Colorado Citizen Press Forward: We thought it important to share this letter submitted to us in order to generate a discussion regarding the negative effects of big government in people’s everyday lives. We hear about the opioid crisis more often than not these days, but this letter offers a view of pain and the opioid epidemic that is rarely covered. Please take the time to read through this letter, and provide a respectful response in the comments below.
From: Megan Broschat
The opinions expressed in “Letters to the Citizen Press” are the author’s own and do not represent the views of ColoradoCitizenPress.com.
I would like to submit my story of how I have been affected by the harmful blanket policies applied by insurance, pharmacies, medical associations, providers, CDC, FDA, and the DEA.
My life changed in an instant. I was doing well managing my pain, hopes, work, friends, family and treatment plans. Right after an 8 level spinal fusion through the pelvis, I started experiencing the fallout. It took nearly 2 weeks to control my pain in the hospital and I was expected to be in severe pain for around 3-6 months and moderate up to a year and a half. I couldn’t get my discharge script and it took months to sort out the new policies, the worst months of my entire life.
I’ve not recovered from my surgeries and at first, I was managing with pain meds, every other treatment my insurance would approve and physical therapy. As time went on my pain became more uncontrolled, we were out of treatments and I’d lost my home and my ability to work. I’m still fighting to get through every hour and my doctor is refusing to take the advice of my pain management providers and wanting to treat me with medication used to treat addiction because she wants to reduce her odds of being sanctioned by the DEA or losing her license.
We are both suffering under the immense weight of policies that were designed to treat addicts and illegal drug users, not pain, cancer and post OP patients. It’s difficult to keep track of all those who have resorted to suicide and passive suicide due to undertreated pain; those we lost from withdrawal from abrupt tapering or abandonment.
My story is mild compared to others, but still I suffer immensely and struggle with suicidal ideation and trying to talk myself into hanging on one more day because I am fighting not just for myself but for everyone impacted; from patients to animals, veterans and providers to the taxpayers we burden and our loved ones who are struggling watching us in agony and having to care for us.
The media has refused to air and publish the devastating effects because it goes against the original agenda and they don’t want to admit they were wrong. I am hoping that you can help us change this dynamic so that we are seen and heard instead of ignored and hidden. This is a matter of life and death.
The medical associations have updated their publications and recommendations, but the policies and stigma are still in place. Providers are losing their livelihoods, families are losing their loved ones, and patients are losing every facet of their lives. The opioid hysteria has given way to a pain crisis and a suicide epidemic. I truly hope you can help us. Let me know if you are willing to accept my documented story (this is only a piece of what I’ve been experiencing the last 2 years) and if there is anything else I can do to help. Thank you!
Megan Broschat is one of our readers, who reached out to us to publish her personal story. If you are interested in submitting a letter for publication, please submit through our Citizen Tip Line at this link: Tip Line. We reserve the right to edit anything submitted for grammar, content, and length.
Your story is the story of millions in chronic and intractable pain. There is a genocide against both patients and the doctors who dare to treat them. The suffering thus far has been incalculable. I personally was force-tapered, then cut off completely as soon as the 2016 CDC Guidelines came down. My health and ability to function and have a reasonable quality of life continue to diminish drastically. I can now no longer even secure appropriate post-operative care after major orthopedic surgeries. This has led to ER visits and complications post-op that resulted in re-hospitalizations. This is NOT acceptable patient care! And denying patients ethical and appropriate care, does NOTHING to stop the illegal drugs and overdoses on the street. The two issues are not even related. Data has proved this again and again, despite the lies spewed every day to the contrary. The CDC Guidelines were never based in either good medicine or scientific fact. They must be repealed in their entirety and acknowledged for the failure that they are, and the terrible harms they have caused.
As is so common with any government dictated “solution”, the hamfisted response to an epidemic of ILLICIT users, dealers and related mayhem targets the LAW-ABIDING instead.
The fat, fist of Federal force is destroying many innocent patients dealing with severe post-operative pain by preventing docs from rendering effective pain control.
For once, can’t the lawmakers’ focus their savior complex on those committing crimes; illicit use and dealing in controlled substances?
Why must they always respond by harming those who have nothing to do with the problem?
Oh, wait…I get it. The people causing the problem don’t follow laws.
