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* This is about my personal experience not a topic to be debated about the use of narcotics.
I went to my local ER last week because I had been dealing with a migraine for almost two weeks. Sadly, is not uncommon for me to end up in the ER for a migraine. In fact that usually happens at least a handful of times every year. Unfortunately I generally end up being admitted for said migraine at least a couple times a year. So I know how things work in this ER and Hospital. Especially since I actually worked as an RN in this hospital for 9 years. But this time was different.  I had the worst experience I have ever had in that hospital. I have NEVER been treated as poorly by as many medical professionals in such a short time span as I did that visit. And that’s saying something because over the last five years I have been there MANY times and have been cared for by MANY nurses, physicians and other providers. Due to the fact that I am no stranger to the hospital, and the fact that I have MULTIPLE invisible illnesses I am not unfamiliar with being looked at like I am drug seeker.  But this visit took that to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

I had barely made it into the room in the Emergency Room when this male who I assumed was a nurse came in and without telling me who he was or anything his first words were “I see you take X & Y at home for pain did you try either of those?” Okay, fair question. I calmly explained that they can cause rebound headaches so I don’t always try them for headaches. He proceeded to tell me that I wasn’t going to be receiving any narcotics while I was in the ER that day.  He then went on to ask me what has worked on my migraines in the past. My mom answered that question as I was not totally able to think straight after that long with a migraine. She told him that a low dose of Ketamine has worked for me really well for me in the last. Continuing on to tell him the last time I received it the nurse had never heard of it being used for migraines either so the Doctor took him aside and showed him literature on the studies that have been done. Those studies show that Ketamine at a low dose works well for migraines. And before she finished her sentence the nurse shot that down and said there was “NO WAY” I would be getting that today because its a sedative and not for migraines.. At this point I didn’t know what to even think. Honestly, I was ready to leave and say forget it.  But that wasn’t the last run in with that nurse I would have before I was admitted.

I had a port placed three years ago due to the fact that I don’t have good veins anyway and then I took years of high dose steroids which killed the veins I did have.  So I always request that my port be accessed. He REFUSED. He said I had great veins and placed a peripheral.  I wasn’t in any condition to argue. Because he was so asinine I ended up with five sticks which should have been one.  But I did enjoy when the ER doctor put him in his place and let him know that he would in fact be giving me Ketamine for my migraine. HA!!!

I was really hoping that the Ketamine would work like it had in the past and I would be able to go home. But it didn’t……. So they called a hospitalist to come in and see me so I could be admitted to the hospital.  As he walks in the room he introduces himself and announces “I DO NOT GIVE NARCOTICS FOR HEADACHES, JUST SO YOU KNOW! Again, that word had not come out of my mouth since I arrived. He like the nurse was making an assumption of why I was there based on what he saw on the chart, without actually seeing or talking to the person behind the medical record. I really hadn’t even thought about asking for any narcotics because I know that it can actually make a headache worse. He asks me a few questions and says he won’t be admitting me its a neurology issues, and leaves. The nurse I loved so much comes back a few minutes later to tell me that they were taking me upstairs. When I asked who the admitting doctor was they told me it was Dr. Pleasant Pants that I had just seen. I was less than thrilled.

Once I was taken upstairs and settled into my room, a neurology doctor who I didn’t know showed up to see me. And AGAIN for the THIRD time in less than three hours, this doctor identifies herself and before I can say anything she says “I DO NOT GIVE NARCOTICS FOR MIGRAINES, JUST SO YOU KNOW.”  Yet again I had never asked for an narcotics or even actually thought about asking for one.  Like the two before her she was also making an assumption about why I was there and what I wanted before even seeing me. By this point in the day I had nothing to say I was so blown away that I just looked at her. I didn’t have anything to say I just agreed with her plan of care and went on with it. At that point I would have tried anything to get the headache to go away. And anything I would have said in that moment to this doctor would not have been nice or helped my case in any way.

