u/battseeyon

I overheard something disturbing. My PM doc's front desk is telling potential patients that they are not seeing any new pm patients nor patients on stimulants for ADHD. So, I asked him. He said restrictions have gotten so bad and they are not willing to risk their licenses.

That is scary to me. How many others are doing this? A compliant patient whose PM retires still gets a no. Am I the only one terrified at how slippery this slope has gotten??? This puts us ALL in potential future trouble if just the right circumstances happen? BTW, I am in MO.

Are there any Fibro sufferers here? If so, do you have a good sense of when a flare is coming? One true sign for me is every tooth in my mouth gets super sensitive and my molars start to ache like I have dental issues, which I don't. What's your sign that one is coming? What is your treatment regime, if you don't mind sharing?

People who don't suffer from chronic pain are always totally surprised that you can walk around in widespread pain 9/10 and still function, daily. It's not a matter of bravery. It's a matter of not having a choice. If we could stay in bed and allow our bodies to calm, we would. Life doesn't allow for that for most of us. We have to try to make it through daily life without allowing the pain to destroy our mental health. That is the biggest struggle. Constant pain 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week whittles away at your mental health. You then have to try to function with physical widespread pain and fragile mental health. Thus has nothing to do with the other boulders life in 2026 throws at us. That's icing on the pain filled, mentally crumbling cake. We get accused of wanting sympathy when the majority of our tears are shed in the dark when no one is around. No one cares about chronic pain or the people cursed with it unless it becomes their cross to bear. It's so unfortunate that empathy only comes when the issue becomes personal.

When you have Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, celebrex, duloxetine, muscle relaxers and you're still balled up on the loveseat crying on a Sunday evening, what do you do? What can you do that a healthy friend won't consider a bid for attention? At what point do we stop being treated like some manipulators just wanting sympathy?