Tracy, if I said something that you felt was out of line, I certainly apologize for that. Pain meds are outstanding drugs, and they can sure make debilitating issues manageable. Believe me, I'm right there with you on that. I've been on various muscle relaxers, steroids, and painkillers most of my adult life from a lower back compression injury, and probably like you, I'd rather take a punch to the gut than have to rely any med that at least makes life bearable.
My personal experience though is that there are some that know the answer to "On a..." is always 10. With the whole unasked question being, "On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst, what's your level of pain?". Pain is a very personal thing, and a person's pain threshold is not something that can be medically evaluated, and some do in fact get addicted to painkillers. The vast majority of people that take pain meds, do take them as prescribed, and all goes well. IMO, it boils down to a responsible Dtr's ability to differentiate between what a patient wants, and what that patient really needs when prescribing those drugs, and how forthcoming the patient is being. That can sure be a tough medical call for any physician when dealing with a patient's pain, when the inherent desire of that physician to keep any patient as pain free as possible.
Happy Thanksgiving PBF
