Sad thing. I was in the Pain Management doc's office for my post herpetic (shingles) pain and

[CTyankee]

there are all these poor souls with more pain than me. One poor man, who could barely stand, staggered in, collapsed in a chair and literally passed out, mumbling. The lady next to me said that the people there are just there to get their pain pill prescriptions and get out. She complained that people like her, who had real pain, were being shoved aside by the dopers.

I don't know what happened to the guy in the chair. The lady next to me said "He's high."

OMG, these poor people...

[Egnever]

1. I have a real problem

The rest of you are dopers. Said every republican ever.

[virgogal]

3. I know Republicans and they are not at all accusatory---they have the

same problems as everyone else and much tolerance for others.

Some are asses,sure,but idiots are all over the place.

[jberryhill]

2. That was YOU?

If I'd known, I would have said hello first.

[CTyankee]

6. I woud have helped you if I could. I know you are being light hearted but I felt for the guy...

[appleannie1]

4. My daughter is a nurse. She says over half of the people begging for pain meds

are addicts but that is an illness too. You cannot force them to go into an addiction treatment facility. They have to want to do that themselves. So all you can do is monitor them and only give them meds when it is time for them to have them and not before because you cannot say they don't have pain. And also watch that they don't walk out with an IV in place.

The bad thing is they usually want constant attention and that takes nurses away from critical patients.

[loyalsister]

5. The response to opioids and heroin is an overcorrection

and people are suffering. There has to be a better way! These drugs can be and are frequently used responsibly. US drug policy makers need to grow up and stop scapegoating.

[CTyankee]

7. I know, but this gets into "these dopers are getting in the way of my REAL pain" and that is

a whole different conversation, which is what I had with this lady.

Why don't we have a conversation about what is pain? Aren't the addicts also in pain?

[loyalsister]

8. Good points

I think that addiction should be managed medically. A person gets hooked on heroin, set them up with a doctor who will provide morphine and administer it with more safety than they would on their own. In that case, I would think it might be possible for a person to maintain a functional addiction.
On the other hand, it's clear that addictions can lead to serious maladaptation. If that is the case, maybe a person should be encouraged to think about what they could do differently.

There are not easy answers, but we are obviously not doing the best we can for people who are directly affected.