@Jeremy:

Yes, it is better if Chronic Pain patients can understand that it's Management and not Cure. If one can come to that understanding and work their life around a certain amount of livable pain, then things aren't quite as much turmoil each day.

As for the addicts and their drug usage, you watch shows like Intervention and you see some of those people taking 25 or 30 Vic's or Norco's at a time, and it's like, how do they even move, or wald, or just wake up?? It's insane...its, its own brand of insanity and I'm not sure that anything anyone does will ever effect it. Drug abuse has been around since forever...and when you make 1 drug harder to get, addicts always seem to find another that's easy to get. In the 1800's it was Opium, then Poppy seeds; the Salem Witch Trials were largely caused by people's exposure to certain natural growing medicinal fungi and opiates; kids now days are getting high off of Nutmeg...Nutmeg for Christ's sake? Who the hell grabbed a bottle of Nutmeg, thought, hey if I snort a bit of this will it give me a buzz, and then became addicted to it because it did...it's insane.

Life is what it is, addicts will find a way to get high, regardless of what pharmaceutical companies do to pills or Governments do to the Rules. I don't waste too much time thinking about that which I cannot control.

I don't worry about my Dr. changing things up on me, she's been my Dr. for almost 18 yrs. now and we have a very good relationship. We're very good at talking through things and coming up with the best solution. I don't like the meds I take, and I take the bare minimum and rarely make any changes...because I have to take so many other drugs, every change I make to 1 med affects all of how the others work. Managing 22 medications isn't easy or fun. And when you're BiPolar and you have a cocktail that works, you don't change that, ever...unless you just have to.

Unfortunately sometime life just sucks and there's not a way to make it better.