The Horrible Side-Effect of the War on Opioid Addiction

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40. Amen, MineralMan

Those medications allowed me to work full-time while taking care of my dad dying of ALS, nursing my mom through dementia, and my husband during his final fight with Type I DM. I've lived with incurable chronic severe pain down my right sciatic nerve since 1993. I was on Oxycontin & Fentanyl lolipops for breakthrough pain for almost 20 years until I retired. Retiring allowed me to dial back my pain meds to the point where I don't have to take either one of them anymore.

They were lifesavers. Without them, I would've either been curled up on my couch in the fetal position 24/7, sobbing, looking for relief on the street, or, more likely, I would've ended the pain myself, permanently. The DEA is going after legitimate doctors along with the charlatans much to the detriment of legitimate pain patients, forcing doctors to prescribe dangerous anti-seizure drugs & NSAIDs instead of the much-safer opioids. When I didn't need those strong meds anymore, my doctor tapered me off of them over a month & I experienced no withdrawal symptoms and no desire to take either of them. The pain must've soaked up the meds because I don't remember ever feeling "high" while taking them.

I'm afraid what people desperate for pain relief will do if the appropriate medications are denied them. Most likely just end the pain permanently and they will be the biggest victims of this "war."