Here it is…
Note from Tim Bolen – Our newest writer, Jonelle Elgeway, is, due to personal experience (major injuries), an EXPERT on US Pain Management issues. Jonelle was on the 1996 Olympic Field Hockey Team. With the Opioid Crisis sweeping the nation I recruited Jonelle to give us an “Insiders View” of what’s happening. When I first read her draft article (below) I was astounded to find out how bad the OFFICIAL US Pain Management system really is. Jonelle is addressing Congress April 25th, 2018 on pain issues- Below is why she is doing that.
There is no playbook on what to do when your life is turned upside down and inside out from a life altering car accident or major health issue. YOU’RE SCARED!
And you would expect that living in the United States the healthcare system would be there to not only save your life, but give you effective treatments and medications.
The United States healthcare system STINKS! And WE need to change it!
One of the biggest current U.S. healthcare FAILS is the so called “Opioid Crisis.”
First off, the United States isn’t dealing with a prescription opioid crisis.
It’s not even a heroin crisis.
The United States is currently in an Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl Crisis.
In 2016 the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) created guidelines for primary care physicians prescribing for patients that are first time prescription pain medication users. The group of panelists were primarily made up of the Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) specializing in substance abuse.
Somehow these guidelines were taken as law and have created an out of control brush fire that’s turned into a forest fire, focusing on patients needing pain medication to have any quality of life.
How the “Opioid Epidemic” all started and the SCARY TRUTH about Illicit Manufactured Fentanyl (IMF)
1996 OxyContin was marketed as a low habit forming pain medication.
In 2010 the reformulation of OxyContin forced illegal pill users to turn to heroin, due to the tamper resistant pills.
In 2011-2012 the CDC states that heroin use took off. Debra Dowel from the CDC testified that we are now in an era of synthetic drugs.
China and Mexico now creates and illegally exports carfentanyl, which is an analog of the synthetic analgesic fentanyl. A unit of carfentanyl is 100 times as potent as the same amount of fentanyl, 5,000 times as potent as a unit of heroin and 10,000 times as potent as a unit of morphine. They have changed the molecules of heroin just enough that illegal drug users are able to get that “original high” that they always chase. We need to let the public know how dangerous this is.
All street drugs are showing up with IMF and essentially are POISONED!
To Main Stream Media and the White House… IMF IS YOUR PROBLEM! We must warn the public that they are playing Russian Roulette when buying anything from the streets. Recently one county in Ohio stated that 99% of the overdoses were different types of carfentanyl. Only 3 cases were plain heroin.
Who is being affected?
There are 116 million chronic pain patients in the U.S.
There are 25-26 million intractable pain patients, which are noncancerous rare and painful diseases like Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Arachnoiditis and Rheumatoid Arthritis to name a few.
Out of these intractable pain patients, 5-6 million patients have been stripped of their pain medications due to forced tapers or forced reductions because of the CDC Guidelines. This was supposed to be about overdoses and addiction wasn’t it?
Instead this is causing entirely new issues.
Three things will happen to these patients… 1) They will commit suicide 2) They will turn to street drugs, which they won’t know what they are getting, leading to possibly more overdoses 3) More health issues will be created from having high levels of out of control pain for long periods of time such as; heart attacks, stroke, high blood pressure, cancers and auto immune issues.
How do we fix this issue?
(1) Lawmakers should start by NOT creating any new laws or policies with data used from the CDC, because we now know that the CDC data is flawed and manipulated. The CDC recently admitted that they inflated the overdose numbers.
(2) The CDC guidelines should be revoked and instead use the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) written by doctors and medical boards specializing in pain management. When chronic pain patients use their medication properly, they rarely become addicted. Within the US there are less than 2% of the population that become addicts. This number hasn’t changed in the last 60 years.
(3) Many states now accept and doctors need to use a Palliative Care Certificate and Exceptions. This will allow doctors to prescribe pain medication over the CDC guidelines of 90 mme. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plan to use the CDC guidelines, which have NO scientific studies supporting that CDC’s 90 mme or CMS’s 200 mme levels are dangerous and will cause overdose or addiction for intractable pain patients. Again, there are no studies! In fact, FDA scientists did a study finding that there is no difference between pain from cancer and noncancerous pain.
(4) Doctors should be given reimbursements as a palliative care visit instead of an office visit.
(5) Fund programs to help build institutions like what the VA or other countries are setting up all over the world to take care of patients properly through multidisciplinary programs. Let’s be real about the limitations on alternative therapies within the US, if doctors provide them, health insurance doesn’t cover them.
(6) Fund education for physicians on how to properly use pain medication and deal with patients having rare and painful diseases and chronic health issues.
(7) Create harm reduction strategies for people with substance abuse issues.
(8) Stop trade with Mexico and China until they deal with their illegal trade of IMF.