Meanwhile…
Chronic Pain Patients (CPPs) are being forced to taper or simply cut off of their prescription pain medications everyday. Post-op surgery patients are being instructed to take Tylenol. Terminal cancer patients are dying in agony. This is happening because the government & the media are pushing an “opioid epidemic” that, in reality has little to do with prescription pain medication. The reality is there is a Heroin & illicit Fentanyl overdose problem in this country. The CDC Guidelines, released in 2016, were full of invalid data & were never intended to include CPPs.
The AMA & the HHS has recently come out & said as much. We must advocate for ourselves. We must advocate for others. We must advocate for our Veterans! We must advocate for our Law Enforcement Officers! All CPPs must get involved in some way. We must fight the media perpetuated belief that anyone who takes pain medication will become an addict. It simply isn’t true. Prescribing has decreased, overdoses have increased. Meanwhile CPPs are suffering & many have chosen suicide rather than live in untreated constant pain. Get involved because if it hasn’t happened to you or someone you love yet, it will. We must fight back!
~Kelley Gaffney~
As we all know pain patients are suffering and many have past on from untreated pain from the government inhumanly torture on the honest pain patients that did nothing wrong because of the ones abusing drugs from out of this country making there way to America how many more will die from by being not properly treated Is this America are soldiers fought for to suffer in the hands of are government I don’t think so it’s so corrupt torturing their own people when is it ever going to get right enough damage has been done it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out they all know darn well what’s they are doing putting harm on their own people that protects there evil asses
I was ripped from a career I loved, a NICU RN, in 2003, due to an invisible, incredibly painful condition known as Myofascial Pain Syndrome. I have tried every treatment possible, so much so, that I had to file banckruptcy early on. Chronic pain takes a toll on one’s life, that only those that walk in those shoes can understand….. physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, financially, etc. Altho I was unable to work, and was placed on disability, I had “some” semblance of life on prescription narcotic pain medication. I’ve been under the care of a pain management Dr every month since that time. I have always been a compliant, responsible patient. Since the imposed CDC guidelines, my life is frequently confined to my bed. It is a sad, lonely life to live anyway, but to then be treated like criminals, is unconscionable! We are not criminals! The real war on drugs is on the streets, esp with heroin and illicit Fentanyl. The prescriptions have gone down, but the deaths of overdose are rising. How does any of this make sense…. that WE too are to blame? Something has GOT to change. The suicide rate in our community is on the rise. We need people to REALLY listen to our plight. Someday it may happen to you, or your loved one! We treat our pets with more dignity. Drug addicts take drugs to escape life…. pain patients take meds to enter life. I didn’t ask for my life to be ripped apart in my mid 40s. I had been maintained on the same dosage for yrs, that allowed me to at least have some good days, to spend with my family, son, and friends. Now people know that many functions I would like to attend, or even a part time job, are not an option. The pain management Drs are as much a victim is this nightmare. The years of training they’ve gone thru, is thrown down the drain, and are dictated by government entities. A few bad apples does not spoil the whole barrel! Our great country has many priorities and approaches askew. Not only have our medications that we need to function, are being taken away, but treatment modalities are too expensive for many of us, esp on disability. On the other hand Medicaid patients that can legitimately work, don’t even have to prove that they are trying to get a job, yet those of us that are once a productive member of society, pay out the ying yang for treatments, meds, etc. PLEASE HEAR US CRY!! This is not life. I will welcome death when it comes, as I’m living in hell right now!!
I as so many others had a life that was filled with working a job, travel, sports, family and friends. For us it all came to a screeching halt when the CDC 2016 guidelines came out.
Now patients are choosing death over life filled with pain, doctors are choosing to not treat their patients for fear of being terrorized by the DEA.
We have no chance to regain control over our lives because the FDA approved medications have been taken away from us. Insurance won’t pay for the FDA approved medications that the doctors are prescribed or the pharmacists are questioning why the doctors are writing these prescriptions and turning the doctors in!
This is sickening to me! I would not be able to work, take care of my house and family if I loose my FDA approved pain medications. I will loose everything I have worked for and have to apply for disability. I have lost so much due to my pain already!
I would choose to end my life rather then to exist in a bed in pain all day every day. My story is like millions of others. I did not ask to have pain, I did not ask to have to give up the things I love to do. This and the story’s of the millions of people should be told! Everyone is one accident away from being in chronic pain!
