If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Most days I do just fine, thank you, but others (like today) can be a look into the great abyss. It's a barometer thing.
On days like these, there isn't really any help to be had. Oh, I can get a massage and take a hot bath, but relief lasts only as long as the massage or bath. After they're over, I'm back to the moaning and groaning, weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
One thing that does help on a consistent basis is the little white pill I take several times a day. It does a fine job of making whatever pain I feel bearable. It takes the edge off of it, and enables me to live a fairly normal life.
That was background.
Here's the rant.
Congress has gotten it into their heads that more and more regulations need to be added to the dispensing of my little pill. Recently it was upgraded to a different drug level, making it more difficult for those with chronic pain to fill legal prescriptions. Whereas I used to be able to get a six-month prescription, I now have to settle for one month at a time.
But that isn't all. Now I have to hand-carry the prescription to the pharmacist each month. Before the last set of regulations hit, my doctor could call the prescription in for me. No more. And to top it all off, my pharmacy will not fill my prescription even one day in advance of the thirty-day limit.
It became even more of a problem when we went out of town. I had three days' worth of pills left, but I couldn't get my refill done because it wasn't time yet. Instead, I had to go back to my doctor and have him write me a new prescription, which I promptly filled elsewhere.
Look, I get it. Congress believes making drugs easier to get means more will be stolen and sold on the street. But think about it. What are honest people with chronic pain to do? WE bear the brunt of someone else's greed and stupidity. WE are the ones punished, not them. WE are the ones who have to jump through hoops in order to get medication we actually need.
How is this fair?
At this rate it won't be long before we are unable to get any kind of pain reliever that actually works. When that happens, I will probably be forced back to aspirin.
That is, before it is also outlawed.
WAKE UP, CONGRESS. NOTICE THAT THOSE WITH CHRONIC PAIN ARE PART OF YOUR CONSTITUENCY.
And by the way, we can be mean when we hurt.
Mean enough to cast votes another direction, if you get my drift.
End of rant.
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