Pain Pain Go Away....

So I had to call the doctor the other day to renew my pain medication prescription. I hate doing it because I can't help but feel like I am being judged.  I am extremely lucky in having a doctor who understands that I do have chronic daily pain and the medical need to control it.

 But not all doctors are that way and many folks like me, who deal with diseases like Crohns which are extremely painful, unfortunately suffer and only get relief when we get so bad we have to head into the emergency room and even then, we usually get treated with doubt about our level of pain. As if we are coming in only to get a fix of pain meds. Sadly, there are people who take advantage in order to get pain meds which in turn hurts those of us who genuinely need to get some pain relief.

In this society, its sad to think that because we take pain medication, many will automatically label us as addicts. 

Let me clarify a few things. 

I am in pain every single day of my life. Its real. Its horrible and it can be debilitating. Have you ever had one of those large, white ulcers in your mouth that no matter what you do, just hurts until it goes away? Well imagine those 100 times worse from one end of your digestive tract to the other. Open, weeping, bleeding, infected sores. Inside your body. Now, remember how it feels to have the flu? The body aches, the joint pain, the chills with the fever? The all over bone deep tired that no amount of sleep can fix? Well, take that and multiply it by 100 and there you have every day of my life.

Now. Tell me I don't need pain medication? Sure, I would really rather NOT take it. As it is, I take a very low dose of a non-addictive opiate that just takes the worst of the pain off so I can still function but doesn't give me total relief. See? I still feel the need to explain and justify myself even in my own blog!! 

Having pain every day, day after day, week after week, is damaging to your body, it effects the heart, the muscles, your blood pressure and your mental health. My doctor understands the need to treat the WHOLE body and mind. Along with my Crohns medications, and my pain medication, I take a anti-spasmodic for the gut, extreme doses of antacids, and anxiety meds because along with everything that happens to my body from this disease, it also effects my mind and my panic attacks became so bad I actually had what they called a "cardiac event". 

So, before you immediately roll your eyes, or judge someone who is on regular pain medication, know that for every real addict out there, there are also real people suffering real pain from real diseases.