Johnna Magers
I as so many others had a life that was filled with working a job, travel, sports, family and friends. For us it all came to a screeching halt when the CDC 2016 guidelines came out.
Now patients are choosing death over life filled with pain, doctors are choosing to not treat their patients for fear of being terrorized by the DEA.
We have no chance to regain control over our lives because the FDA approved medications have been taken away from us. Insurance won’t pay for the FDA approved medications that the doctors are prescribed or the pharmacists are questioning why the doctors are writing these prescriptions and turning the doctors in!
This is sickening to me! I would not be able to work, take care of my house and family if I loose my FDA approved pain medications. I will loose everything I have worked for and have to apply for disability. I have lost so much due to my pain already!
I would choose to end my life rather then to exist in a bed in pain all day every day. My story is like millions of others. I did not ask to have pain, I did not ask to have to give up the things I love to do. This and the story’s of the millions of people should be told! Everyone is one accident away from being in chronic pain!
Johnna Magers
I’m so sorry you have to go through this inhumane treatment. This is a national crisis affecting millions in pain. My wife is affected too. She suffers intractable chronic pain from hEDS. She used to have a life when she was on sufficient rx pain medication to deal with the effects of the daily joint dislocations and joint damage. But she started to have to jump through unreasonable hoops to continue receiving the medication. Then in June of 2017 she was involuntarily reduced to a low dosage that did almost nothing for her. She has been bedridden from the pain ever since with no quality of life. What’s happened to her, you, and all of the other Americans living with pain, is a travesty cause by a completely unrelated illicit drug problem. Everyone has been lied to about “opioids being highly addictive” even when the government health agencies have already established that they are NOT. They’ve been lied to that the “opioid epidemic” started in doctors’ offices when there has been no evidence to show patients legitimately and responsibly using pain medication are the problem. They’ve been lied to about the number of overdoses being caused by prescription medication. But the damage has been done. How many CPP have committed suicide due to pain? How many more will? I don’t want my wife to become a part of that ever growing statistic.
I am a 61yr old female & have had my illness since a toddler but didn’t need pain medication therapy till 15yrs ago. The pain medication therapy had helped me to continue to be a productive citizen, I had always worked, had children & took care of the home. Because of the CDC guidelines I’ve been forced tapered even though I’ve already been a responsible & compliant patient with no issues with the medication or dosage. Since the tapper my pain is under treated, I no longer work, have become housebound, can’t sleep & have become depressed. My quality of life has greatly diminished.
I’ve followed the ups & downs of this so called “opioid crisis” & the media always portrays it as prescription medication when in fact it’s illegal drugs & heroin that is causing the od’s & deaths. The politicians & government are unwilling to see the truth because they all want to be part of the lawsuits against the pharmaceutical companies. The date & studies have proven that prescribed pain medication did not cause this crisis, does not lead to heroin & is safe when taken correctly & responsibly. Doctors are afraid to prescribe, are being persecuted by the dea, assets seized & doctors sent to prison because of this misleading crisis. Legitimate pain patients are suffering, some no longer want to live or their pain has been to much & they committed suicide.
It’s really ironic, my government inflicted this disease on my body 59yrs ago, a painful & crippling disease & now they are inflicting pain and misery upon me again.
Megan – I am truly sorry to hear about what you are having to deal with regards pain and all of the overly burdensome struggles you are having to navigate in order to attempt to secure some consistent & effective relief from your torment. Not only for what you are dealing with presently, but also for what you have already undergone and for the future obstacles that your health conditions present to your well-being. It is not fair nor is there any reasonable justification for your sustained suffering. I am also a chronic pain patient who is quasi-involved within Colorado’s chronic pain community. Based on first hand observations visually, personal experiences, and through discussions with co-CPPs – I can validate and accept your evaluation of the hardships that we endure with respect to consistent access to medication, stigmas, and governmental interference etc. as truthful and accurate. This issue is a complex one and due to that nature I cannot perform a fully conclusive analysis of the entire situation within a single comment. So, I would like to textually voice some observations and knowledge that I have regarding untreated and under-treated pain & other miscellaneous general thoughts that have come to mind when I read your article.
Here are a few of them below:
– Many of my friends and thousands of individuals across the state suffer from untreated and under-treated pain.
