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logansrogueOne thing I'm really sick of, as a chronic pain sufferer? People feeling they can comment on my intake of pain relief medication. It really is starting to get my goat. I hear it all the time, from people I know and from people in general (on the internet, on the radio, etc). Hysterical people pointing the finger at doctors and pharmacuetical companies. These are the same people that cling to 'detox' programmes, even though we have perfectly good filtering organs for that. You may have heard of them - they're called your liver and kidneys.
Look, I know it can be scary to see opioids or some exotically named chemical going down the throat of someone you love on a regular basis. But generally, that person will have seen a doctor before taking that pill. Questioning that person on their pill intake or telling them that the very pills that give them a breath of relief from the unrelenting agony of their unasked for condition is straight-up FUCKING RUDE.
So quit it. Making it harder for people to get the drugs that help them cope with a debilitating condition is like walking up to someone with a broken leg and kicking the crutches out from underneath their arms. Giving them a hard time for using the pills is, sticking to the metaphor, like telling a person with a broken leg that using crutches is somehow weak or indicates that they're not making enough of an effort to "get past" their health problems. Pontificating on how dangerous the painkillers a person might take are is like pointing to the bruises or stiff muscles one might get using a set of crutches as a reason not to use them, blatantly ignoring the fact that the injured person would have NO MOBILITY without them.
It's also intensely infantalising and fucking patronising to tell someone else how to manage their own health issues.
Let me put it this way for those still concerned about the drug intake: I hate taking drugs. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't even have cups of coffee cause I hate the buzz I get. I miss getting blitzed on a good vodka, but I just can't do that stuff anymore, my body isn't cut out for it. It gets used to a chemical very quickly and then makes things very difficult for me. So alcohol makes me puke, caffiene makes me have anxiety attacks and marijuana makes me freak. the. fuck. OUT.
I take opioids and anti-inflammatories because I HAVE TO. I look at that yellow pill as a blessing and a curse. Here are some lyrics to a song I wrote called "My Old Self Again":
"I don't want to stop for a minute.
But my body is crumbling to dust.
I just want the world in my fingers,
Oh but the pain is too much!
I smile through the pain, I know I'm not the same
I cradle that pill till I'm my old self again.
I wait for the hit - oh God, I live for it.
Just so I can be my old self again.
...
I know that it's hurting my body.
It's eating me up from within.
But without it I am just nothing!
I ache for the relief that it brings."
The simple fact of the matter is that I resent needing this pill. I resent being differentl abled from other people. I hate that pill and I hate being pitied by other people. But what I hate more is having the one tiny point of relief in my life turned into a shameful habit just because some people take pain relief pills and turn them into drugs, or misuse these pain relief drugs in the first place.
I groan every time some celebrity kills themselves off by indiscriminate prescription drug use, cause I know I'll be on the recieving end of "You'll end up like _____!" jokes. Har har! Like I haven't heard that one before! Except I have! And shit, from what I can tell, most of those celebrities were surrounded by enablers and went to multiple doctors, not telling each new health professional what they were taking in concert. Where-as I am a responsible adult who talks to her doctor about *EVERY* pill she puts in her body, right down to my fucking vitamin supplements and natural remedies, because people mistakenly think that natural herbal remedies aren't things you need to be careful with. You do. They are full of chemicals, the things you put in these magical pills that doctors tell us to take.
I actually go beyond the call of duty and read up on the behaviour of the drugs I'm taking on the internet, so I know what to expect if something goes wrong. I also know what NOT to do, like not drink alcohol and so forth.
So, what if you're an able-bodied person (temporarily so, might I point out) and you have concerns about someone you love and their pill intake? There's no harm in asking how much they take, or what their doctor says about it. It's none of your business, but there's no harm in it, I don't think. But stupid jokes or harping on about how BAD for you those horrible pills are? Yeah. Dick move. Don't do it.
Look, I know it can be scary to see opioids or some exotically named chemical going down the throat of someone you love on a regular basis. But generally, that person will have seen a doctor before taking that pill. Questioning that person on their pill intake or telling them that the very pills that give them a breath of relief from the unrelenting agony of their unasked for condition is straight-up FUCKING RUDE.
