Pain

Chronic pain is such a hot button topic right now.  You have law makers passing very strict regulations on the types and amounts of pain medicines that can be prescribed by your doctor (CNN article), pharmacies refusing to honor prescriptions that are written (Walgreen's scandal), and people all over the country divided on the topic.  For me it is a very personal issue.  Because of Cushing's disease I live my life in chronic, daily pain.  I do not take a lot of pain medication myself because I have adverse side effects to most medication, but on the days where the pain is just not tolerable I rely on narcotic and opiod medications to make it through the day.  And it can be a humiliating experience being in a hospital ER with pain; I can not tell you the amount of times I have been treated like a drug addict when asking for my pain to be adequately managed.  I utilize alternative therapies, homeopathic remedies, and most of the time just deal with it.  But it shouldn't have to be this way.  I think we have done a disservice in our country right now by labeling the majority of people who utilize pain medication as addicts instead of having the more difficult conversations about things like addiction and chronic illness.  But that of course would be messy, so much easier to write a law and wipe our hands clean.  I wish it were that easy.