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People with chronic pain who depend on opioids for quality of life are extremely worried about the lack of nuance in the solutions to the OP or crisis. This week on HealthCentral, there are two articles from me on this issue.

First, I talked to the chronic pain community about their concerns and experiences related to opioids. It’s powerful and heartbreaking stuff:

“The opioid crisis is being discussed a lot in the news. The focus is almost inevitably on addiction, overdoses, and what governments and other regulatory agencies are doing to stop the rise of these tragedies. What’s missing from the discussion is the collective voice of 100 million Americans who live with chronic pain and frequently rely on the prescription forms of these drugs for pain relief. We asked the chronic pain community how they felt about the opioid crisis.”

Read how people in chronic pain feel about the opioid crisis.

The second article is about what I feel. It’s a passionate description of the impact opioids have in my life and a call for resistance to make sure our voices are included in the discussion:

“I had to take opioids to be able to write this article. Yesterday, I took opioids so I could meet a friend for lunch. The day before that, I tidied up my living room and — you’ve guessed it — opioids then helped me to be able to go grocery shopping instead of spending the rest of the day just breathing through the pain.

“It’s difficult for others, including lawmakers and doctors, to understand this kind of pain. People who have not experienced severe chronic pain don’t understand that it is akin to a wildfire razing your life, leaving only ashes in its wake. It is moving through your day feeling as if you’re walking on broken bones or engulfed in flames. It is the kind of pain that makes you look favorably upon hacking off limbs, trepanning, and even death. It disables our bodies, changes our brain structure, and leaves us isolated and lonely.”

Read my passion piece on opioids.