Living in hell-but you are still on earth!!

I am at the point now, when I start a post I usually go through a series of emotions. Who in the hell wants to read about PAIN? Sometimes when I try to write, I become angry when I look back at my life, I think back to the day of my accident. Sometimes I just sit and look a my computer screen. Finally I turn it off, lay my head down and cry. It is becoming increasing harder to write about pain when you are suffering so much. I don't know what drives me anymore.

I don't seem to ever be satisfied with what I have written about Chronic Pain. Often I will see a story on T.V., but its always about the addict and those terrible narcotics. I watched a story on Fox news a couple of days ago. It was about school kids and and the majority of kids said they gained access to their parents prescription drugs. Something is wrong with this story. Where in the hell did their parents get so many opioid and opiate type drugs, that they could just leave them lying around in their medicine cabinets.

When I hear unsubstantiated stories like this from the news media, I go into a rage.
They don't know or understand because for whatever reason this is the position of all of the news media. As for as that goes the general public have the same attitude.
If you take any of the powerful drugs, you are a drug addict. That is simply not true. Unfortunately, it has to strike close to home or to the person themselves before they really understand what a pain epidemic we have in this country. It takes only a split second to go from a happy active person to a vegatible that relies on this powerful pain medication to sustain life.

There is not a day of my life that I don't feel like taking my 40 Cal. automatic pistol that is loaded with hollow point rounds and sticking it in my mouth. The only thing that has stopped me is my faith in Christ, the love of my family and last I really don't want to die. Everyone has a breaking where they can't stand it any more. The suicide rate in this country is 5 times higher for people in chronic pain versus people who are not. So Please, to all of the politicians, DEA, and doctors out there. There are over 75 million of us are suffering this agonizing pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All we want is a life, not to sit around getting adicted to drugs. We are citizens of this great country also and should be afforded the same right to life in peace as everyone else.

The "News Media" plays a large role in the undertreatment of Chronic Pain

Whether it is bias or just chasing and over sensationalizing a story, the "news media" plays a very large role in the undertreatment and stigmatizing of chronic pain. Whether it is some celebrity, someone in sports, etc. that is all you see and hear. For example All we have heard for weeks is Anna Nichole Smith and Methadone, Britney Spears, or some other "quote" famous person going into rehab. for some type of drug abuse treatment. You can almost change channels on the big three news networks and never skip a word. If the DEA has a drug bust, you hear that over and over.

I have personally sent e-mails to John Gibson and Bill O'Rielly of Fox news and ask them to do a piece on the undertreatment of chronic pain in America. I didn't even get an answer to my e-mail. I guess it isn't sensational enough.

Again I am not advocating using powerful pain medication except when an individual has exausted surgery and ever other means and still is in unrelenting pain. Of course in my case, the failed surgeries are the reason for my battle for chronic pain.

I also realize that there is a drug problem in many of our high schools. I am a grand father of three children and I watch them like a hawk for any indications of drug use.

My own primary care Dr. told me a few months ago that I would not believe the people that came to his office argueing with the office personal about pain medication. He never did clarify if those people were in pain or were truly drug addicts. I said to him, what does that have to do with me? I am not the type of person that would ever do anything like that, nor would any true chronic pain sufferer. Basicly his practice is based on the fact that because of a few bad patients all pain patients should be treated the same way.

Again you never hear the media talk about both sides of the story. Its just the sensational stories, narcotics, addiction!! So with the exception of people like myself, who are continually researching chronic pain, the majority of the public believes the news media, because thats all they hear. What happens? Nothing. The "silent epidemic" goes on and it takes its toll on people. Many give in and take their lives. Some, like me, go on day after day fighting the establishment and all the time asking God why?