by Heather Grace IPJ Editor-In-Chief
In desperate need of a pain management physician to treat your Chronic or Intractable Pain? Finding one now — since the CDC Guidelines For Opioid Prescribing were released in 2015 — can be very difficult. So, what can you do to lessen your pain right away, while trying to locate a decent pain doc?
The following PDF was written by renowned Intractable Pain expert, Dr. Forest Tennant. It was developed after decades of experience as a pain management physician & researcher. Inside, you’ll find invaluable tips for patients with Chronic as well as Intractable Pain.
Download your FREE copy now: What To Do While Looking For A Good Pain Doctor
Though he’s now retired, there are lots of things in this guide that’ll make dealing with your pain a little easier. Enough seemingly small improvements can help you get through the hell of untreated/undertreated pain.
My Experience Being Where You Are Right Now…
If YOU are currently in pain, and find yourself without a doctor who’s willing to truly help you by whatever means necessary… First and foremost, I am so sorry that you you’re where I once was. It was truly the most difficult experience in my life.
Please PLEASE don’t give up. Not yet. Know there are people out there who’ve been where you are *right now* — and lived to tell the tale. I am one of them. You’ll find us many of us via social media. Believe me, we are here!
Life seemed exceedingly difficult before I found good pain management. Constant severe pain nearly drove me to suicide. I held on, though many times I wasn’t quite sure how. I managed to keep going long enough to find THE ONE: the doctor who was both willing & able to truly help me.
In truth, I wasn’t expecting things to work out this way. Never did I expect to find a doctor who would quite literally save my life. Because I was so used to being treated badly, that possibly never even occurred to me. My situation was extremely grim. Yet miraculously, I survived undertreated Intractable Pain.
Here’s what I didn’t know until I finally found my miracle: The person I was when I was at my sickest wasn’t really me at all. I don’t even recognize the scared suicidal girl I was back then, so deeply entrenched in physical pain. Perhaps worse was the ever-increasing mental torment, as I was disbelieved as well as discarded by those who were supposed to be helping me.
Because of them, I was lost. Felt worthless. My pain, my very real illness, made me ashamed. Not because I deserved to experience the constant pain that overwhelmed me every moment of everyday, but because so many in the medical community made me feel as though I should feel that way. They wore me down so completely, that I began to believe it must be *me* who was wrong. I actually began to feel as though I deserved to be where I was, alone & miserable, without a single ally.
Once I started to get better, my world opened up again. I discovered that like countless others, I suffered nightmarish torment at the hands of many in the medical community. Because my chronic illness happened to include pain as one of aspect that required serious treatment, I was an outcast. I was part of a very large community of people who ALL feel alone and afraid sometimes. Who are victimized. Who are often deliberately medically neglected by physicians who just don’t get it — or get us.
Here’s what’s important: I’m still here. As are many of great people just like me, people I met on this journey. We’re NOT unique. We are just like you. So please, hold on, if only today. I truly believe that it’s NOT your time… so stick around. You never know what amazing things tomorrow will bring unless you’re here to experience them. You ARE worth fighting for!
Now that you’ve found me, realize you’re not alone. I want you to know this, I really truly do. So please, stick around. There are a thousand different ways life could really surprise you. Your miracle could be just around the corner, as mine was. Like me, you might just save someone’s life too. That’s right… a very real person still exists today, because of this site. She’s still here, because of the one big thing I knew in my heart I had to do *AFTER* I thought suicide was my only way out of pain.
If you’re suicidal and you’ve read this far, promise me you’ll do just 1 thing: tell someone close to you how you’re feeling right now. The people in your life care about you much more than you can imagine, especially when you’re in a fog of depression caused by serious illness. Support is so important at a time like this. Try and hold on. PLEASE. Hold onto those loved ones, & above all, hold onto hope. I promise you, it’s worth it.
About The Author
Heather Grace is a Speaker, Writer & Advocate who is active on social media. She lives with Intractable Pain caused by the genetic illness Ehlers Danlos as well as a spinal cord injury/severe nerve damage that lead to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Heather worked for many years on the planning committee developing For Grace’s (http://www.forgrace.org) annual Women in Pain Conference and as a Grant Researcher/Volunteer Advocate for the American Pain Foundation.
© 2011-2019 Intractable Pain Journal & Heather Grace. All rights reserved.
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