Pain patients beg FDA for more options, easier access to opioids.
SILVER SPRING, Md. — One pain patient lay on the floor. Another leaned against the wall, easing her back. A third paced to and fro.
At this week’s Food and Drug Administration hearing on chronic pain, accommodations were at the forefront.
And the agency says it wants to be accommodating in other ways as it tackles the opioid crisis. Thus, a meeting was called simply to listen to people’s stories about their pain and how they may, or may not, handle it.
It was a room full of some very unhappy people.
“Suicide is always an option for us,” said Mariann Farrell of Pittsburgh, who says she has multiple conditions, including fibromyalgia and the post-herpetic pain that can linger after shingles. Farrell was one of several dozen people who traveled to the FDA’s headquarters outside Washington to ask the agency to ease restrictions that they say has made it harder for them to get opioids.
Sandra Flores, a former emergency room nurse from Tucson, Arizona, roused rounds of applause as she told of her repeated efforts to get opioid prescriptions for her pain. Flores said she was diagnosed with adhesive arachnoiditis, an inflammation of the membranes protecting the brain, spine and nerve endings.
“I am seeing the true face of medicine,” Flores said. “Now they are throwing me in the trash.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/americas-heroin-epidemic/pain-patients-beg-fda-more-options-easier-access-opioids-n890081
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I went to a support group and this person that was there has been relying on their spouse to take he/she to the doctor.
Well, seems this person's spouse is a puke and is now retired and does not care to spend any time taking the spouse to/from appointments.
The person that needs to go to the doctor every 30 days now for a face to fact appt. to get their meds refilled has given up. The person barked at me, "Pain? What pain?". The person is going through withdrawals and will never see that script again. 
If your care giver doesn't back you up you've got one hell of a problem. I suggested the person take a taxi to/from the monthly appt. but the puke spouse wants said person not to take any more opiates.
How 'effin sad is this anyway? Is this the same America I grew up in? What happened to "in sickness and in health" one should care to ask the spouse.
I seriously wonder how long the person going through withdrawals will last. It is a very serious illness that I share with said person and yes, the pain is VERY REAL.
Disgusting.
