Untreated Cancer Pain a ‘Scandal of Global Proportions,’ Survey Shows

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23. This is just terrible

Especially in cases of terminal cancer. This subject is very close to home for me.


You've got the DEA breathing down doctor's necks, so many people either not medicated or under medicated, then when you are given them for pain over an extended period, instead of weaning you off the drug so the withdrawals aren't so bad they cut you off, again afraid the DEA will go after doctors for prescribing to an addict or dependent person. Guess what happens when doctors cut people off? Some will go to the streets to get the drug. The DEA have not helped this problem by making people decide to suffer pain and withdrawals or break the law. You are always better off to have your drugs managed by a competent doctor than a drug dealer. I suffer from chronic pain, but I can't get anything. When I lived in England, my doctor gave me what I needed and I had no problems and my quality of life was so much better. I came back home and couldn't get anything and I have been suffering since. I was dependent, but not addicted, hence why I never went to the street. I just suffer and have a horrible quality of life because I don't want to break the law, just because some people abuse them and society deems it now unacceptable to help your pain, even if you did so responsibly.

However, not everyone has the willpower I have, or they are addicted. So they go out and buy drugs off the street which could end up killing them - heroin being purer in some batches than others which ends up an overdose because they didn't know what purity it was. You could buy OxyContin, but how do you know they are actually selling that to you? It could be rat poison for all you know. Then you take the chance on getting arrested or be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up dying by a gunshot wound because your drug dealer was involved in a turf war with another or something like that. You have to associate with some pretty shady people which is dangerous in itself.

Too many regulations on prescription drugs and the drug war on street drugs has done nothing to curb addiction, if not make it worse. It's always going to be a problem unless we deal with it in a better, smarter way. Helping those dependent or addicted instead of cutting them off would be a start. Believe me when I weaned off the drug, the withdrawals were much more tolerable than if I had stopped taking them at the dose I was on. Now doctors don't even want to cooperate with that. They just wash their hands of you. Responsible people end up suffering and all the while the addicts are still going to get heroin or OxyContin no matter what. People are always going to do stupid shit that can get them killed. Some people are alcoholics, but we can still buy alcohol everywhere. Oh but an essential pain med for chronic pain or palliative care? Forget about it. We even have some places more open minded about pot, but chronic pain sufferers who either find pot doesn't help their pain, they get bad effects from it or it's not legal - it's just too bad.

Once you understand why you become dependent/addicted to opiates, it makes perfect sense as to why it happens. There are ways to treat this issue but doctors feel like they can't do so adequately without putting their license to practice and their livelihoods at great risk.

My dad has severe arthritis in his hip (it's bone on bone now), he needs a replacement but it could be a while due to another health issue that needs to be resolved before he can have the op, in the meantime he's under medicated and miserable from the pain. This is not acceptable.