagine the contents.
One notable statement from the report: “veterans with severe pain were more likely to die by suicide than patients experiencing none, mild or moderate pain.”
With multiple reports based on reliable research which did not “cherry pick” data, one would think Congress & the VA would re-think the genocidal policies implemented in secrecy in 2012, but sadly that is not the case.
In St Cloud, Fargo and Minneapolis Minnesota, they began to implement the “opioid safety initiative” with devastating results in the veteran population.
Reports began to pour in of deaths, suicides and of veterans turning to street drugs.
With this data, the VA was able to create media blackout policies to hide the number of veterans committing suicides, even on properties owned by the VA.
They continued implementing the policy using a targeted cities strategy across the nation to determine the effectiveness and the best ways to defend, what amounts to genocide targeting the elderly, cancer patients & the disabled.
In Roanoke, Virginia in 2014 we learned of Navy veteran, Kevin Keller who had committed suicide in a parking lot of a VA center leaving a note behind for his friend.
“Marty, sorry I broke into your house and took your gun to end the pain. FU VA can’t take it anymore.”
In 2015, Washington state veteran suicides increased to 233 after the opioid safety initiative began in the Walla Walla VA medical center.
The data continued to roll in as city after city adopted the policy;
Baltimore, Maryland, Dayton, Ohio, Orlando Florida.
Then in 2016, the VA confirmed the data; Dr. DeLuca was correct in in his assessment provided to the Senate in 2008:
When denying patients all pain medications it is a DEATH SENTENCE!
Specifically the reports state in fiscal year 2013, patients prescribed less than 90 milligrams morphine equivalent (or MME, interestingly the exact number the CDC came up with in their bogus recommendations which led to the current chilling effect doctors are experiencing, and the subsequent forced tapering, abandonment, and denial of pain control medications for millions of Americans across the country ) this daily dose restriction accounted for 85.7% of overdose/suicide related deaths.
The report continues to report in 2010 to 2011 and 2013 to 2014 the opioid discontinuation WAS NOT associated with overdose mortality, but WAS associated to increased suicide mortality.
In plain English, the “opioid safety initiative” was a huge success in ridding the VA of the elderly, cancer patients and the disabled.
The saddest part of these deaths, so far they have been for naught.
In March 2016, the CDC adopted the “opioid safety initiative” from the VA and published them as “guidelines version 1.0.”
Eventually the CDC admitted it had used a biased group of “professionals” and had “cherry picked” the data used to create this policy.
They even admitted as much not once, but twice to congress that prescribed medications were not the source of the overdose deaths.
Meanwhile, with Congressional approval the VA adopted in December 2016, version 3.0; the “VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain”
One wonders how something so horrendous could possibly become even more evil but the VA managed to pull it off.
The new version of the “opioid safety initiative” specifically recommends against long-term opioid therapy for patients under the age of 30. (Page 45).
Seriously? The vast majority of our Armed Forces returning home injured in the line of duty are under the age of 30.
Does this magical number somehow lessen a veteran’s pain from being shot? Blown-up?
The loss of a limb?
Don’t worry the VA also came up with something else for our elderly veterans.
On Page 50 of this new improved “policy,” doctors are advised to ignore the threat of suicide when forced tapering or denying a veteran on Long Term Opioid medical treatment.
With this testimony, you may think I am here just for veterans.
This is not the case.
Sadly members of this very committee have sold out the American people.
They among others continue to spread the misinformation about a falsified opioid crisis to deceive President Trump and to play on the loss of his brother.
One must realize they are not telling him that less than one percent of patients exposed to legally prescribed opiates become addicted to pain medications.
This is true for emergency room treatment of broken arms, dental procedures such as the removal of wisdom teeth and long term medically supervised prescriptions for severe injuries or disease resulting in chronic pain.
Even the CDC guidelines being used by this opioid commission have strong biases against the pain community as it contains no input from pain medicine specialists or even chronic pain patients.
The document is nothing more than a literature review of the harms and risks of opioids without any substantial supporting evidence.
It plays heavily on creating fear and panic about a non-existent crisis while targeting the weakest among us; the elderly, cancer patients, those suffering from extremely painful conditions, diseases, injuries, and the disabled.