– Legal opiates are an effective treatment tool for many types of chronic and acute pain conditions when other forms of treatment have failed and/or are unsuccessful in providing suitable relief from sustained pain.
– Just because one doesn’t like the solution of pain management via pain medication doesn’t minimize its effectiveness in providing relief when prescribed and monitored by an appropriate licensed medical professional.
– Government agencies like the DEA and local enforcement entities cannot adequately control the flow and usage of illicit substances like heroin in many communities and therefore use the pain community as a scapegoat for its failures to tackle the heroin epidemic.
– Marijuana, acupuncture, NSAIDS, and other popular treatment options are not effective for everyone, and many if not most of us within the CP community do not receive and have genuinely exercised these and all other available treatment options for our conditions are find them to provide inadequate relief.
– ‘The government’ is overstepping its boundaries when it tells licensed prescribers how to prescribe pain medication to their patients except in extreme circumstances which should be flagged and reviewed.
– Pain medication is legal and serves a very important purpose. Heroin is an illicit substance with no place in our state.
– Physical dependency on pain medication is not the same thing as addiction.
Best wishes in your pursuit of relief and thanks to everyone who took the time to read my comment. Megan, you are in my prayers.
My life has been affected in a negative way due to government interference in the management of my intractable pain. I have been a model patient for 19 years and have a very good pain management team but because of the “opioid crisis,” I am now paying the price for others. I am being forcibly tapered from access to pain medication even though my doctors don’t think it is in my best interest medically. I can’t take much more, living with pain is no real life at all. I can’t interact with friends or family, garden, work, nothing. Why am I a target I did nothing wrong nor did my doctors? This is madness to treat people in pain with no regard or respect. Government has no place deciding what is best for me medically or what my quality of life should be.
Chronic legitimate medically documented pain is very real and affects millions of people in the U.S.. There are so many different types of pain and the ways it manifest itself it is impossible to script a one size fits all plan. There is a great need for opioid pain medications to be used to treat people that fall into certain categories appropriately. Many pain patients have done alternative treatments, have had surgical operations, physical therapy, and yet they may still need pain medication to function day to day. No one should have to choose between taking their life while dealing with physical pain and the mental torture of knowing there will not be any relief in site. We can not sit idly while people think about suicide when there are simple medications to treat them. I thought this was America
I too am a chronic pain sufferer and have been for several decades. I was able to have a good quality of life with holding several jobs, raising my children as a young widow, being involved in all my children’s activities, etc while my pain was treated adequately. A year ago, a doctor that had never seen me decided to call me an addict and treated me a such just because I took pain medication. I was forced off all my pain medications in a 4 day taper. Since then, my pain has been agonizing to say the least. I am now homebound most of the time and find it even hard to do daily tasks like bathing, grocery shopping, running a couple small errands, light housework etc. I can’t enjoy my grandchildren like I would like to because of my pain. Until being cut off all my pain medications, I didn’t know to the extent that the government was gone with this so called “Opioid Epidemic”. I do believe there is an Opioid Epidemic but that of illegal illicit fentanyl, heroin and other street drugs…NOT prescription pain medication taken by responsible patients. Our rights as citizens are being stripped from us and it is getting worse every day! My heart goes out to the drug addicts that need and want help…but my heart goes out to all of us suffering by the hands of our government that are and have been responsible with our medications. I and all the chronic pain patients are tired of be labeled and treated as addicts and criminals and being denied the medication that we need to have any quality of life. The government doesn’t have a medical degree or license so they should not be telling doctors who and with what they can treat us with. In my opinion, by them doing that, isn’t that malpractice? I’ve tried all the alternatives to pain relief and none have given me the relief that I had before my medications were cut off. I need surgery, but I’m not a candidate for because it’s too risky and could very easily result in death. Being told by the doctor that cut me off my medications that Tylenol will be adequate to handle my pain was a joke to say the least. Tylenol and acetaminophen can actually be more harmful to a person’s organs than pain medication. Without anything for pain, the stress is causing our bodies to shut down and others are choosing to end their suffering. I ask for people to start educating themselves on the real problem (illegal illicit drugs) and help to put an end to this madness. It’s only a matter of time before you are in our shoes living this nightmare. If you don’t think it will happen to you, think again. Chronic pain does not discriminate, everyone is only one accident or illness away. Please help us before you or a loved one are in this nightmare too!