Real people. Real stories.

I was hit by a drunk driver. It broke my neck and back. I had fusion surgery, and it didn't stick. I had a second fusion and told them I was in worse pain. They told me, "You don't know your own body." Then it was, "Nothing is wrong with you." Then it was, "We think you are a liar and just want meds."

For 15 years they gaslighted me. I finally saw a neurosurgeon. He told me the second fusion did not stick, and that my pain was because I had been walking around with a broken neck. I felt so vindicated.

Surgery 3 was a titanium cage. Horrible pain. I have slept in a chair for 29 years. Now I have ruptured discs above and below the cage. Surgery 4 was a complete shoulder rebuild. Take Tylenol. Don't go to the hospital, they treat you like a drug seeker. If you happen to get a good doctor, it's like hitting the lottery.

The pain clinic treats you like a criminal. It's frustrating and demeaning. For 10 pain pills a month I am drug tested and made to feel like I'm not a human being. They force me to get shots, and if I don't, I'm kicked out. They pressure me to have an epidural. I refuse. They harass me every day.

We need help. I can't go to my grandchildren's plays or baseball games. It affects every aspect of life. I want me back. Laundry or grocery shopping puts me down for a week. Most of the time I can barely function. I feel so isolated. I am a shell of the person I used to be. I feel like a burden to others and myself. I'm not depressed, I'm pissed off. Why are they trying to kill us? I'm not asking to be pain free, just to survive and function.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 anytime.

I am 68 years old, permanently disabled, and live in Washington State. I have lived with chronic pain for decades from back and neck injuries, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, neuropathy, bone spurs, and a frozen shoulder. For approximately 15 years, prescribed opioid medication has helped me manage that pain and have a life. It doesn't make every problem disappear. It helps me do ordinary things, move around my home, ride my stationary bike, and be there for my son.

The doctor who has managed my treatment for nearly 10 years recently told me he is ending chronic opioid prescribing for most of his chronic pain patients. After years of treatment, and for no medical reason, I am being tapered to zero. As my medication was reduced, my pain increased. I experienced anxiety, interrupted sleep, exhaustion, nausea, and a racing heart. I asked for a slower taper and an explanation of why stopping this treatment was medically necessary in my case. At our most recent appointment, I was told I would receive three months of prescriptions at my current dose and would need to find another primary care provider. Now I have a deadline hanging over me, without knowing whether I will find someone willing to continue my care.

I have tried physical therapy, injections, and other invasive treatments. One injection left my leg numb for more than a year. I will not return to pain management clinics because of my past experiences. They threatened to remove my treatment if I didn't agree to these procedures, so I left. That does not mean I am refusing medical care. I want a primary care provider who will listen, evaluate my history, and work with me.

What hurts is feeling that the years this treatment helped me function no longer count. Physical dependence should not erase our dignity. We are people with families, responsibilities, and lives we still want to live. We deserve to be heard before treatment that helps us function is taken away. It is quite conceivable that if this taper continues I will spend the rest of my life in bed. It is abusive and unethical what is being done to me.

I don't know where to start. I am so overwhelmed by the pain I experience every single day. I cannot function or think clearly because of it. I was on pain medication for years, and I was taken off it cold turkey. I am suffering and don't know where to turn. I have osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, and several kinds of arthritis.

In February 2026 I fractured my spine in a fall at home. I had to go to the emergency room three different times before they discovered it. I went to a primary care doctor, and he didn't discover it either. The only pain medication I received during this whole horrific time was a pain shot during my third emergency room visit. I went to a primary care doctor after leaving the hospital, and he gave me about seven ibuprofen and sent me home.

I currently live alone and use a walker. I have no help, and I am in terrible pain.

I've had 29 surgeries in my lifetime, all joint surgeries. In my younger years I did a lot of motocross and hare scrambles, rode horses, rode bulls, played tennis and football, and destroyed my body. I have artificial hips, artificial shoulders, and an artificial knee, and I have hardware in my left ankle. I also have avascular necrosis, which is very painful. I have pain somewhere every day. After Christmas, my right leg is being amputated.

I've had several pain management doctors, some good and some not so good. My new pain doctor wanted me to try a non-narcotic pain medication. It didn't work. That's the fourth non-narcotic I've tried.

Every time I've had a surgery, I've had to fight for pain medication in the hospital. Before they take my leg, I want to make sure the anesthesiologist and the pain doctor are on board with what I want, not just what they want. They treat me like I'm a drug addict.

