See some of the art
Friday, December 7, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
I have decided to begin this blog as a place where I can share a more personal side of myself. I have been present on the Internet on the formal websites of the National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain (www.paincare.org), the Project for Pain and Chemical Dependency (www.TPPCD@webelist.com) and www.psychmedtexas.com. This blog is a place I can be personal.
I am going to start with a leter from a new member of the foundation, Sara, and my response to her .
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From a new member's comments:
I have a few diseases that cause me chronic pain: endometriosis (for which I had to have a hysterectomy at age 31, before I had any children), degenerative disk disease (C5-6.C6-7,S-1 maninly), scoliosis, herniated disks (c5-6,C6-7), and fibromyalgia. I had a pain doctor until I moved to Illinois to go to graduate school. Here in the "Heartland", I have been passed around from doctor to doctor, with no one offering anything close to the level of care I had in Arizona. Until I moved here, I was as close to pain free as possible. Now, no doctor wants to continue my medication. My life is deteriorating quickly and I cannot continue my studies because I am in such pain. My quality of life is dropping to a level I have not experienced since I first started having back, neck, and knee pain 7 years ago. I was a gymnast, and I believe that this contributed to my injuries and diseases today. Also, it might be genetic. My mother has such back problems that she has had eight surgeries to try to fix her back. She had her spine fused at age 18 and was in a body cast for a year, yet she finished her high school diploma with the help of tutors and went on to get two Master's degrees because of the help she received with her pain. I would like to get my advanced degrees, but cannot concentrate enough to do so when I am in such pain. I am angry, frustrated beyond belief, and depressed at the lack of care available here. Everyone deserves to live without pain, yet all the doctors I have found here are more concerned with themselves than writing prescriptions for (horrors!) opioids that MAY "get them into trouble." The fact that they even MIGHT get into trouble for treating chronic pain patients in inexcusable, indecent, and shows that the moral decline in our government's attitude towards its citizens is reaching a record level.
Something must be done - soon. The less available pain medications are, the less productive the lives of the millions of people in pain become. Time off work due to pain is the least of the worries. Having to stop work completely and going on government aid is what many pain patients must do. I know that I cannot continue my studies to receive my Master's degree in Education and begin teacher high school because of lack of pain treatment - I am just one more unproductive citizen of the United States of America because the government's attitude towards ILLEGAL DRUG ABUSERS does NOT differentiate between such people and chronic pain sufferers who are prescribed opioids in order to function and lead productive lives. Does that make any sense to anyone? It seems that the people who make such policies have never been in pain, or if they are, you can bet THEY get the treatment and care they need. It's just the "little people" - the average citizens that make this country great - who must suffer. The "little people" that our government doesn't care about number now in the MILLIONS and are dragging this country down by being on government aid because they MUST in order to feed their families and stay alive!
I have been a Republican for most of my life - my values and ideals have rarely wavered. I lived in Germany while in high school (I am a military brat) and defended my country against all who would slander it. I have always believed that in America, a person would have the chance to live life to the fullest and achieve anything they set their heart on doing. With hard work and ingenuity, anyone could prosper and lead a good life, free from oppression and tyrrany. The same goverment that I have upheld so many times against naysayers is now making me, one of their own, suffer. I am not a criminal of any sort, and have no criminal record of any kind. I have never caused an automobile accident. I have even never wanted to do anything illegal.
My first goal in life, from the age of 15, was to serve my country. Not in the military, on the front lines, but in the ways I knew how: with my language skills and intuitive thought process, I wanted to become one of the elite intelligence officers in the entity known as the Central Intelligence Agency. When the world changed in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and then the collapse of the USSR in August 1991, my studies and knowledge seemed out of date. I regrouped and decided to become a teacher. One doesn't need a Master's degree to become a teacher in the U.S. However, after attending high school in Germany at a German-American school which was under a German grading system, I wanted to match the level of education demanded by the German government to become a secondary school teacher. The equivalent of a Master's degree is the minimum requirement of the German govt. to teach high school. Our low standards and even lower teacher salaries are two of the reasons why our educational system compares unfavorably to other Western nations. I wanted to be one of the American high school teachers who could match the level of education and knowledge of the German system. As of now, I cannot even try to accomplish this.
