we know better than you.

I worked in warehouses ,construction ,etc, in short many manual labour jobs. I was always very active I;d walk a couple miles to work ,work all day and walk home. Having asthma my whole life I thought it was a good way to stay healthy. Of course that was then this is now , I have arthritis in every joint in my body including my spine which now has an interesting mix of curvatures. My asthma progressed rapidly with the help of a serious of lung infections to COPD. I have nerve damage in my back shoulder and leg. so in short I am a ball of pain 90% of the time , it hurts to sit ,it hurts to lie down ,it hurts to stand up. the one thing I have found with most Doctors I have had the misfortune of dealing with over the years , is a complete lack of understanding or knowledge of what pain is. really, you go to the doctor you tell him ,I've gotten maybe two hours sleep for the last week because I'm hurting so bad , firstly he looks at you like your lying. then suggests you take a Tylenol , or see a chiropractor or an antidepressant off label, or the Cadillac of off label drugs Gabapentine. ( I have tried all those things by the way). when they do nothing if your lucky you might get a pain killer maybe a Tylenol 3 , which helps a little but you now get the opportunity to damage your liver etc.etc. but always with the lecture about the risks of addiction .really studies have shown the risks of addiction in people with chronic pain are relatively low in comparison to other groups. the fear of doctors in prescribing medications to people in pain is a direct result of government policy . yes their is a opiate problem in Canada , yes their is abuse ,yes their are OD's ,but lets be clear the overwhelming majority of OD's , Addiction issues and incidents of abuse are the result of street drugs IE: fentanyl, heroine , etc. not medications prescribed to chronic pain patients. their is a distinct difference I'm not using medication to get high, I use medication to try and live a semblance of a normal life. For example of how this fear of prescribing effects doctors and your chances of survival. I had a serious lung infection I was on my 3rd course of antibiotics and coughing my lungs out sleeping sitting up pure hell. woke up one morning coughing like crazy , suddenly I couldn't catch my breath felt like I'd been shot in the chest. it hurt when I tred to breath , try to cough and it literaly doubled me over in pain. so off to the emergency ward ,I seriously thought I'd collapsed a lung or something. turns out I'd broken 3 ribs coughing , to injections of morphine later is back to being in agony which quite frankly was an improvement. so a short term prescription for hydromorphone enough to last till I got to my own doctor. my doctor had a different very on pneumonia and broken ribs , his very was tough out the coughing because i don't want you to be addicted. to get any further help I had to make an frantic call to my respirologist , who prescribed me a pain killer so i could at least cough and clear my lungs .he also called the GP and raked him over the coals for not even following standard practice for broken ribs, especially with pneumonia . the specialist also found a heart murmur ,so i had an emergency appointment with a heart specialist and a prescription for diruetics because the infection was causing a fluid build up around my heart , another thing completely missed by my GP because he was overly concerned with addiction,drug seeking behaviour ,government rules, etc,etc. his ignorance could have easily cost me my life. then their is the exercise , massage lobby who beleives that if you exercise , the pain caused by wornout joints will vanish. evidently they don't have arthritis , now don't get me wrong exercise can help keep you moving ,but it does nothing to get rid of pain ,if anything you experience more pain. in short anytime a Doctor tells you he knows more about the pain you feel than you do , find a new Doctor,