If I’m ever givin the opportunity to address the honorable President Trump, I will tell him in no uncertain terms: Sir, you have been lied to.
If you really want to help America please abolish these guidelines and the VA’s policy to deny all pain medications.
Please create a “consumer based board” which is solely made up of chronic pain patients who have experienced excruciating pain and issues getting LEGALLY prescribed opioid medication.
I would also request you conduct focus groups of chronic pain patients who have been treated successfully with opioids for years.
Only then will you have guidelines that serve the public, primary care doctors, and chronic pain patients.
Lastly, adequate pain control is a fundamental right of every American, veteran and civilian, so it is imperative a section be created detailing how patient abandonment will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Without your intervention, members of congress will continue funneling money into the healthcare, pharmaceutical and rehab industries instead of providing adequate healthcare for ALL Americans.
They will continue to do this because they have been bought and paid for by the contributions from these multi-billion dollar corporations which we cannot compete against.
We even have several examples sitting on the Senate VA Committee:
for example the honorable Chairman, Senator Johnny Isakson received over $3 million dollars from them.
The honorable soccer mom Senator, Patty Marry has received over $2 million dollars.
And let us not forget the honorable Senator Bill Cassidy, who recently sponsored a bipartisan bill, CARA 2, providing millions to the manufacturer of Suboxone, a drug known to fail 66% of the time to treat both addicts and chronic pain patients.
This drug is especially evil in the method it is delivered, plastic strips, which make safely withdrawing a virtual nightmare for anyone it is prescribed.
Senator Cassidy has received but a small $4.5 million in campaign contributions from the healthcare community.
I would like to ask the senator; Sir, how much stock do you have with Indivior?
Sir, Do you know that on the packaging you will find the following?
“SUBOXONE Film can cause serious life-threatening breathing problems, overdose and death, particularly when taken by the intravenous (IV) route in combination with benzodiazepines or other medications that act on the nervous system.”
Just exactly how do you propose to save lives by providing an expensive $2,000 plus synthetic opioid which fails to help anyone the majority of the time?
The betrayal of the American people for greed must end now.
Adequate pain control is a fundamental right of every American, veteran & civilian.
It is imperative we stop these attacks against legitimate patients.
The result is already building to the second “Trail of Tears” as congressional greed once again corrupts the very laws intended to safeguard life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Congressional leaders please let this message serve as your wake up call.
Americans are going to hear the TRUTH.
Veterans are not going to take the abuse any longer.
Veterans are not guinea pigs!
The contract with our government for service includes appropriate and adequate healthcare in exchange for serving our country.
We did our part; now do yours!
Either, stand behind your oath of office to defend this great nation or get the hell out!
No more DENY till DEAD for veterans!
No more DENY till DEAD for our most defenseless Americans!
Thank you,
Robert D. Rose Jr.
BSW, MEd., USMC
Semper Fidelis
We defended your freedoms…
Will you support America in her time of need?
Thank you to Mr. Robert Rose for providing his words and research for us to share with you via this live stream. A full transcript including Mr. Rose’s citations and documentation will be posted on our web site PassionatePachyderms.com
We ask that each of you watching or listening to this please pass it along to everyone you know, we must expose this to light or it will continue to happen and get worse.
Robert currently has a case pending in Ohio 6th ciuit courts, if Robert is able to win this case, there will be president for all of us to take legal action against those withholding needed pain medications from chronic pain patients which may open the door for all of us to sue the United State government for damages because they failed to put a leash on their DEA attack dogs, and created a hostile environment for our doctors in which they became afraid and unwilling to treat us out of fear of DEA and other government agency reprisals.
I can not stress enough the importance of this case!
Robert needs our help to win it though. Each of us must take the time and put forth the effort and do our part by writing a letter to the 6th circuit court detailing our own experiences with this subject matter.
I myself took more than 5 hours to put my letter together over the past several days.
Thus far Robert has only managed to get 70 chronic pain patients to write and mail their letters, he needs far more than this many to make an impact. But time is running out.
The address to send the letters to will be posted within the transcript of this live stream on our web site passionatePachyderms.com
The letters must be received no later than Friday of this week.
