Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2016
Source: Tennessean, The (Nashville, TN)
Copyright: 2016 Tim Morris
Contact: http://www.tennessean.com/SITES/OPINION/submit-editor.shtml
Website: http://www.tennessean.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447
Author: Tim Morris

PAINKILLERS A NECESSITY

Having read your articles on overdose and abuse of opioids, I had to 
wonder your aim in these reports and to notice that your advertisers 
were rehab and insurance companies.

To everyone who has lost a loved one to overdose, my sympathy, but to 
state that opioids are not an effective means of pain management for 
chronic pain is inconceivable. For the help that I experience through 
them, it is an oasis in an otherwise consistent sea of hurt.

Having lived through the 1980s and 1990s of toughing it out and 
taking an aspirin, suddenly pain was a concern I dealt with.

Now you are driven away from the doctor who knows you and your pain 
to a pain management clinic where you are made to feel like an addict.

Mark my words, as prescription medication becomes harder to get, look 
for an increase in not only illegal drug use, but also alcohol, which 
has its own repercussions.

Pain is a fact of life, and as my mother always said, "If you ain't 
hurting you ain't living."

Well, forgive me for looking for relief after working for 10 hours by 
taking half a pill so I can take care of my home chores.

Tim Morris, Springfield 37172 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D