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LadyEllen -> RE: chronic pain discovery (8/2/2006 7:31:51 AM)
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Hi All
Well, I have had ankylosing spondylitis (AS) for the last twenty years now. Its a very painful form of arthritis where all the cartilage between the spinal vertebrae from top to bottom are gradually turned to bone, leaving the sufferer in the worst cases with a permanent forward stoop, severely reduced movement, and still in pain. It also spreads through the ribs, causing pain in breathing, and the hips and shoulders, further inhibiting movement. There is no cure so treatment consists of anti-inflammatories along with exercises to maintain as much movement as possible. When the pain becomes too much, I use dihydrocodeine painkillers, which are addictive and on which one becomes reliant - unless one likes withdrawal (imagine the worst hangover you ever had, plus the worst flu you ever had and multiply by two!).
The thing about pain is that it is the body's warning system that something is injuring it. "Good pain" alerts us to injury so we can do something to solve it. Chronic pain such as I have though is useless - there is nothing I can do to prevent or solve the injury - it is purely pain, 24/7 for extended periods. I make no apology for using whatever drugs I need therefore, to lessen the pain and to enable me to live a normal life. Without them, I'd likely have committed suicide as a means of escape from it by now.
I'm lucky in that my GP prescribes me what I need, and what I'm prescribed mainly keeps it under control aside from the odd flare-up when I turn from the wicked queen in Snow White into the aged and bent crone alter ego she uses to give Snow White the poisoned apple!
However, there is now a great reluctance in the UK on the part of GPs to prescribe what is needed, following the case of Dr Harold Shipman - a GP who killed hundreds of his patients with morphine. The result of that has been that GPs are now monitored as to what they are prescribing. The needs of the law are more important than the needs of the patient, basically, in the same way as they are when it comes to really serious pain such as in terminal cancer - the resources are there for people to die without pain and in dignity, but thousands die in agony over extended periods all the time, for fear of accusations of euthanasia and a prison sentence for murder.
If only these politicians and lawmakers knew what serious, long term pain is. I guess the problem is though, that anyone suffering like that is presumed written off from the start so there's no need to listen to them? Factor in that many such sufferers are aged and thus lack much influence in our society, and that being in pain and on painkillers, sufferers are assumed to be "deranged" by their side-effects and so cannot be trusted to give true testimony (and "hopefully" will die soon too), sufferers have little chance to make a case.
And then, and then - we have certain church influences ensconced unelected in our legislature, who insist that adequate palliative care and euthanasia are playing god. Regardlesss of sufferers' wishes, these people deny the right to dignity in a way that suggests that pain is somehow spiritually valuable. If such is the case, then I must be a saint! Equally I would be more than happy to assist any such bishop in coming closer to his god by imparting such pain to him that such proximity might be achieved! I do note however, the lack of self flagellation employed in the church these days...........
Chronic pain is useless. It is the job of the GP to make life liveable as far as possible with it. It is the job of the church (if it does have one) to assist in its relief by serving sufferers, not preaching platitudes to them. It is the job of politicians and lawmakers to enable both through realistic appraisal and treatment of the subject - one rogue GP should not mean that sufferers are left with inadequate relief, and outdated attitudes inherited from a foreign culture should not mean that sufferers and GPs are forbidden to end it all in the right circumstances.
E
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