Robert asks that you please send your letters to the following address:
Case# 18-5775
Robert D. Rose V Phil Roe, et al
U.S. Court of Appeals for 6th circuit
540 Potter Stewart
U.S. Courthouse
100 East 5th St.
Cincinnati, OH. 45202-3988
Citations
1) Agent Orange. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia contributors. (2018, February 27). Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agent_Orange&oldid=827959453
2) After 18 months of study, VA delays adding new Agent Orange illnesses. Tom Philpott. (2017, November 2) Stars & Stripes. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.stripes.com/after-18-months-of-study-va-delays-adding-new-agent-orange-illnesses-1.495773
3) Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. (2017, February). The National Academics of Sciences. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2017/Burn-Pits-highlights.pdf
4) VA hospitals have been hiring medical professionals with revoked licenses since 2002. Terence Cullen. (2017, December 21). NY Daily News. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/va-hospitals-hiring-providers-revoked-licenses-article-1.3713471
5) Why Untreated Chronic Pain is a Medical Emergency. Dr. Alex DeLuca. (2008, March 08). EDS and Chronic Pain News & Info. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://edsinfo.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/why-untreated-chronic-pain-is-a-medical-emergency/
6) Severe pain predicts greater likelihood of subsequent suicide. Mark IIgen. (2010 December). VA Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21198328
7) Battle With Pain: VA doctors freely handed out pain medications to veterans for years. Then they stopped. The results have sometimes turned tragic. Mark Brunswick. (2015, July 12). Star Tribune. Retrieved: January 07, 2017, from http://www.startribune.com/cut-off-veterans-struggle-to-live-with-va-s-new-painkiller-policy/311225761/
8) Veteran’s suicide draws attention to Veterans Affairs’ use of painkillers. Laurence Hammack. (2014 September 7). The Roanoke Times. Retrieved : January 23, 2017, from http://www.roanoke.com/news/virginia/veteran-s-suicide-draws-attention-to-veterans-affairs-use-of/article_a07a3527-0f33-5cca-9cb5-a5d198b8f193.html
9) ‘No Media’ For Minneapolis VA Mental Health Patient Suicide.’ Dr. Benjamin Krause. (2017, January 11). Redeeming the Policy of a Square Deal. DisabledVeterans.org. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://www.disabledveterans.org/2017/01/11/no-media-minneapolis-va-mental-health-patient-suicide/
10) Tougher Opioid Guidelines for US Military & Veterans. Pat Anson. (2017, February 20). Pain News Network. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/2/20/tougher-opioid-guidelines-for-us-military-and-veterans
11) VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of Opioid Therapy (OT) for Chronic Pain. (December 2016) Retrieved: January 30, 2017, from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54d50ceee4b05797b34869cf/t/58abad0d1e5b6c62a4b71101/1487645971273/VADoDOTCPG021517clean.pdf
12) CDC Ignored Warning About Opioid Guidelines Pat Anson. (2016, September 5). Pain News Network. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/9/5/cdc-ignored-warnings-about-opioid-guidelines?rq=cdc
13) New CDC Overdose Study Reduces Role of Pain Meds. Pat Anson. (2016, December 26). Pain News Network. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2016/12/26/new-cdc-overdose-study-reduces-role-of-pain-meds
14) Opioid Commission Member Calls Panel a ‘Charade’. Pat Anson. (2018, January 23). Pain News Network. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2018/1/23/opioid-commission-member-calls-panel-a-sham#at_pco=smlrebh-1.0&at_si=5a9edb6261625a72&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=2&at_tot=5
15) Veterans committing suicide continues to increase in WA. Maecy Enger. (2016, July 7). NewsRadio 610 KONA. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://www.610kona.com/veterans-committing-suicide-continues-increase-wa/
16) CDC Guideline on Prescribing Opioids: Some Major Concerns. Dr. Florence Chaverneff. (2017, March 28). Clinical Pain Advisor. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://www.clinicalpainadvisor.com/aapm-2017-annual-meeting/opioid-prescribing-what-you-should-know-about-the-cdc-guideline/article/645119/
17) Sen. Johnny Isakson — Georgia — Campaign Finance Summary. OpenSecrets. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/pacs?cid=N00002593&cycle=2018
18) Sen. Patty Murray — Washington — Campaign Finance Summary. OpenSecrets. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/pacs?cid=N00007876&cycle=2016
19) Rep. Bill Cassidy — Louisiana — Campaign Finance Summary. OpenSecrets. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/pacs?cid=N00030245&cycle=2014
20) Senators unveil bipartisan bill to fight opioid epidemic. Racheal Roubein. (2018, February 27) The Hill. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/375822-senators-unveil-bipartisan-bill-to-fight-opioid-epidemic?amp=1
21) Treatment with Suboxone Film: Important Safety Information and Indication. (2012). Suboxone Sublingual Film. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://www.suboxone.com/medical-treatment
22) Surprising VA Data About Opioid Discontinuation, Overdose and Suicide: Clinical Implications. Dr. Elizabeth Oliva. (2016). Institute for the Advancement of Behavioral Healthcare. Retrieved: March 6, 2018, from https://vendome.swoogo.com/frontend/site/show-details?eventId=3139&object=session&id=43590
23) Study: Suboxone Usually Fails To Stop Opioid Use. Pat Anson. (2017, February 23). Pain News Network. Retrieved: March 6, 2018.