Sadly, during my entire four day stay in the hospital there was only one nurse that would actually give me my home pain meds. In fact she actually brought them to me without me even having to ask for them. The other nurses didn’t think I needed them because I was getting “the migraine cocktail!” And that is true, I didn’t need my home meds for the headache, I needed them for the rest of my body. All the other parts that hurt besides my head.

I know, everyone is all in an uproar by the new changes that may be coming with narcotics and the doctors are being more careful with what they prescribe and to who. But anyone could look at my record if they really took the time and see that there is more than enough reason for one or even both of the medications I take. And if they looked more closely they would also see that my scripts last me on average 45 days rather than 30 because I don’t take them as often as they are prescribed. If they took time to look further than the med list they would see a person. A person who believe it or doesn’t really care for the way pain medicine makes me feel. I don’t enjoy being nauseated and itchy when I am already itchy all the time from my illness.

It just frustrates me to no end that the people in the world who have abused the drugs have totally messed things up for those of us who need them. Because people choose to take narcotics to get high it is becoming increasingly hard to get pain meds for people who really truly need them. Many of us need something to be able to get out of bed in the morning. Or to take a shower, or to do any daily task. But because of those idiots many are being refused. And sadly there have been a number of suicides in the chronic illness community due to the fact that they were refused the pain meds they relied on.

I have not shared this earlier because it took me awhile to process it. To really think about how it made me feel and how I could share this best to get my point across without sounding like I was whining. I just wish medical providers would look further than a med list. Or even the list of diagnoses. Behind those things there are people, people who never asked for these life altering diseases, people who didn’t ever do anything to deserve the fact that we are living in chronic pain. Many of us who really need the pain meds would not be able to function or have any semblance of a normal life. And if it comes to the point when none of us have access to those meds a lot of us wont be able to get out of bed, much less work and be a productive member of society. Many of us would gladly trade every last pain pill for the ability to go back to the life we had before we got sick. If i could turn in my pain meds and magically be healed i would be the first in line. Sadly, that doesn’t happen! I can’t speak for all of the people with chronic pain due to a chronic illness, but personally I have tried all other methods of pain relief. I have tried meditation, acupuncture, massage, physical therapy, water therapy, over the counter meds, pain rubs, heat, ice. You name it, I have probably tried and it just doesn’t work the same way that pain medicine does.

At this point the only thing I think we can really do is to start writing letters. Letters to those who represent us in our local, state and federal government.  I am not a political person and I normally don’t include things like this in my blog but I think this is all we have left. I think its time for a CALL TO ACTION for all of us who suffer from chronic pain. We have to be proactive and start writing letters, telling our stories and getting them out there. If we don’t share them, who will ever know what we really live through on a daily basis. They need to know that we are being treated the same as drug seekers, the same as drug addicts or not being treated at all. They need to know that we didn’t choose this life but it has happened and we are doing out best to make the best out of the hand we were dealt and having out pain medications taken away is not the way to do it.

I know in the past people have probably assumed I was drug seeking because when you present to the ER, for a migraine or back pain or a lupus flare that causes pain all over the body they can’t see it. They don’t see our pain on a lab test or an X-ray so they just assume that we are just there for the meds.  When it reality we just want to do whatever it takes to get the pain away even if that’s just a shot of steroid. Healthcare workers have sadly become so jaded by the “opioid crisis” that they can’t see past it. I know from many years of experience as a nurse that it is easy to assume that drug seeking is occurring when someone asks for pain medicine without asking any further questions.  We have to start advocating for ourselves, as I always say if we don’t advocate for ourselves no one else will.  Sadly, I did not do a good job of doing that this time around  because I felt so bad. But I wont stand to be treated like this again.