There is no “One Size Fits All” approach to pain management…
The is a really SIMPLE issue with a SIMPLE solution. Allow patients to have access to the correct medications and treatments that they need to have any quality of life.
Intractable pain patients dealing with severe and painful diseases are not a one-size-fits-all. They are not going to become addicts or overdose on the pain medication that they safely have taken for many years.
We need to let doctors treat their patients how they deem fit. The government needs to realize the real battle is with IMF coming in from Mexico and China!
Thankyou for this useful article. Just what I had planned to research today- by coincidence. You might add a list of names of opiods. My friend recently mentioned two pain meds his son takes and I realized that I did not know if they were opiods or not.
nice!-I agree with almost all of what Jonelle said except the part about stopping trade with Mexico & China.
Trade is a complicated issue & we will be hurting ourselves because both US & Canada export to these countries. I would remove the part about stopping trade as we are ignorant as to the complexities regarding the agreements & I am afraid that the suggestion may diminish our credibility in the eyes of other professionals
Thank you so very much for taking the time to reach out to the DNA and others regarding this epidemic which in my opinion has nothing to do with prescription drugs as you stated. I had a close friend vomit suicide because her doctor denied to give her any pain meds for relief so she went home hysterical and later that night her daughter found her dead. I agree with with all you said and if this doesn’t stop there will be more deaths. The people, doctors and DEA and government don’t understand how painful these illnesses are and to have some ease of pain it makes all the difference in the world to us pain sufferers. I want to thank you again for speaking up for what is right and we need to be able to have meds to ease our pain.
An authoritative, enactable repair that Legislators, Doctor’s and Severe Pain Sufferers can agree with to avert a major health crisis in America.
A very good summary of the issues related to the current issues. Thanks so much for explaining how things got to this point and what needs to change. Thank you for advocating for legitimate patients.
Jonelle:
This is a GREAT article. I look forward to further articles from you.
All the best,
Kent Heckenlively
I would like to know your thoughts about forms of cannabis for pain. Is this an additional useful approach? Also, with most occupations apparently much safer than in the past (my admitted assumption as to the source of some chronic pain syndromes) what could be underlying the huge number of people in chronic pain? I’d hypothesize some immune related issues as in arthritis. That would likely implicate some vaccines as well. Thank you so much for sharing this information. You helped me understand and sympathize with people who really need effective pain control.
I was literally STUNNED when Jonelle started sending me information on the US pain issue. “We the People” have NO IDEA of the reality, and severity, of this problem.
Jonelle has months of articles available on the pain subject right now – and we are going to provide all that space.
Understand two things (1) Jonelle, and 26 million other Americans, lives with pain and there will be days when she is simply not available. (2) It is imperative that she prepare for her speech before Congress on April 25th, 2018.
We will have a video of her speech.
I am looking forward to having Jonelle on the BolenReport as a voice for this aspect of the failed US Health Care system. As our readers know WE DO NOT HOLD BACK.
Tim Bolen
Jonelle has not only the unfortunate experience to quantify her article, but she possesses too, the passion, drive and commitment to make long, lasting change in this spiraling out-of-control crises. Even to the point of further sufferage.
WOW! Congrats Jo!!
Wonderful work Joelle. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being a voice for the intractable pain population. I myself have adhesive arachnoiditis along with several other rare, painful, and incurable conditions. I can attest to the truth of what Joelle is saying, as I have been advocating for intractable pain patients and their continued access to what are absolutely necessary pain medications. The situation at this moment in the United States has become untenable. The misinformation being propagated is literally killing people,
Thank you, Jonelle. For many months, I have made statements which parallel the facts on LI just as you have wonderfully outlined. I will be contacting you shortly by PM. I very much appreciate your contacting me and making connection.
The patient’s voice can be powerful On the Hill. I’ve been working with Congressmen and especially Senators for a while now.
I wish you all the best of luck 4/25. I know you will do a great job representing the CP community! Thank you very much for standing with us and what you do to contribute to help all CPP’s.
Thank you so much for your truthful insightful article!
Very well written. How did the address to Congress go?
Thank you Jonelle for getting this very important information on the forced worst suffering and added death cause to the public to see how bad lives of CPP has has gotten since these guidelines . I’ve stipped. Seeing my NJ dr because of this abusive action by Ex Governor Christy. I’ve just live in bed suffering in barable pain .I did turn to my family dr of 30 yrs after many failed surgeries put me in pain management dr who no longer has a practice but my family dr only offered me Tramadol . Garabage !
I completely agree with this article 100% except for the part about stopping all trade with Mexico and China till the issue of the IMF is handled. Trade is extremely complex and unilaterally stating that we must stop all trade with these countries actually hurts our credibility and then lowers the validity of this report. We need to work with these countries to stop the trade of IMF and its manufacturing.