Again, I have been a Republican most of my life. Now I am starting to see why many are not. The laws and attitudes concerning pain management in the U.S. are unjust and barbaric. For the first time, I am considering living in Europe and becoming an expatriate. There are far fewer negative attitudes regarding chronic pain treatment there, and the law does not condemn doctors who treat patients who have legitimate problems that cause chronic pain. That is much more than I can say for my country, and that makes me feel angry and betrayed. As a citizen of the United States, I believed we had the right to be free from oppression and fear, and had the right to the pursuit of happiness. The doctors in our country are most definitely NOT free from fear and oppression. They are unable to treat people who are in pain and fear that pain. They are as much the oppressed of our nation as those who need their help and cannot receive it. Those of us who are affected by this travesty live in fear that our untreated pain will render us useless members of society and will blot out any happiness we might have known otherwise. I know I would be very happy to be a productive member of society by teaching in our public schools and to hopefully make a difference in the lives of the future of our country - our youth. Now, my pursuit of this dream has been effectively ended, left to die a slow, painful death.
If I cannot live a productive life in my home country, I will live one in another - for live a decent life I will. I will survive and lead a productive, comfortable life, free from pain (and the fear of that pain) which cripples me emotionally and physically.
I am saddened and outraged beyond words that my country will not allow me to do so here.
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Sara:
Welcome to the NFTP. We will attempt to find you a competent doctor in your area. If we cannot, you can come for treatment at the Foundation’s Clinic here in Houston. You will not be denied adequate care. That is the heart of the purpose of the Foundation.
It saddens me to read of your suffering and despair. It is nothing less than madness that our nation should behave so badly. If you have read the Executive Director messages you know that we have thought long and hard about how this came to be.
The history of virtually every nation reveals madness. Time eventually corrects these extremes of human behavior. Germany, your childhood home, is a prime example. How could people of such refinement, tradition and culture have done what they did to millions? They went insane, that’s how. Well, the United States is insane now, encouraged by opportunists and greed-driven cynics. In four short years we have spent 683 Billion dollars on atrocity, and even to this moment our politicians cannot find the courage to confront it. The record of our nation’s treatment of the young, the elderly, the sick and the suffering, is equally horrendous.
A famous Yogi once said that the road to universal harmony is through personal harmony. We will save you from your suffering. Then you can proceed again on the road to finding your personal harmony. You will hear from us shortly.
Dr. Hochman
Executive Director
I am going to start with a leter from a new member of the foundation, Sara, and my response to her .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From a new member's comments:
I have a few diseases that cause me chronic pain: endometriosis (for which I had to have a hysterectomy at age 31, before I had any children), degenerative disk disease (C5-6.C6-7,S-1 maninly), scoliosis, herniated disks (c5-6,C6-7), and fibromyalgia. I had a pain doctor until I moved to Illinois to go to graduate school. Here in the "Heartland", I have been passed around from doctor to doctor, with no one offering anything close to the level of care I had in Arizona. Until I moved here, I was as close to pain free as possible. Now, no doctor wants to continue my medication. My life is deteriorating quickly and I cannot continue my studies because I am in such pain. My quality of life is dropping to a level I have not experienced since I first started having back, neck, and knee pain 7 years ago. I was a gymnast, and I believe that this contributed to my injuries and diseases today. Also, it might be genetic. My mother has such back problems that she has had eight surgeries to try to fix her back. She had her spine fused at age 18 and was in a body cast for a year, yet she finished her high school diploma with the help of tutors and went on to get two Master's degrees because of the help she received with her pain. I would like to get my advanced degrees, but cannot concentrate enough to do so when I am in such pain. I am angry, frustrated beyond belief, and depressed at the lack of care available here. Everyone deserves to live without pain, yet all the doctors I have found here are more concerned with themselves than writing prescriptions for (horrors!) opioids that MAY "get them into trouble." The fact that they even MIGHT get into trouble for treating chronic pain patients in inexcusable, indecent, and shows that the moral decline in our government's attitude towards its citizens is reaching a record level.