I am lucky to have a multiple people who act as advocates for me for, will stand up and fight for me when I can’t. My Mom has become my biggest advocate as she has sat in the ER waiting rooms and at my bedside hours in end without complaint. Just to make sure that i get what I need. Many times she is my voice when I can’t speak up for myself. If you are in a situation where you don’t feel as though you can stand up for yourself take someone with you. If you can, take a family member or a friend with you to the ER or to the Dr to help make sure you get the treatment and care that deserve.

If you need any help writing letters to your representatives or finding who your representatives are please let me know and I will be more than happy to help you however I can

Please take the time to also share this story in your communities. We have to get our stories out there, we have to find a way to be heard.

With Love,

Amber

20 thoughts on “The Day I was Treated Like A Drug Seeker

  1. EXCELLENT blog Amber! I am so sorry this happened to you. Hope you are feeling better.Love, Kim Broward Smith

    1. Thank you Amber and I hear you. I was prescribed oxycodone and Percocet for breakthrough pain in 2007 or so for a few years. I was abruptly told to stop and I would no longer be prescribed and to go in-house and detox. Five days….left with no meds for comfort nor any sympathy or compassion .I was sick for a year ended up in hospital twice for dehydration. I went for FU appt once to my pcp after being discharged from detox. It was degrading. Humiliating and it has taken a toll on my over all health. While I was being prescribed I was dependent on the Opioids for pain management. Once she stopped prescribing I was documented as drug addict and A Pill Seeker. I am over 60 yrs old. I know what it’s like to go to the ED with those labels and the comments. I am completely aware of the Opioid Epidemic and it’s overall Crisis in our society. This Amber is part of it….we are the medical throw aways. I suppose I could of done what so many do and found a dangerous alternative….I didn’t I NEVER WAS TOLD HOW ADDICTIVE THESE MEDS WERE AND I NEVER TOOK THEM TO GET HIGH. I know doctors were trained to keep their patients out of pain. I also saw the pharmaceutical advertisement back years ago in a recent documentary. Completely Safe….. I am responding in part to you and anyone one else … Once you are flagged a PILL SEEKER…. It’s a part of your legal electronic medical record follows you….it’s apparently not easy to get an addendum . My thoughts and prayers go out to you….to the critics….to each and every one who is a part of this epidemic and to all who have lost a Loved One. To all the Grandparents who are bringing up their grandchildren. God Bless

  2. 8 could tell you a horror story that left me with severe emotional trauma and caused me to have to pack up and move clear across the state of Washington. Because I was treated like a drug seeker after presenting to a hospital after a fall on black ice 6 wks after moving to Spokane from San Diego. I was told i needed to give a urine sample, I asked why and was told it was to check for internal bleeding. I knew that wa a lie but because I was in so much pain I gave it in hopes of it improving threw quality of healthcare I was getting. Needless to say it did not. It’s been ive 4 years now. I had to fly to Seattle to meet with a spine surgeon after I was passed around like I used tissue in Spokane. My EMR filled with lies by them to cover their own ass as to why I couldn’t be given treatment. The surgeon I met with in Seattle told me he thought I would arrive in a wheelchair because nobody walks away from the type of spinal cord injury like I sustained. The disc between L4-L5 was ejected on impact and caused a vertebral collapse herniation the remainder of my discs and it took almost 4 years and a septal infarct to discover I had also a left anterior 2nd rib fracture that nobody would do anything about. The er I went to put relatives in my exam room after was sent to the er with the abnormal ekg septal infarct, they left me in the eating room for 4 hours with an iv .in my room attached to nothing. The guy who put it there would come by periodically to let me know I was last in line to be seen as prime coming in after me were more critical. I woke up while the doctor was coversing with my relatives that I did not give permission to put in my room. When u heard a voice speaking it woke me up. I asked why are you talking to me about narcotics. I didn’t know relatives were quietly sitting behind me. He replies that he ws just explaining why he couldn’t give me any. I said I never asked for any! He continues talking over me saying I have costrochondrtis ands he’s giving me 500mg od tylenol and discharging me ands then left. I rolled over and there’s my cousin. I was so upset I realized the iv got my bag and went to leave the nurse runs up asking where i’m going, I replied i’m leaving i’m not staying here another minute she said what about your discharge paperwork i says yall have my address on file mail it to me. They gave it to my cousins girlfriend. A direct violation of my HIPAA hetry no wrong doing was found. The story gets even worse but i’m getting very upset about writing it down. I’m sorry. I understand your pain and humiliation. I am left permanently disabled. I had my 3rd spine surgery st the end of February. Instead of the normal anesthesia ketamine was used and my iv dilauded pain pump was st to 000.01. I was tortured to say the least. This last surgery failed and needs to be redone. I have been in a neck brace for over 4 months.

