Police: Mont. man denied painkillers, shoots self

I used to think that people that needed heavy pain meds were weak until I developed a herniated disc. Now I can honestly say there have been times when someone could have walked up and shot me and I'd been fine with it. Extreme pain for extended periods becomes unbearable. If it goes long enough, just about anyone will slip and do about anything to get it to stop just for 5 minutes.

How many people in severe pain commit suicide because the stupid war on drugs keeps doctors from prescribing pain medication? It is easier to buy pain medicine on the streets than to get it from the doctor.

I was accidentally hit in the face with a baseball bat, split lip, concussion, loose teeth, etc. When I asked for something for the pain the nurse in the ER told that they weren't a drugstore.

I am a chronic pain patient and trying to get help is a nightmare thank God for a doctor I found who knows what we go through but it took 15 years, 3 in a wheelchair and 8 in a chair drooling from being put on methadone for pain to get real help. I don't blame the doctors I blame the #$%$ politicians who do not have a CLUE. I have reflux sympathetic dystrophy, fibromyalgia and neuropathy and tried 3 times to kill myself before I got help. Thanks to this wonderful doctor I am out of my wheelchair and just finished college.

There are folks in genuine pain that shouldn't be denied. There are folks that are drug seekers. Both need help.

I picked up my refill today, have to show a license to get Hydrocodone BT Ibuprofen , 90 ct. , not a great way to go thru the day all spacey but neither is stabbing pains and a burning feeling across the back ...

I know what it's like to be in constant pain everyday! I have bulging discs at every level in the lumbar and 3 in my neck along with pinched nerves, it not only effects my back, I get pain in the limbs, feet and hands. Sometimes there is absolutely no relief!

The thing is, so many people say must be a drug addict, when the reality is generally different. My mother has severe back problems, RSD and nerve damage. She has asked me to pray for her to die on a few occasions. While there have been quite a few changes to make it easier to deal with the pain NOW, 10 years ago the were still doing nerve blocks and whatnot. Nerves don't die, they heal or come back to life, but with the damage done. Like a burn victim. There just isn't much relief. That man is screaming for help, shooting yourself is extreme to get help. The amount of meds my Mother gets would kill a horse, and she will never be without pain. It can only be managed.

My wife has legit serious health issues and chronic pain - and yet she cannot get painkillers. It's disgusting that people who really need them cannot get any because drug addicts and misconceptions about chronic pain. Meanwhile, the rich and famous get all the drugs they want, even painkillers they don't need.

It effen hurts NOW!!!!!!

Had a friend whos husband complained of back pain to his Dr, repeatedly for 2 yrs, finally labeled him a drug seeker. He seeks help from another dr who ordered MRI of his back, had cancer wrapped around his spine, he died 2 months later...

For decades Pain has been the most UNDER treated medical condition in America. I still remember having horrificly painful ear infections as a youth/teenager and when the doctor said "take Tylenol for pain", my heart sank. So, I spent the next several days, AND NIGHTS in blinding pain instead of being given a 3 day supply of pain meds. How cruel that was. How sadistic, sick, and wrong.

When you've truly experienced herniated disc pain, knee, joint and other pain including arthritis, You can understand what drives people to take pain medicines. I've dealt with all of these and try to take meds a little as possible. However, I can say that at times , the pain has been so overwhelming that, if I had a gun, I'd use it, but not on my foot.

Living with pain can be beyond understanding until you've experienced it.

Primum non nocere, Doctors. First, do no harm. Through commission or OMISSION. LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENTS. Most Doctors suffer from symptoms of deafness when a patient enters the room.

Back Pain can be almost impossible to diagnose. Therefore when people complain of back pain continually the suspicion that they are drug seekers arises. This is especially true in an ER as the doctor normally doesn't have a history with the patient. It is often a judgement call and many truly suffering people pay the price.

This is what the "War on Drugs" has caused! People in legitimate pain cannot get relief, because doctors are afraid to prescribe narcotics, due to the fact that they are afraid they will get investigated by some government agency for over prescribing. Because of that some poor joe has to shoot himself, just to get pain relief. I'm sorry, but in my opinion this is just one more example of why drugs should be legalized and the money previously spent fighting the war on drugs should be used to help rehabilitate those who become addicts. I'm sorry but the path we are on now is simply not working and if we continue down it, things are just going to get worse.

Give the man a couple of pain pills or a shot and refer him to a doctor. The high and almighty keepers of the pain relief.

Many people living (if you can call it living) with chronic pain have to go to the ER for pain relief because they can't find a doctor to treat them. They can't find a doctor to treat them because 9 out of 10 doctors have been burned by junkies and scumbags and find it easier to simply assume everyone who claims to be in pain is lying rather than risk losing their practice for prescribing to junkies now that the government has placed that burden at the doctor's feet. So doctors now insist and are regulated to offering referrals to pain specialists, who anyone dealing with chronic pain today can attest to are some of the most prejudice and unpleasant people in the entire medical community to deal with, not to mention that they're becoming far more untrustworthy for too many reasons to go into here.
So we're back to the ER, where legit chronic pain sufferers and scumbags plus their junkie counterparts all have to go to because of the issues with doctors, pain specialists and Big Brother. ER docs are now flooded with this non-emergency issue and are pulling their hair out, while people with chronic pain are now resorting to shooting themselves to get treatment at the ER, as it beats the alternative of dealing with doctors and pain specialists. MEANWHILE... the US still accounts for 99% of all pain medication used worldwide.

Continual Pain is no joke, maybe the government restricts the medication in the hopes that you in your pain and desperation go the illegal rout, and buy them the illegal way so they can bust you and they can burden you with years of paying fines and costs, oh don't forget the lawyer fee's, darn now Im depressed, i will take a depression pill they give those out by bucket full

Easy way to get rid of pain. SMOKE POT its that easy. Who cares what the cops or anyone says. If we all start smoking what are they going to do lock everyone up? The answer is no. Its only illegal because we allow it to be.