from https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/2/23/study-suboxone-usually-fails-to-stop-opioid-use
}Uo
*****************************************************************
My name is Jennifer, I suffer from a long list of very complex interwoven medical issues list which make my medical care extremely complicated. I have severe atypical medically intractable daily migraines with concurrent cluster type headaches, I’ve suffered from this for 19 years, and have tried more than 160 different drugs, treatments, and modalities. The typical medications used for chronic migraine such as immatex, amerge, DHE and other drugs, have been tried with nearly catastrophic consequences. On three separate occasions, in spite of my clear warnings against the use of these medications when I presented to emergency rooms for treatment, I have been subjected to doctors who in their God like wisdom, decided not to take my word for it and try them anyway resulting in my going into full cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated via shocking my heart. All in attempts to avoid the use of safe effective opioid medications.
In addition to this, I suffer from Fibromyalgia, Autonomic dysautonomia, systemic indolent Mastocytosis, degenerative disc disease ranging from moderate to severe throughout my cervical spine and back, 7 herniated or bulging discs, severe osteoarthritis, stenosis of the cervical spine which limits signal and deforms my spinal cord in three areas of my cervical spine and two areas of my lower back resulting in extreme pain in my arms, legs neck, back, shoulders and head. This condition has progressed over the past 30 years since the car accident that set it in motion, in spite of years of physical therapy, exercises, tens units, chiropractic and acupuncture, ineffective painful and dangerous spinal and cervical injections, nerve burning, and even Chinese fire cupping in a desperate attempt to relieve the constant pain I am in. Drug after drug was tried, but due to my (at the time) undiagnosed Mastocytosis I suffered, often life threatening anaphylactic responses from more of them than I can remember, and the ones that did not result allergic reactions of one sort to another and anaphilaxis, very often had adverse effects on mood, and function due to my also having significant attention deficit disorder. Anti depressants, anti epileptic drugs and other substances never intended for the treatment of pain or chronic migraine were all tried off label with as I stated, often catastrophic results.
Finally, after electing to step off of the medical marry go round of being passed from doctor to doctor spanning 143 doctors in 17 states including the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, USC, UWM, UM Ann Arbor, Harvard, Bethesda Naval hospital, Walter Reed Army hospital and others over 25 years time, and having endured countless spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, nerve biopsies, mileagrams, CT scans, MRI’s, X-rays, EMG’s, EKG’s, EEG’s, and just about every test and procedure imaginable, it was my (by this point) very educated decision, that rather than risk one of these doctors who didn’t have the time or inclination to really learn my very complicated history, making a choice that would unintentionally result in my death, it was time to stop chasing some cure that didn’t exist, being their human lab rat, and resigned myself to treating my pain, the symptoms associated with my various conditions, and focus on my quality of life and having as much function as possible for as long as possible. This meant long term pain management medications.
After several years of trial and error as well as medication and dosage adjustments we managed to find a dose and combination of medications that afforded me adequate pain control, maximum functionality and quality of life, This was moderate doses of oxycontin with percocet 10/325 as needed for break through pain. I remained at those doses for 8 years.