    1. I am so sorry. My story pales in comparison. I just can’t imagine the hell you’ve been through. Thank you for sharing.

      1. It’s my personal mission tp go after the CDC I have researched all 12 authors and 4 of them I have set my sights on as having an alterior motive. I hope when i’m thru with them they don’t have a dollar tp their name and they’re locked up for the torture and deaths of millions of people in this country. They had a dirty of care obligation and they ignored that. Read section 802 of the US PATRIOT ACT on domestic terrorism. It’ll blow your mind. Ive spent several years researching everything. We have a case we just need legal counsel tp help us. I’m in Washington state 1 of only 4 states in the country you don’t need a degree program to take the bar exam. It just happens to be at the end of this month. I am thinking of attempting it in hopes of passing because then I can then bring the largest class action tort in history. This isn’t over by a long shot. They’ll pay or I’ll die trying. Sorry about the multple typos in my original comment but I see you bout the jest of it. Horror stories like ours are happening everyday around this country.

  3. Those of us who suffer from chronic pain unfortunately have all been there. But it’s time for those outside of the chronic-pain community to stand up and be heard. Anyone could be in a car accident or need an appendix out. Well, guess what? You’re not getting painkillers, either. Suck it up, Buttercup. That pain you’re experiencing? Meditate it away! Have you tried exercising? You should lose weight. I am so sorry you were treated so poorly. I thank you, tho, for shining light on what it’s like to live with chronic pain and what our ERs and hospitals are really like. I pray you find relief from your pain. Gentle hugs

    1. Yes!!!! What you say is so true!!!! Thank you for the kind words. I feel strongly that people need to know the struggles we face on a daily basis. And give people a face of chronic illness.

      1. I think the know but don’t care. I think part of there agenda is get rid of the weak!Also they will never really understand even though they know unless it personally affects them or someone they love.

    2. This started for me in 1989 when I had knee surgery. At that time, it was not like it is now. Doctors actually tried to find out what was wrong and treat it. I had RSD. It was only in the last 2 decades anyone had discovered it and named it. Fast forward to trauma, depression, PTSD from assault, fibromyalgia and I’m 65, and needing to make extra money. It’s a horrible thing for anyone to look at you when you do everything you can to stay off narcotics and still know they and your own family believe you’re a drug seeker. The moment I go to the hospital, that’s exa6what I am, because I dont take narcotics and haven’t for years. Neither do I teach aerobics any more, nor do I jog, or pick up my grandkids. I dont swim anymore either. There isnt much I can do anymore, for this once very active, respiratory therapist, mom of three, grams of nine, I can’t take them to the park or even for a walk because when I do I’ve learned I will be down for weeks at a time. If I end up at the hospital it’s time for some real drugs, because that means I can’t control the pain doing anything else. But, in this atmosphere of addicts and drug runners being so much more important than people like me, I dont expect much at all. And that’s sad.Opioid abusers and drug runners can burn in hell.

      1. I am so sorry you have been through so much. Our system is so screwed up. That’s all there is to it. You are deemed a drug seeker if you take narcs and go to thee hospital bc you just want more even if you never ask. And if you don’t take narcs and present to the hospital you are a drug seeker bc you don’t take them so you must just want them. It’s another case of you are damned if you and damned if you don’t. If you would like share this post everywhere. Help me spread the message. Thanks for always reading my stuff!!

