The Stigma (Part 2)

peThe New Drug Crisis: Addiction By Prescription
This was an article in this month's Time Magazine. Imagine my surprise (insert sarcasm).
It is these one sided 'news stories' that give the public the ammunition they need to have the stigma over pain patients, especially those who take opiate medications for pain relief. There was nothing in the article that talked about patients who take the medication responsibly. There was no mention of alternative treatments for chronic pain. Just some fancy charts, a list of celebrities who have overdosed, and the stories of a select few individuals whom have had bad experiences.

Now, we could all get mad at Time for writing and publishing crappy article, but that really wouldn't get much accomplished. There are actually clinics that practice such measures, and patients that abuse the system.

My suggestion- they mention a Governor who was in a quest against such practices. If you want to get to the root of the problem, climb to the top-
Governor Charlie Crist of Florida signed a law 'preventing felons from opening clinics and hiring doctors to write prescriptions'. Find leaders like this in your area, or nationally, that you think will listen to you, or have an interest on pain management, pain rights, RSD, whatever.
That is why we vote, and pay for them to be in office, so they will make a change in our lives.

It can happen. You probably wonder why I am so passionate about this. I know it can happen. My grandmother was just a nurse in a nursing home. Back then, patients were tied to their wheelchairs without the permission of the family (or other health care proxy), and left in a corner, because it was more convenient. One day her father looked at her, and asked her if she was her daughter, or her jail keeper.
That set a spark in her, and she drafted the 'Untie the Elderly Program'. The law was passed. She traveled the country, and taught some elderly care facilities the new law, and that Elderly men and women should not be treated like little children, but adults.

I guess you could say she has passed that spark on to me. I believe we all deserve to be treated as humans. It only takes a few minutes to write your voted representation, and that is their job.