During that time, I was regularly drug tested, never lost or misplaced my medications or scripts, never asked for early refills, agreed to every other modality suggested, every MRI, CT scan, X-ray, blood test, biopsy, etc. as well as being treated for my ADHD by a licensed psychiatrist who prescribed adderall to treat that.
My physicians, 8 of them, most professors for the university of Wisconsin medical college were in regular contact with each other and agreed with my decision as well as the course of treatment. This was in Wisconsin.
In 2013 my husband and I along with my doctors decided a warmer climate with fewer radical weather changes and less chance of my slipping on ice and snow would be for the best.
My husband sold his very successful Funeral home business, and we relocated to Knoxville TN. With all of my medical records, copies of all of the “Objective proof” anyone could possibly imagine or require, along with letters from all of my physicians in hand, I presented to a pain management clinic associated with a hospital in Knoxville, where I was treated as though I was a criminal and a drug addict.
I was told under no uncertain terms there was no reason for me to take the amount of medications I had been maintained on for 8+ years and that because of their state issues with abuse and diversion, I would only be allowed half of what I’d been taking for 8 years, and at each subsequent visit, that amount would be reduced until I was taking less than 120 MME which would likely be reduced more from there.
It did not matter what my condition was, what those reductions did to my ability to function, or my quality of life and pain control. The only thing that mattered was making sure I was not exceeding their magical state mandated non medically justified or reasoned arbitrary dosage amount.
Needless to say in the following 26 months my life went from tolerable with an acceptable level of pain control, to complete misery and torture, from a moderate level of functionality to almost no ability to do even the most minor of daily tasks, and absolutely no ability to do anything that provided me any quality of life. I could no longer throw a ball for my two very small poodles, cook, do minor chores around the house, or enjoy planting and growing the flowers I so enjoyed.
It was literally all i could do to get out of bed and move to my recliner where I stayed most of the day, and was only able to shower and get dressed on my “good days” after which I was in too much pain to leave my house. None of that mattered, it was all about the magic dose and making sure I did not exceed it for any reason. I was told outright that I nor any other patient was worth the pain management doctors risking their licenses for PERIOD.
After 26 months in TN My husband lost his job due to restructuring, and we were forced to move once again, this time to Virginia. Again I went through the exact same process. This time with unbelievable amounts of anxiety and fear that I would once again be regarded with less respect and dignity than that of a dog.
As it turned out, my fears were very well founded. By this time the CDC had released their bogus recommendations and all of the doctors were running scared like kicked puppies with their tails tucked between their legs. I was told under no uncertain terms there was no way I would be allowed more than 90mg mme of pain medications, and there would be ZERO rescue or breakthrough medications.
This has resulted in my once low blood pressure rising to alarming levels, heart palpitations, increased pain, even less ability to function and almost no quality of life.
Again, none of this mattered. EVERYONE had to be at of below 90mg MME “IT WAS THE LAW.” It did not matter that my condition had worsened significantly as evidenced by the CT scan and MRI results, that the stenosis in my cervical spine make it impossible for me to sleep in my bed, and the pain i’m in only allows me to sleep 2-3 hours per night. It didn’t matter that my blood pressure is wildly out of control even with the addition of blood pressure medication, or that that high blood pressure is negatively affecting my heart and it’s function. It didn’t matter that I’d never failed a drug test, asked for early refills, or taken even this greatly reduced amount of pain medication in any way other than it was prescribed. That magic number was, and is, the one and only concern. Not the patient, not functionality or quality of life, or even pain control.
In addition to this absurd dosage limitation, I was required to submit to (for me, due to my having mastocytosis) extremely dangerous, non FDA approved injections in my neck and spine. When they resulted in adverse reactions, I was forced to submit to having the nerves in my lower spine burned, an extremely painful procedure which resulted in my pain worsening, not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times! If I failed to agree, even the small amount of pain medications I now get would be stopped completely.
After 34 months with the same doctor, I drove the 70 mile one way trip for my regular appointment in August only to arrive there to find he had abandoned all of his patients without a word. Just quit his job, and moved to Paducah Kentucky leaving me and every other pain patient under his care to either submit to some new doctor unfamiliar with us, our care or our complicated histories that the company brought in to fill the spot, find new doctors, or turn to other avenues and options for relief.
