I can SO relate to this John...I even WRITHED IN PAIN on an ER stretcher for 6 hours because the Dr didn't believe I had such severe lower back/abdominal pain & UNABLE to urinate in a cup, but just 'narcotic seeking'...It was only when the Nurses changed shifts that one believed me when she found I had a fever since coming in & convinced him to do an abdominal CT...BTW, I was fully insured...He came into the cubicle & literally SLAMMED the bottle of Snapple/contrast on the table & said, 'At least when the results come back I can kick your time wasting ass out of here & get somebody that is really sick in this bed!'...Well, the scan showed I had SEVEN kidney stones! Some had partially passed...and were blocking me from urinating...but there were still 2 in one kidney & 1 in the other, & there was no way to tell how many I had passed B4 my neighbor insisted in driving me to the ER ! As soon as the Tech began to see my scans, she IMMEDIATELY called a Radiologist to see/read them. I was already in early sepsis & at risk for bladder rupture/kidney failure by the time they sedated & catharized me to remove over 2.5 LITRES of brown/cloudy urine. Another Hospital's Crisis Social worker just sent me home when I sought help because I was seriously considering taking my life...She just came out to the ER Triage area & gave me a release form to sign that said I had been medically evaluated and no need for emergent care had been found. When I asked what I should do about feeling suicidal, she didn't even turn around/look at me when she said, 'Just do what I am...go home, get some sleep & don't do that.' Two weeks later my pain meds were refilled & I took 10 Zofran...a med to control severe vomiting...then waited 10 mins B4 taking the entire bottle (90 tabs) of 80 mg Oxycontin...When I didn't answer my phone after trying for an hour, a friend called the Apt Bldg Mgr, who called an Ambulance when she went to my apt & couldn't wake me...Between 2000 & 2004, I was given 3 different 'rounds' of Interferon/Ribavirin & Peg Interferon/Ribavirin...Those treatments did NOTHING for my HCV, just took my THRIVING/active life, Paramedic career, & even my Marriage, & left me in CONSTANT/EXCRUSCIATING pain in every joint of my body, depressed, bedridden almost 24/7...& alone except for my 3 chihuahuas...THEY, & my Faith have been my ONLY answers to, 'WHY DO I KEEP ON DOING THIS?', or stopped ME from asking/Praying not to wake to another day...SO many times...I can't believe with SO MANY of us left with such similar/ongoing symptoms that have left us shadows of the VITAL people we once were, MANY YEARS after taking the same drugs...and with no other explanation...,we just go ignored AND EVEN BERATED AS MALINGERERS, FAKERS, HYPOCHODRIACS &/OR 'DRUG SEEKERS'...by the medical/legal systems. HOW/WHY CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE?!