Do I want to take pain medications? The simple answer is no. Just like I don’t want to take any of the medications I am prescribed. But equally I know that those same drugs keep me functioning. That without them I would not be able to write this post, or stand, or walk the few steps to my toilet. Similarly, adequate pain control gives me the ability to drive 3 hours to the city for my medical appointments and to sit on the couch with my family without tears. But access is complex. And there is a pervasive idea of the drug-seeker, seen in every patient who has chronic pain. That those who simply don’t get over pain and require ongoing pharmaceutical management are weak. Friends who have used pain clinics tell stories of dismissal and blame. That they are not trying hard enough when they don’t recover, when I know the lengths they have gone to to try and alleviate their pain. And compassionate pain doctors who become the exception not the rule.
“When ‘Suck it Up’ Becomes the Only Pain Treatment You Are Offered” (via chronic-illness-support)
“And compassionate pain doctors who become the exception not the rule.”
And in the background you can hear 10 able-bodied people asking ‘can’t you just go to your doctor and ask for some pain pills? They’re giving them out like candy these days…”
(via thisisableism)
Oh how I identify with most of this but wish I didn’t have to!
sat n' all that 