Treatment Discrimination for Chronic Pain
Treating my conditions, which includes psoriatic arthritis, using natural treatments has its perks. One is that I no longer suffer from pharmaceutical side-effects. Another is having control over my dosages. However, there is a downside. The downside is that my physicians aren’t happy that I am no longer requesting prescriptions. Sadly, those of us who treat our conditions naturally aren’t the only ones who are treated poorly by traditional doctors; those who medicate with pharmaceutical prescriptions are treated just as badly.
Discrimination for needing prescription medication
Somewhere along the road, the healthcare system in the United States appears to have shifted from finding the source of conditions to just throwing more and more pills at patients in order to combat symptoms. Many of these prescriptions come with the risk of overdosing. On the plus side, our government acknowledges this risk. On the downside, their answer to this is was to restrict how much a physician can prescribe per month. Restricting how many pain pills a patient is able to receive per month has resulted in millions of people suffering from a painful chronic condition not having access to an acceptable level of relief.
Prior to switching to natural methods, I was made to feel like a drug addict seeking my next fix on a monthly basis. Each month I had to beg for my pain medication and then only receive a portion of what my doctors had been able to prescribe in the past. I no longer had a surplus for severe days. Instead, I had to go days without pain meds in order to have enough to get through my toughest days. Unfortunately, going without pain meds on days that I needed a lower level of relief caused my severe days to be worse than before. Being treated like an addict, not being prescribed a proper level of relief, and having to beg for those pills on a monthly basis are just a few factors that influenced my decision to treat my pain naturally.
Discrimination for not taking prescription medication
One of the perks of treating my conditions without my doctor’s prescription pad is that I no longer have to beg and plead for relief. However, my doctors are less than thrilled. Instead of monitoring my conditions like they did when I was medicating pharmaceutically, I have been told by most that unless I wanted them to write a prescription they had no reason to see me.
The sad fact is this: The odds of your being treated poorly are high no matter how you treat your chronic condition. The good news is that there are a few good doctors out there; we just need to look long and hard to find them. Do yourself a favor, if you have a doctor who treats you with respect, don’t leave them!! If not, keep looking!
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