I can’t help but wonder how many of those patients have given up, perhaps committed suicide, I’m certain that’s been the fate of more than one of those abandoned by this doctor. Still others, I’m certain have turned to dangerous illegal street drugs in their desperate attempts to obtain adequate pain control and relief.
Addicts are getting every possible form of treatment available including replacement drugs for their addictions, and yet we, the unfortunately sick, disabled, chronic and intractable pain patients and those dying of incurable disease processes are unable to access pain medications in amounts sufficient to control our pain, give us back some functionality and quality of life, or have any say in what is happening to us.
As a chronic pain patient as well as an advocate for other CPP’s I speak to patients every day who are planning or have already made plans for their own deaths in desperation and complete frustration caused by this lack of adequate pain control, and in preparation for further reductions in their pain medications because they simply can not tolerate the misery they are in any further.
I’ve comforted the friends and loved ones of those who have carried out their plans for suicide because they were no longer able to withstand the pain and misery the war on pain patients has created in our lives.
Similarly, I speak to patients considering seeking out the vary same illegal substances the government is trying to eliminate because they are no longer able to access the safe effective pain medications in amounts they need to treat their chronic pain effectively.
As we all know, when chronic pain patients are forced, through no fault of their own, to turn to the street for relief, it’s very likely they will become one of the very statistics the government is trying to avoid. But what alternatives have been left them?
22 American veterans commit suicide EVERY DAY! According to many of those Veterans family members, and them prior to their deaths, a primary reason for those suicides was lack of effective pain control, their meds being reduced severely or cut off all together, leaving them in unimaginable pain they could no longer live with.
When Doctors are called to task for inadequate pain control, we patients are told they are afraid of losing their practices, being raided by the DEA, or being sent to jail for treating their patients.
We are being forced into painful, ineffective dangerous procedures, some of which are not even approved by the FDA for treatment of chronic pain in order to obtain what little medications we are able to get, and told by none other than the ignorant Attorney General of the United states to “take a few bufferin and go to bed.”
Apparently, Jeff Sessions is ignorant to the fact that over the counter medications like ibuprophin, Nsaids, Alieve, aspirin and acetiminiphin actually cause more death and disease in America each year than illegal opioids do!.
We are treated like criminals and drug addicts when we are neither.
We’re forced to submit to monthly pill counts, prescription tracking (invading our right to privacy) to share our medical information with people who have no right to it, like DEA and government agencies as well as pharmacists, none of whom are medical doctors. We must endure monthly drug testing, and live in fear each month that our needed pain medications will be further reduced or stopped all together creating severe PTSD.
The government is illegally interfering in our relationships with our doctors and practicing medicine without a license. A Federal offense by the way, the government and any agent of the government or acting on behalf of the government is expressly prohibited from interfering in any way with the relationship between a doctor and their patient.
We have made every possible attempt to bring attention to this problem and resolve it ourselves without legal action, but we are no longer willing to tolerate what we’ve been forced to endure.
Chronic pain patients are not the bad guys in this, and yet we are the ones being punished for the sins of addicts, criminals and drug abusers..
Due to the chilling effect brought about by the DEA, CDC, and the government in their War on drugs, the pain medications of myself and millions of others have been reduced by more than 75% taking us from having chronic pain that was once adequately treated and controlled enough for to have some quality of life and functionality, to having no quality of life and extremely limited functionality all because our ignorant government is failing to consider the collateral damage their ineffective, ignorant, dangerous actions have created.
The government through it’s various alphabet agencies has interfered in the doctor patient relationship and taken it upon themselves to practice medicine without a license. The DEA and state government offices across the nation have created an environment where chronic pain patients are unable to find pain management doctors at all, or if they do, are not able to get adequate treatment. This runs counter to federal laws and must be addressed and STOPPED immediately.
Join with us, and help fight for those who suffer chronic Intractable Pain. You may not be one of us at this moment, but Remember, you are one illness, one surgery, one accident away, and tomorrow, you may be the one in pain, unable to obtain relief.