  4. It is getting totally ridiculous, I had a false positive for benedryl . It came up as PCP and the holy hell that caused in my life was awful. No one saw the fact it was a false positive . A chief of ER after giving me 3 shots of IV dilaud came in and told me they were discharging me because they did not treat meth addicts. This was after the nurse slammed the drug into my IV and said ” there that what you wanted right”? I was shocked. I had to be hospitalized due to a ovary that had twisted and had to have emergency surgery. All anyone thought was I was just trying to get drugs. I have been a chronic pain patient for over 20 + years and never taken illicit drugs . The pendulum has swung WAY too far over the wrong side. It needs to swing back. I am so very sorry that happened to you.

    1. Wow Misty I am so very sorry that happened. It was gotten really crazy!!!! Especially in the Er. I guess bc they really do see it all but that’s still no excuse. I also have endometriosis and interstitial cystitis and those are both diseases that they can’t be seen so I can kind of relate to the pain you had with your ovary. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been told I was just backed up and need to poo and sent on my way when I actually was probably have an flare of one of those disease. And needed to poo. I’m so sorry you were treated so poorly.

  5. Amber I am a chronic pain sufferer and have migraines I was treated the same way at my hospital. I am on a pain contract but like you said my meds dont work for the headaches. I would appreciate it very much if you could help me with a letter to send and to find out who to send it to.
    Thanks

    1. Stacy, yes ma’am I would be happy to. If you will either email me through this page or find me on Facebook book at the World Sees Normal and tell me there I would be glad to. That way I have a good place to send it. Hopefully I’ll have something ready by this weekend that’s my goal!!! Xoxx

  6. I have had severe headaches off & on since I was 4 years old. At 17 Cluster headaches, early 20s migraines started. At 26 all hell broke loose and not only did my severe off & on headaches turn chronic and incessant, I now had three separate types all overlapping with each other. Plus severe fibromyalgia started too. Of course that was back in the early 90s when it wasn’t even looked at as a real disease yet… usually seen as just as a “woman’s disease”, and we don’t really pay any attention to those because everyone knows that all women are simply neurotic, whiny, and hysterical, right? I mean, that’s why we used to prescribe them vibrators in the 1800s to keep them from being so neurotic.(I’m being heavily sarcastic there, just mirroring how doctors used to treat women). I also had a whole bunch of other extremely painful things start too back then which at the time were so numerous I literally could not even keep track of them all in my head. So at 26 I went from working 100-110 hours a week to being unable to work at all and in severe pain that never went away, except to only go nuclear and get MUCH worse. Suddenly I became one of those “lazy” people who “don’t want to work” and all the other wonderful pejoratives that get thrown at us a lot. After all, if you can’t see a problem, then it doesn’t exist, right? And therefore the person must be a “drug seeker”, “opioid abuser”, “opioid addict”, or turning around and selling them on the street to innocent teenagers in order to intentionally try to get them addicted… right?
    (sarcasm again)

    Anyway, I’ve been in more ERs for migraines than I can count, so I have a LOT of experience in this area going back to the late 1980s. Even back then sometimes they’d treat you as if you were some junkie drug seeker, but I attribute that to my age then, because everyone knows that if you’re young, then you simply MUST be a “drug seeker”, right?

    Usually though they would give 50 or 100mg of Demerol. That’d do the trick, kill the migraine, and I’d get driven home and sleep and be fine when I woke up. Well, except for the chronic headache that never went away that is. Imagine them doing that now… 100mg of Demerol… good luck with that one! LOL

    Anyway, in the long run there was nothing they could do for me other than euthanize me or put me in Pain Management. When you have over a dozen of some of the best docs and medical professors in the country all concur, it’s hard to argue with them. So that’s what happened, and for 23 years my pain was pretty well controlled. I mean, opioids aren’t like a silver bullet, but they sure beat the alternative. So I didn’t have to go to ERs after that and now it was just a matter of keeping the pain level controlled and not letting it creep back up and go completely nuts.