So quit it. Making it harder for people to get the drugs that help them cope with a debilitating condition is like walking up to someone with a broken leg and kicking the crutches out from underneath their arms. Giving them a hard time for using the pills is, sticking to the metaphor, like telling a person with a broken leg that using crutches is somehow weak or indicates that they're not making enough of an effort to "get past" their health problems. Pontificating on how dangerous the painkillers a person might take are is like pointing to the bruises or stiff muscles one might get using a set of crutches as a reason not to use them, blatantly ignoring the fact that the injured person would have NO MOBILITY without them.
It's also intensely infantalising and fucking patronising to tell someone else how to manage their own health issues.
Let me put it this way for those still concerned about the drug intake: I hate taking drugs. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't even have cups of coffee cause I hate the buzz I get. I miss getting blitzed on a good vodka, but I just can't do that stuff anymore, my body isn't cut out for it. It gets used to a chemical very quickly and then makes things very difficult for me. So alcohol makes me puke, caffiene makes me have anxiety attacks and marijuana makes me freak. the. fuck. OUT.
I take opioids and anti-inflammatories because I HAVE TO. I look at that yellow pill as a blessing and a curse. Here are some lyrics to a song I wrote called "My Old Self Again":
"I don't want to stop for a minute.
But my body is crumbling to dust.
I just want the world in my fingers,
Oh but the pain is too much!
I smile through the pain, I know I'm not the same
I cradle that pill till I'm my old self again.
I wait for the hit - oh God, I live for it.
Just so I can be my old self again.
...
I know that it's hurting my body.
It's eating me up from within.
But without it I am just nothing!
I ache for the relief that it brings."
The simple fact of the matter is that I resent needing this pill. I resent being differentl abled from other people. I hate that pill and I hate being pitied by other people. But what I hate more is having the one tiny point of relief in my life turned into a shameful habit just because some people take pain relief pills and turn them into drugs, or misuse these pain relief drugs in the first place.
I groan every time some celebrity kills themselves off by indiscriminate prescription drug use, cause I know I'll be on the recieving end of "You'll end up like _____!" jokes. Har har! Like I haven't heard that one before! Except I have! And shit, from what I can tell, most of those celebrities were surrounded by enablers and went to multiple doctors, not telling each new health professional what they were taking in concert. Where-as I am a responsible adult who talks to her doctor about *EVERY* pill she puts in her body, right down to my fucking vitamin supplements and natural remedies, because people mistakenly think that natural herbal remedies aren't things you need to be careful with. You do. They are full of chemicals, the things you put in these magical pills that doctors tell us to take.
I actually go beyond the call of duty and read up on the behaviour of the drugs I'm taking on the internet, so I know what to expect if something goes wrong. I also know what NOT to do, like not drink alcohol and so forth.
So, what if you're an able-bodied person (temporarily so, might I point out) and you have concerns about someone you love and their pill intake? There's no harm in asking how much they take, or what their doctor says about it. It's none of your business, but there's no harm in it, I don't think. But stupid jokes or harping on about how BAD for you those horrible pills are? Yeah. Dick move. Don't do it.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 04:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 05:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 05:25 am (UTC)It's an invisible social stigma, isn't it? Maybe no one can tell by looking at you that you need chemical help one way or the other, but many of them are more than happy to judge you when they find out.
And it's that stigma, more than anything, that really makes me hate it. I bought into the idea that medicine=bad for so long that it's filled me with self-loathing for needing this kind of help. Which is maybe counter-productive when dealing with anxiety, do ya think?
Anyway, short form is this. Much love to you, and good on you for saying this.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 05:26 am (UTC)I spent six months without any pain relief because the doctors continually refused to admit I needed any or that my leg wasn't healing normally (that the amount of pain and the limited amount of stuff I could do was abnormal). The GP wouldn't do anything except tell me to take panadol (ignoring my statements that it wasn't doing anything by itself), because of what the ortho has been saying.
I only got sent to pain management people because my physio wrote a very nasty letter to the ortho, who's meant to be a fantastic expert, but everytime I see him tells me something completely different and is usually wrong (but won't admit it the next time). Also ignores everything I say.
I don't have patience with people telling me I shouldn't be on this medication, because it is the difference between being able to walk up a flight of stairs and not. Being able to last a whole five hours at work a week, rather than going home early because it hurts too much.
Ignore the fuckers.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 05:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 08:06 am (UTC)Ignorant, pushy and just plain rude.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 10:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-08 06:01 am (UTC)