Something must be done - soon. The less available pain medications are, the less productive the lives of the millions of people in pain become. Time off work due to pain is the least of the worries. Having to stop work completely and going on government aid is what many pain patients must do. I know that I cannot continue my studies to receive my Master's degree in Education and begin teacher high school because of lack of pain treatment - I am just one more unproductive citizen of the United States of America because the government's attitude towards ILLEGAL DRUG ABUSERS does NOT differentiate between such people and chronic pain sufferers who are prescribed opioids in order to function and lead productive lives. Does that make any sense to anyone? It seems that the people who make such policies have never been in pain, or if they are, you can bet THEY get the treatment and care they need. It's just the "little people" - the average citizens that make this country great - who must suffer. The "little people" that our government doesn't care about number now in the MILLIONS and are dragging this country down by being on government aid because they MUST in order to feed their families and stay alive!
I have been a Republican for most of my life - my values and ideals have rarely wavered. I lived in Germany while in high school (I am a military brat) and defended my country against all who would slander it. I have always believed that in America, a person would have the chance to live life to the fullest and achieve anything they set their heart on doing. With hard work and ingenuity, anyone could prosper and lead a good life, free from oppression and tyrrany. The same goverment that I have upheld so many times against naysayers is now making me, one of their own, suffer. I am not a criminal of any sort, and have no criminal record of any kind. I have never caused an automobile accident. I have even never wanted to do anything illegal.
My first goal in life, from the age of 15, was to serve my country. Not in the military, on the front lines, but in the ways I knew how: with my language skills and intuitive thought process, I wanted to become one of the elite intelligence officers in the entity known as the Central Intelligence Agency. When the world changed in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and then the collapse of the USSR in August 1991, my studies and knowledge seemed out of date. I regrouped and decided to become a teacher. One doesn't need a Master's degree to become a teacher in the U.S. However, after attending high school in Germany at a German-American school which was under a German grading system, I wanted to match the level of education demanded by the German government to become a secondary school teacher. The equivalent of a Master's degree is the minimum requirement of the German govt. to teach high school. Our low standards and even lower teacher salaries are two of the reasons why our educational system compares unfavorably to other Western nations. I wanted to be one of the American high school teachers who could match the level of education and knowledge of the German system. As of now, I cannot even try to accomplish this.
Again, I have been a Republican most of my life. Now I am starting to see why many are not. The laws and attitudes concerning pain management in the U.S. are unjust and barbaric. For the first time, I am considering living in Europe and becoming an expatriate. There are far fewer negative attitudes regarding chronic pain treatment there, and the law does not condemn doctors who treat patients who have legitimate problems that cause chronic pain. That is much more than I can say for my country, and that makes me feel angry and betrayed. As a citizen of the United States, I believed we had the right to be free from oppression and fear, and had the right to the pursuit of happiness. The doctors in our country are most definitely NOT free from fear and oppression. They are unable to treat people who are in pain and fear that pain. They are as much the oppressed of our nation as those who need their help and cannot receive it. Those of us who are affected by this travesty live in fear that our untreated pain will render us useless members of society and will blot out any happiness we might have known otherwise. I know I would be very happy to be a productive member of society by teaching in our public schools and to hopefully make a difference in the lives of the future of our country - our youth. Now, my pursuit of this dream has been effectively ended, left to die a slow, painful death.
If I cannot live a productive life in my home country, I will live one in another - for live a decent life I will. I will survive and lead a productive, comfortable life, free from pain (and the fear of that pain) which cripples me emotionally and physically.
I am saddened and outraged beyond words that my country will not allow me to do so here.
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Sara:
Welcome to the NFTP. We will attempt to find you a competent doctor in your area. If we cannot, you can come for treatment at the Foundation’s Clinic here in Houston. You will not be denied adequate care. That is the heart of the purpose of the Foundation.
It saddens me to read of your suffering and despair. It is nothing less than madness that our nation should behave so badly. If you have read the Executive Director messages you know that we have thought long and hard about how this came to be.
The history of virtually every nation reveals madness. Time eventually corrects these extremes of human behavior. Germany, your childhood home, is a prime example. How could people of such refinement, tradition and culture have done what they did to millions? They went insane, that’s how. Well, the United States is insane now, encouraged by opportunists and greed-driven cynics. In four short years we have spent 683 Billion dollars on atrocity, and even to this moment our politicians cannot find the courage to confront it. The record of our nation’s treatment of the young, the elderly, the sick and the suffering, is equally horrendous.
A famous Yogi once said that the road to universal harmony is through personal harmony. We will save you from your suffering. Then you can proceed again on the road to finding your personal harmony. You will hear from us shortly.
Dr. Hochman
Executive Director
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