    But then this Opioid Hoax came along, and trust me, it IS a hoax. IT all has to do with money and corruption. I’ve never seen anything like it though with all the propaganda and disinformation and outright lies that the news media is flooding the country with every ten minutes about “150 people a day dying from opioids” (which is absolute BS too, BTW). So the ironic part about all of us suddenly being “drug seekers” and “opioid abusers” and “opioid addicts” and taking our “heroin pills” is that it’s all just a way for PROP and the DEA to get rich. And unfortunately we’re just the scapegoats they’re using to try and prove their point. But hey, I went to college so I happen to have studied the history of how we’ve handled past opioid panics, and we (or different factions of us) have been having fits about opioids since 1632 ever since Cotton Mather opened his big fat mouth and started spewing his toxic BS. And ultimately, “cracking down” on opioids has failed every single time. The people who try to control them because they think “those” other “bad” people are abusing them never seem to understand that there always have been and probably always will be people who abuse any type of drug. But trying to conflate us with abusers or addicts is just lazy thinking from people who either can’t or don’t want to understand what’s actually happening.

    Every single time the govt has tried to “stomp out” opioids they’ve only made FAR worse problems develop as a result and ultimately had to reverse course. And I’m sure that’s what will be done this time too. The only thing I don’t know about is how long it’ll take, and since there is so much corruption and money involved in it this time, the other side will undoubtedly put up a huge fight and an enormous amount of resistance and try every psychological trick in the book too I’m sure. They’ll say that they are trying to save people from dying — although they’ll never mention all those dying from suicides due to their uncontrolled pain, except to say that those who killed themselves were “opioid addicts”, just as Dr Andrew Kolodny said not too long ago when he was asked about a bunch of pain patient suicides. And he’s the head of the snake too, believe me. I’ve been aware of him for nearly twenty years and when I first ran across him I thought he sounded like the most evil, cruel, dangerous, and sadistic man in America. Swear to God! Little did I know then that one day he’d hijack the CDC and start spreading his endless lies about opioids in order to bring more business in to his chain of rehab clinics.

    Anyway, the docs nowadays are scared to death of the DEA. But don’t expect them to admit that. Just look at some of the stories at http://www.DoctorsofCourage.org to see what I mean. That’s why they walk in and blurt out “I do not prescribe opioids!”. Heck it’s hard enough to even get them to even write a letter or make a public statement about the types of horrors the Opioid Hoax is causing (just be careful who you say “hoax” to since the vast majority of the public is soundly convinced now it’s real thanks to the media repeating the CDC’s lies every ten minutes). The reason is because they don’t want to be targeted by one of Jeff Sessions’ “Strike Teams” and have their office raided by a SWAT team. SO… you’ll get different reactions from the docs now… but it’s actually all due to their fear of the DEA and how they can legally take everything they own.

    But remember that we’re also dealing with the fact that the DEA is trying to run all the Pain Management specialists out of business. They’re on a tear going after them too, and if they all close up then it’ll just force more pain patients to turn to heroin or suicide because primary care drs won’t prescribe opioids anymore now. But the reason the DEA is going after the pain drs now is because Jeff Sessions is allowing them to apply drug trafficking statutes and Civil Asset Forfeiture laws against them if they happen to forget to dot an “i” or cross a “t” on a piece of paperwork. Basically it’s just legal robbery. Pain specialists tend to have a lot more money than actual drug traffickers anyway. Read the stories of persecuted/prosecuted pain doctors at http://www.DoctorsofCourage.org and you’ll see what I mean. And the DEA is not going to want to give up such lucrative careers unless they have to. What they’re going to do is cause pain patient suicides to soar, the illegal inflow of drugs like heroin and fentanyl analogues to KEEP soaring (look at a chart… it’s on a near-vertical trajectory),

