13 Things to Never Say to People Who Suffer From Chronic Pain

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kat-gal/what-to-never-say-to-people-who-suffer-from-chronic-pain_b_7633418.html

Shirley Ann Fisk · Top Commenter · University of Oregon
6/23/15
5:47pm
Bronx
One doctor (who worked for an insurance company) told me that I’d feel better if I put on lipstick. Really?

Brenda Thornton · Top Commenter · Cypress, Texas
I once had a resident tell me that maybe I was making a little too much of my pain. I got off the stretcher, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him over to the MRI films and the x-rays they had taken and pointed out point by point the awful things displayed on those films. I then asked him if he had any idea what those films displayed and how he could say to me that I was making too much of my pain? He stuttered and then said, well, we were taught to minimize pain to patients so they would stop complaining…

Jeremy Shulke · Top Commenter
The worst thing I’ve heard (from a doctor no less)…. you’re just depressed. If we put you on anti-depressants, then you’ll be fine. Really? An anti-depressant is going to fix all that stuff that messed up stuff that shows up on my multiple MRIs? I may be a miserable SOB now, but I wasn’t always. The physical issues caused my quality of life to go to total junk… it was only after that when my mood took a downward turn. Oh, and there’s the “you’re a drug addict” crap I get from my folks (who have no medical training or expertise at all). I refused to take the meds for 5 years until things became impossible to manage. My family never saw the hell I was going through. (Please, don’t recommend to me that I use marijuana. I tried it, it didn’t go well)

Johnna Stahl
You tried marijuana? Was that just once? A couple of times? When I was able to afford the Medical Cannabis Program in New Mexico, there were plenty of purchases that didn’t help (about 80% of them). Finding bud that’s strong enough for chronic pain is very hard (and expensive), at least in this state. There’s also the strains that can cause a negative side effect or two, especially those purchased in the underground market. And then there are a few people who are overly sensitive to THC, so the answer there is a high-CBD strain. Considering the war against opioids and pain patients, depending on the medical industry for pain relief seems rather short-sighted. If your doctor hasn’t abandoned you yet, then you’re lucky. With cannabis, there are no doctors, no drug tests, no being treated like a drug addict. In my opinion, cannabis is worth it.

Johnna Stahl
I always wonder about people who say they’ve healed from their chronic pain. They used to suffer from chronic pain, but by some miracle, it’s gone. Really? Perhaps that means their pain wasn’t chronic to begin with. Once pain becomes chronic and intractable, it doesn’t ever go away, and anyone who says differently is full of it.