“To Whom It May Concern,
I am a licensed medical professional who was working in Rheumatology when all the opioid rules changed.
The damage done to these patients who were in DIRE need of pain control is irreparable and most of those I had to cut off and send to pain clinics, were then treated SO TERRIBLY and accused of being a drug seeker? Well, a lot of those people are now gone and suffered terribly by not being adequately treated or even treated humanely, as they once were, as they contorted and shriveled in pain to their demise at the hands of “officials” making decisions for all based on data from drug abuse from these same drugs without consideration of those in actual need. FOR SHAME! Lumping all into one. Deciding for all because abuse by some dictates that well then,,,,aren’t these “bad drugs?” NO! And strict guidelines by an agency that I truly admire, that frighten doctors into NOT treating patient’s pain as they once DID and should STILL be so that many doctors, including my own, opted to retire knowing the government would not allow them to actually help their patients any longer at the risk of losing their licenses!!! My doctor did not want to retire but she also did not want to NOT be able to “doctor!” The federal government has lost many great docs because of making rules without knowing or considering patient’s needs. Other doctors would however, take their place, send them to pain clinics and call it a day. These negative affectations about pain are not overly attractive because pain is not overly attractive and destroys people’s lives. These are throw-away patients now. Most of them do not seek out help now because they have been turned down so many times and made to feel “less than” because they must live with pain so extreme it has broken them where they can longer work, no longer dress themselves, cook, drive, feed, sleep, think and seemingly, simply exist, in a loop of pain, until they succumb, one way or another…..and there IS medicine.
But you, the patient, cannot have it now, even if it has been prescribed and has helped tremendously before, if the doctor prescribes it or what others may think is too much, the doctor will get in trouble or be reviewed or lose their license….and the patient is obviously a “druggie.”
Again….FOR SHAME.
Now let’s move on to alternative drugs being given instead of the appropriate opioid treatment without fear of retribution or labeling…..go ahead,,,,say it!
Opioid treatment without fear of retribution or labeling! Doesn’t that feel good!? Like a breath of fresh air! Was that the sound of HOPE!?
I absolutely could, and WOULD, go into every NON-applicable drug that has been thown into the gammit of attempted nonapplicable/ nonappropriate
treatment options given to patients to keep doctors out of trouble and give it the old “let’s see if this one works therapy. I know because I was forced to write srcipts for probably every one of them for patients who simply wanted to continue their current therapy that was being fine-tuned or was working or at least working well enough to keep them a functional part of society. I was the bad guy, the doctor was the bad guy, the patients calling in tears or in so much pain begging for their prior prescriptions that our office could no longer give. Many times I explained about the new guidelines that even I did not agree with and I soon left this practice for a teaching position. It was an opportunity, but it was also a chance to get out of the line of fire the CDC had created. Like many great doctors, I retired from medical rather than not be able to help with the correct treatment, the correct meds, the correct mindset about good patient care and working to assure the best possible outcomes. This ability was taken away by the federal government by way of the CDC by taking the voice away from the patient and giving it over to an agency that doesn’t know them, recognize their needs, or treat with appropriate medicine without fear of retribution or labeling.
Just one mention however, Gabapentin is the WORST and is being used the most. It is a radiculopathic drug – radicul/o = spinal nerve root, and the thinking here is that if the pain can be stopped at the nerve root it will not travel or possibly even occur beyond this point in the patient. This is so wrong and in the elderly population this drug is extremely dangerous, yet doctors continue to prescribe it because “it’s all they have left.” The options for the doctor to treat appropriately are no longer available, the patient suffers and loses faith. This leads to a very downward spiral in some instances.
Did anyone at the CDC really think the same treatment, categorization, thoughtless care and consideration from a government agency who seems to think patient outcomes are unimportant?
Please think again.”
Filed under: General Problems
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