I am a chronic pain patient with very bad disease in my spine for 10 yrs now. My spine has been seriously diseased for 30 years. When ever I go to an emergency room, no matter the hospital, I am treated with covert & overt behaviors, questions, and attitudes which presume I am there for drugs to become intoxicated.

I have experienced this dismissal of my real pain, real injuries, real illnesses, & emergency life threatening experiences.

I am expressing this now because, even though the attitude at this visit was minimal compared to some of the abuse from the medical community I have endured before, it was still obvious to me that all of the medical professionals who treated me on this particular visit were behaving with the same overt/covert assumption I was just there for pain medication.

I could hear them speaking of it outside my room. I was asked strange questions like, " what is this small scab on my wrist?" ( I assume it could have looked like a needle mark)

I am a sober alcoholic for 22 years now, however was never an I.V. user nor addicted to any drugs. Because this honesty is in my records I am treated with absolute abusive reactions, behaviors, statements, & dismissed & abandoned when I am in real severe pain, & even life threatening situations.

The pain I am treated for on a regular daily basis is obvious & medically proven with several M.R.I.'s throughout a 30 year length of time. ( Chronic for 10 years now.)

I have a real problem with the way the American Medical community is treating people with severe chronic pain. I have my own & other peoples horror stories which would turn any sane & empathetic human's stomach sour.

It is acceptable to treat terminal patients with chronic pain for their comfort & last days of quality of life. Yet... it is not acceptable to treat people such as myself who must continue to live day after day, year after year, decade after decade, so that we may live with some small percentage of comfort from our pain, and possibly experience a very small percentage of quality of the life we used to enjoy.

I am attempting to write this simply because in the last decade of severe, worsening daily pain, I have been abused by the very persons I am suppose to be able to go to for help with my health which effects my quality of life experience.

The supposed, " War on Drugs," & the process our country & even some Doctors have agreed upon as a solution to the problems we are encountering with drug abuse, & illegalities involved have some very good points of action.

However; the majority of what has been the result of this, "War on Drugs," & the procedures put in place to attempt to resolve the unnecessary deaths from over dose of legally prescribed pain medications has done just about nothing.

Good Doctors & deserving patients are being persecuted with no reason. The bad Doctors & not deserving patients are still getting their medications to sell on the streets or get intoxicated with.

The real results of most of the procedures and new policies put in place for a solution have made the whole medical community insanely frightened to diagnose, trust, & treat their patients for fear of being persecuted by fake patients with false medical records.

And Me, the thousands of people like me, are abused in the worst way possible. We wouldn't allow our dogs, cats, or pets of any kind live with the kind of pain we allow our fellow human beings experience every minute of every day for years & years without end.

The 2nd atrocity, which I find to be very emotionally & mentally abandoning & abusive is the fact that one of the most sacred relationships of humanity, the relationship between Doctor & Patient has been compromised to the point where neither Doctor nor Patient can be completely honest with each other because of the severe consequences of doing so.

I cannot tell my doctor my pain medication is not working properly or well enough without my doctor having to wonder if I am telling him/her the truth. I cannot hear from my doctor everything going through his/her mind about solutions or possible diagnosis because he/she cannot be completely honest with me.

The consequences of this problem are not being felt by the people causing the problems, only by us the innocent people who are stuck in the middle of it all.

No other country in this world treats their medical patients nor medical professionals in this way. I know of American citizens leaving our country to find the proper medical care for themselves or their loved ones.

For God's Sake... This is America. The most powerful, & humanitarian embracing country in the world, unless you are experiencing an illness resulting in extreme, severe chronic pain, or you have no insurance to pay for your life threatening illness.

It is simple to find out who is taking their medication as prescribed, or who is not. There are tests which show these results. There are so many ways to resolve this problem without abusing and allowing people to suffer unnecessarily. Teach more than 1 hour in 8 years of education on the topic of pain, chronic pain, pain medications, safety, education for patients as well as the doctors.

This is not finished yet, but I am working on it. Any suggestions? Topics? Feelings? Your personal experiences?

I must finally put myself out there & be vulnerable so at least some voices will be heard thru my voice. I can no longer cower like an abused animal in the corner being dismissed ans abused by under treated pain.

In Love Light TRUTH & Service
Stubborn TerrieAnn