    Anyway, just keep up the good fight… and be sure to do these two things:

    1.) Be sure to submit comments to the FDA: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2018-N-1621-0001
    Watch the webcast of their hearings on July 9th. I haven’t decided yet if what the FDA is doing is legit or just a ruse to try to pacify us and make us believe they’re actually care at all. At this point there are very powerful forces and very big money jumping onto this, so everybody’s going to try to make money from this. The important thing the FDA needs to remember is that the statistics that the CDC (PROP) used to say there was an “epidemic” were bogus several different ways to begin with. Then when caught, they even admitted this not once, but twice! And if the statistics were wildly off, then there was no “epidemic”, and thus no reason to punish pain patients for something they had nothing to do with. Yet we’re the ones being punished and tortured for it. Even for the very small part that actually was true, this had to do with Purdue Pharma and Florida’s lax pill mill laws, not anything CP/IP patients had done. Secondly, once PROP/CDC/insurance companies held their secret, illegal meetings (all with their own financially corrupt reasons to be there), they’ve refused to release any info about who was there, meeting minutes, etc. Why the secrecy and refusal to say who was there and what plans they came up with when requested through FOIA requests???

    2.) Write/call/email/text/tweet/bug the hell out of your congressperson and senator AND your state rep and senator too (unless you live in a unicameral state of course) and keep at them. Make sure they’re aware of your pain and new/additional problems you have due to restrictions of your medications. And then if they suddenly go South on you and break off communication (which means someone from the DEA has probably “gotten to them”), then double up on your calls/tweets/letters/texts/tweets and then start writing the papers. Remember, the Opioid “Crisis” is only there to misdirect your attention away from the real scene of the crime. But because you’re the pain patient, you also happen to be a prime suspect because some will say you’re “opioid abusers”, opioid addicts”, etc. They use pejoratives like this because they know what they’re doing is not just wrong, it’s one of the most monstrous crimes against humanity ever. Remember that we’re all just innocent victims in this while the real perpetrators are in a group called PROP.

    1. oh good heavens you have been through it!!! I am so sorry you have had to deal with all that!!!! Hopefully things will get better and stay that way for both of us!! One can dream right???

  7. I’m so sorry that you had to experience such a horrible response to an awfully overwhelming situation. I do take offense to one point though; I became addicted to opiates after I was overdosed with dilaudid in the hospital. This sent me into a code situation-fortunately I was able to be revived, but was left with PTSD, severe anxiety, major depression, and a worse migraine than the one I had (64 days) when I was admitted to the hospital. After three days in the hospital I received prescriptions for very high doses of two different pain medications with dr orders to alternate between the two meds so that I was taking something every two hours. In hindsight I know that was the most wrong of wrongs, but at that time I just wanted the pain to quit. Fast forward through a failed suicide attempt, multiple doctors, a long stay in a mental health facility, a very difficult drug withdrawal; and six years later I’m finally on a completely different track of dealing with my migraines that doesn’t include any opiates. So all of the “addicts” didn’t set out to get high, some of us were literally led there by the people we trusted the most-our doctors. I hope you are not put in that situation again. Good luck to you!

    1. I am so sorry that happened to you!! I never meant to make it seem like all those who are addicted to pain pills or anything else for that matter did so by choice. As I commented above I am all to familiar with drug addiction as I lived it with my ex husband. I know he never meant to go down the road he did. But for him one thing led to another and another and before you knew it he was a full blown addict. I again apologize

  8. I would just like to note that addiction to narcotics is also an invisible illness and not a choice,, just like your illness.I’m so sorry that the hospital treated you this way. It’s very upsetting and undair. The system needs to create a way for those who need narcotic pain medicine to be able access it.

    1. You are correct, I am all to familiar with addiction due to my ex husband being an addict. I am sorry If I made it seem that way. I didn’t not mean to by any stretch of the word. So for that I apologize!!

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