I am a 71 yr. old woman with many pain problems. First I want you to know that I am not lazy and wish I could be like so many of my friends; healthy and active. I use to own the largest yacht detailing company in Washington State. I then developed with the help of a chemist a line cleaning products; I have distributors all over the US. I am unable to travel and do shows or see my distributors because of my pain condition.

In the 1981 I was in a camper explosion I had 3-degree burns. Two years later I had the first of 3 neck surgeries related to that accident leaving me in constant pain (I’m a pain in the neck)/ There are many stressors that happened to me that were very hard including my wonderful husband who died at age 39. My body went into warp speed, I could actually feel this and for a few years I was unable to stay still literally. I then got hepatitis and Mononucleosis at the same time; still I was unable to stand still even with these illnesses. I am fortunate in that I am not depressed and have a positive attitude.

I fell and tore ligaments in my foot, I had a few surgeries (I’m older and wiser now and would not have had the surgeries; I trusted Drs.) my left foot is now in pain and is contorted.

In the early 90’s I saw a very qualified Dr at Minor & James Clinic in Seattle, he was a rheumatologist. After several visits he told me I had Fibromyalgia, my grandmother and aunts had this too. My FM is very bad and in my opinion all the surgeries (some I won’t list now) I had and the burns probably made the FM worse.

I continued to work hard through the pain in both my detailing business and now my product line. Finally I had to stop detailing. My Rheumatologist tried several medicines on me that I could not take. I went to the Univ. of Washington Fibromyalgia Study for months and tried many other things to help the pain. Finally in the 90’s oxycontin became available and my Dr. started me on this. I have been on 20 mil 3x day for all these years; I never took extra pills in all that time. When oxycontin isn’t working as well I decided to take less for a week or two. When I went back on my regular dose I could tell that oxycontin worked as before. My Dr thought that was a good idea; I repeat this program when I need to.

We moved from Seattle to Northern Idaho in 2011, no Dr would take me because I was a pain patient and on oxycontin, not even a GP. I picked a GP and wrote her a resume as if I was trying to find a job. I wanted her to know me and hopefully accept me as a patient; she did but she would not prescribe my oxycontin. I had to travel to Minor & James Clinic which was 800 miles round trip every quarter where my Dr saw me and kept me on the same program.

My Dr in Seattle retired and then real hell began. The Dr that took over for him did not want to prescribe oxycontin but since he took over for my retired Dr he kept me on his program. This new Dr. then changed Clinics (so he could get rid of all my retired Dr’s patients), another Dr took his place and she did NOT intend to keep me on oxycontin. I saw her once and then got a letter from Minor & James Clinic (they are part of the U of W hospital), it said that they were not going to keep me as a patient, they actually threw ALL PAIN Patient out of their clinic! Other Drs did the same thing in Seattle. I find that experience to be unbelievable and not fare to pain patients. I often wonder if a good lawyer would have been useful, maybe as a class action suit where many pain patients could make a difference. I couldn’t afford it, I am in too much pain to put the effort it would take to get our story out.

I am 71 and the only help for all the pain I have 24/7 is being classified by CDC as dangerous; now my life is upside down. I am scared because I know the real pain once I stopped taking my medication and I have a heart problem and going through a withdrawal could kill me.

Thank heaven I found a pain clinic in the little town we moved to. They kept me on my program but the CDC has plans to make getting meds hard for everyone, the Dr’s too. I am very scared of the future and what the government is trying to do to people who take oxycontin and other pain pills. On March 17 Fox News had a section on getting all pain patients off of pain killers. All news or stories on opioid never points out that pain patients are helped by pain medicine; according to the CDC, we are part of the addiction problems. They are lumping us in with those addicts; it just doesn’t make sense. I have been a perfect patient and I am sure most of us are. What happens to common sense?

The pain clinic had a representative from Proove Inc. a DNA company. She asked me if I would give them a sample of my DNA and I did. I was very happy when I got my results. My test showed I don’t have an addictive personality and when I say I am in pain I am in a lot of pain.

I don’t know if you have had experience with DNA for pain patients, I think it would be a good tool for Drs. I do know that Drs. are under a lot of stress and lots more work has been heaped on them by the government.

The funny thing about oxycontin is it doesn’t do damage to your organs like all the other medications they are putting out IE: ibuprofen which is very bad for people. No one ever talks about this. Yes, oxycontin and other meds are dangerous if you don’t follow directions, I think most of us don’t abuse our medication. You can get in trouble with any medication. Addicts are using many concoctions to get high. Why aren’t they removing all bath salts!

The CDC and others are telling us that they want all people off pain meds and they want Dr’s to give only a week at the most. This would be a terrible thing to do to us and Dr’s and pharmacies. It is not the government’s job to get involved with our Dr’s and Patients. I’ve included a link that goes over the cons of what the CDC wants to do. Please help make pain patients lives better; we are not being treated fairly.

If you have not read these links I believe you will find them important. I am sharing all of them so everyone can pass them along, give the nerve info to Drs. I feel that we have some good ammunition to use. We CAN help others through knowledge!

http://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2015/9/22/chronic-pain-groups-blast-cdc-for-opioid-guidelines?rq=chronic-pain-groups-blast

From the paindr http://paindr.com/morphine-equivalence-med-medd-%e2%89%a0-cred/

New research on Fibromyalgia, this is very good and from credited dedicated doctors and research hospitals. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/15/fibromyalgia-research-breakthrough/3991063/#fightfibromyalgia