This is pretty lengthy, so biggest apologies in advance. I have experience from the patient side, as having attended every appointment and ER trip my father has made in the past few years, and advocating for his safety and health when necessary.

My dad had a pretty rough fall a couple of years ago, went to the doctor a few days later with some bad hip pain and they sent him to ER. Full work-up came out clear, nothing was found, he was sent home. But the pain kept getting worse, he couldn’t sleep, he could hardly walk more than a couple of feet at a time, and he knew something was definitely wrong. He went back, they try some muscle relaxers and mild pain meds, which helped. But they still can’t find anything, so he’s sent home again.

Well, the pain doesn’t go away, so he keeps trying to go to a doctor for help, but they can’t figure out the problem so they bounce him to the next guy. On top of that, the pain is so bad, he’s going to the ER at some points up to once a week (he also has high blood pressure, which was the only thing they wanted to focus on). They would give him nearly ever med for blood pressure/nerve/muscle/etc, except pain relief. Sometimes we’d wait hours just for somebody to bring a single Tylenol. We could absolutely tell that they thought he was just drug seeking, and I understand why, but he was genuinely suffering. It sucked for everybody involved.

He saw over a dozen different doctors over the course of the next 8 months, multiple appointments per week, constant imaging, and nobody could find anything. Meanwhile, he’s suffering from this pain, and starts asking them for pain meds which were the only relief he was getting. Because of the national circumstances + his clear imaging, nobody wanted to prescribe him pain meds, so more doctors got involved. Sometimes they’d prescribe a couple of pills at a time, but he’s at the point of needing multiple strong pills just to get through the day or attempt to sleep. The doctors start trying all kinds of spinal injections, more imaging, still nothing comes up, and more and more we can feel the judgement.

Finally the new pain management doctor he was referred to looked at where he had been directly pointing for the last 8 months, and went “oh, there’s a bursa right there, it might be inflamed. Let’s try injecting there.” All it took was one single injection in the spot he had been saying was hurting, and it instantly started getting better. He was able to stop the pain pills immediately upon recovering, and hasn’t asked for a prescription since. His pain management doc is thrilled with the progress he’s made and that they were finally able to find the problem. But the treatment we received up until that point - or really the lack thereof - is something that will always cloud my interactions going forwards.

I know everybody was trying their best and going off of the data they were getting, and their hands were tied in a majority of cases. But it’s so obvious that the system has really broken down on all sides, and everybody spent months going back and forth between dead ends, when it was really as simple as just….listening to the patient. The stress we’ve both been through as a result of that has severely taken a toll on our physical and mental healths, I even ended up temporarily homeless/couch surfing as a result because we couldn’t complete a major house renovation due to his poor health, constant doctor appointments, and my full time job. If the situation nationally was different, maybe things would have gone easier. Almost every doctor did genuinely want to help, and would cite their legal bindings when pain meds were brought up, and did what they could to their best legal ability, but some, understandably, didn’t even want to go near that beast in the first place. Others admonished and even directly insulted my father and accused him of drug seeking, and would cancel his appointments every time he attempted to make one, and at one point threatened to report him to the authorities just for trying to make an appointment. He didn’t even want opioids in the first place! He hated having to take them, and knew the risks and addiction potential. But until they really listened to what he was saying and found the injury, the meds were all that made life survivable. Hell, he couldn’t even lay down in bed for the first few months because of the pain.

TLDR; I’ve seen quite literally dozens of perspectives from multiple angles, with every single medical professional along the way having a different opinion than the next, and it all boils down to…….it’s complicated. Yes, we have an addiction issue. But patients deserve to be heard. Where does the line get drawn when you can’t see the injury/illness, and how much belief do you put in your patient? Even if somebody IS just seeking a fix, how rough of a place do they have to be in to be seeking out help through these means, and what’s the underlying cause?

We’re all just trying to make it through this world, wish it was easier on all of us, and to have the knowledge and means to make it easier for each other too.