I'd love to be able to live with a pain of three on a scale of 10 instead of 8 to 10, which is where I am right this minute. After my last surgery I got an infection and a fungal infection, and six surgeries later I'm losing my leg. I didn't give myself this infection. So I understand everybody's pain. God bless you, and peace be with you.

I was an RN for 35 years. I'm still an RN, even though I'm now retired. My situation happened in 1996, when a hit and run driver cut my car off and created complete havoc in my life. My car went up on two wheels and hit two concrete walls. It left me with post-traumatic syringomyelia, two herniated cervical discs, a crushed coccyx, 200 stitches in my head, and, as time went on, debilitating pain, electrical firing, and numbness.

I fought the pain for a while with massive amounts of NSAIDs. As I aged, I got spinal stenosis and bulging discs pinching my nerves. Then I developed chronic kidney disease, which means I can't take NSAIDs anymore. I'm in my 70s and raising my 10-year-old grandson, hoping to have a viable life until he is old enough to care for himself. I also have a disabled husband. This requires me to stay on my feet more than I can tolerate.

My pain is now managed at a pain clinic, because about 4 years ago my primary care doctor told me he could no longer prescribe my pain medication. Recently, my refills have been doing almost nothing for me. While reorganizing my medication drawer, I found a few pills from four years ago and took one when my next dose was due. My pain was relieved the way it used to be. Same dose, same drug, and I could feel a big difference. I posted my concern on a pain management forum, and over 400 people responded with concerns about their own medications.

I believe something is not right, and I want someone to look into it. People rely on their medication to live. Not to play, but to live!

Around 2008, I was hurt on the job. I was run over. This led to spine, back, and nerve issues between T7 and T11, with chronic pain and mobility issues. I have also had many head injuries and concussions, which add to my daily pain. I have a constant headache that waxes and wanes as it wishes. Doctors simply list "migraines." So nice to be cheapened down to "migraines." I'm 60 now, and other issues are rising, like non-diabetic neuropathy.

They changed my meds so many times through the years that my body reacted with weight gain. Because I am heavy, they tell me to exercise. I ask them how, given my pain, mobility, and motion restrictions.

I'm fed up with doctors' dismissals because they want easy, not hard, cases. I'm tired of being told to jump through all these hoops, and maybe. That is cost prohibitive, and transportation is a logistics nightmare. One time, I gave up on doctors for 10 years. Then I finally tried once more. My primary farms out everything to others, knowing my transportation challenges.

On the days I've hit my absolute limit, not every day, my solution is to drink, and drink heavily, to numb myself if I can. Then they claim I am an alcoholic. There's just no winning, no relief, no peace from the pain, day in and day out.

If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol, SAMHSA's free helpline is 1-800-662-4357, any time. For crisis support, call or text 988.

My dad had a chronic pain condition. Doctors gave him opioids in the early 2000s, then stopped them with no support for him. He turned to heroin and eventually took his own life.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 anytime.

While I am not a pain patient myself, I am a licensed professional counselor (in many states referred to as a "Mental Health Counselor"). I own counseling practices in both Idaho and Pennsylvania. My colleagues and I have run across a growing population of patients who experience exactly what your movement describes: the forced medication tapers, not feeling believed by medical providers, pharmacies refusing to fill legitimate prescriptions, and more. It is heartbreaking to see. And it is downright cruel.

I've lost count of how many times patients have reached out to me in a state of crisis because their pain was untreated and they had nearly reached the end of their sanity. Let me be very clear, and the research literature confirms this: when we inappropriately cut legitimate pain patients off of opioid treatment, the risk of suicide increases substantially. Many patients, desperate for relief, also sometimes turn to illicit sources, whether that means buying diverted prescription medications from other patients or buying unregulated substances on the black market. If people understood the true desperation these people were in, no reasonable person would blame them. Either way, this self-administered treatment is substantially more dangerous, because it is no longer under the supervision of a qualified medical professional and does not come from a licensed pharmacy.

I just want people to know that there are healthcare professionals out here who see you, believe you, and are advocating for you. Unfortunately, it will likely take some time to see meaningful change. But we will not stop until this change is realized.

My encouragement for people today is, if possible, to seek care from an independent private practice physician. At larger agencies, many medical directors now dictate prescribing limitations as a blanket policy, and newer providers working under their supervision are not free to push back. Unfortunately, many of these providers are really practicing "policy" rather than truly practicing medicine. Independent private practice physicians are free to practice medicine based solely on their training and clinical judgment.

Again, we see you. We hear you. And you matter very much.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 anytime.