Laura Mitchell the hearing went well. My 2nd article will be on the hearing, meetings that took place the week of April 23-26 and the White Coat Rally and Pain Patient Rally. Here is the YouTube video of Dr. Kline and myself speaking at the hearing. I will have the full hearing on YouTube once I get back to NC. https://youtu.be/4YYuxpTftsc
I’m suffering so badly. I have several non curable disease. I’ve been taken off have of my pain meds. I’ve been on same dose over 20 years. My primary used to write all my my pain medication. The DEA keep sending him letters suggesting he send me to a pain clinic. Yes suggesting! Any letter from DEA would scare anyone. Now at this pain clinic and it’s been down hill since then. The CDC and DEA needs to back off all pain patients and there Doctors. Scary thing is even if they do back off will our Doctors ever start writing our pain medication again? Are they going to be to scared to treat chronic pain patients? This is a crime of humanity. Is there any hope? I need something to hold on to
Anyone out there? Help in slipping away.
Jonelle Elgaway is a forceful defender of the rights of chronic pain victims to receive whichever type treatment best suits their recovery needs. Despite having herself suffered the ravages of post-injury pain; she daily finds the energy and courage to advocate for pain sufferers. The world is a better place for her efforts. Be sure to catch her at “CAWNATION” – and hear what she has to say about the latest efforts of the pain community to advance the cause of compassionate care.
William Mangino II M.D.
Has anyone thought of a class action lawsuit to get their attention? They are refusing treatment to a significant portion of the population and we must be covered under The American Disabilities Act.
Agree you have a great understanding of chronic pain as well as addiction. Very good article.
I just read an article by Dr. Koldony where he said the epidemic will not be over until this generation is dead. I am wondering does he mean my generation, my children’s, grandchildren or great grand children’s. So he really believes this. Our country has many falilies of 4 and 5 generations is that really what he thinks is the answer. Doctors need to treat patients. CDC lies and admits it so they should not be involved at all.
There has always been street drugs and probably always will however they are becoming more dangerous with the illegal fentanyl coming from China and Mexico and if truth be known they are not really trying very hard to stop them. People are probably being paid big money to turn a blind eye.
This has gotten so bad that my 68 year old chronically-ill, completely disabled dad with numerous painful medical conditions was denied any pain relief while hospitalized just three weeks prior to his death, one week prior to being placed on hospice. This was Jan. 2015 in a small town hospital. Did I mention he was also completely bedridden (could not sit up whatsoever) and on oxygen 24/7?
Just a few months ago, my 17 year old dog fell off our porch (9 to 10 ft). I rushed her to our vet of many years, who x-rayed her and found she had fractured her pelvic bone and had severe arthritis in her hips. She could not stand on her back legs long enough to use the restroom. Guess what the vet gave her for pain? Nothing. I had to take home a suffering beloved pet and give her my medication (tramadol, which a vet had prescribed for her many years prior after being spayed). We ended up having to euthanize her the next day, as she had no quality of life left.
My elderly, dying dad and beloved dog were innocent victims of this “war.” My dad finally received pain relief after I calmly and nicely threatened to sue if he suffered a stroke or heart attack. (His blood pressure had skyrocketed into the “at risk of stroke” numbers despite the fact that they had maxed out on the amount of bp medication they gave him). He was clearly in severe pain. Just his complex medical conditions would have told another person that he was suffering severe pain. Had I not had tramadol (along with the proper dosage for a dog of her size), I would have taken her to another vet, who probably would have pegged me as a “drug seeker” even though she had a painful injury that even shows on an x-ray.
Thank you for this well-written factual analysis of what is happening in “the land of the free and suffering.” I don’t think I’ve ever been this bitter against our meddling government which should have no part in our individual health care. This has gotten out of hand and people are suffering to the point of committing suicide. Some are desperately seeking relief with street drugs that possess pain relieving properties … not because they’re addicts or substance abusers but because they want some relief from severe pain. I also know a few who have taken up drinking alcohol in an attempt to kill the physical pain. How incredibly sad is that? These are people’s lives the government is messing with.
Be
Like
Portugal
When they decriminalized, prime rate went down addiction rate decreased, and deaths went to almost 0.
If we did that, the cartels would go out of business drug use would decrease
And deaths would be far less.
Why have we not done this?
Why keep funding a $2 Trillion drug war( against our own people)?
This would impact our southern border also.
Writing from Samos Greece
Excellent!!
Is this presentation going to be provided to other Heath care providers or groups for training purposes?
How can groups find out about this presentation?
Thank you for speaking with good sense !!!Finally someone who knows how people are suffering
Thanks for a great article about the real Chronic pain crisis in America !!!Someone who speaks the truth is refreshing