@wisco50 I stand corrected. I shouldn't blame medical people for the mess, as it comes from the next level up. If it hadn't become a political hot topic, those of us, whom you describe, would have access to the medications that treat our chronic pain, whatever the cause. I've been trying to give every medication that my team of doctors throw my way a chance to reduce my pain level for 7+ years now, with only temporary success at best. I'm pretty much at the end of options.

One of my frustrations is that as recently as 5 years ago my doctors spoke of the morphine sulfate contin I take as a pain reliever. It changed quite abruptly from a "medication that treats pain" to "It doesn't treat pain. It only changes your perception of the pain".

Whatever the mechanism, it does truly reduce my pain level, whether directly or indirectly. It really offends me when a doctor tells me that it isn't actually treating the pain.

Jim