Dear Rose -- you are STILL supposed to have ADEQUATE pain relief!! What you have obviously is not adequate!! If what you feel right now on a scale of one to ten is above a 4 or 5, then it certainly is NOT adequate. We all know that we will not be pain-free. But we want SOME level of comfort. We don't want to be in PAIN. We don't want to have those "grimace" lines on our face all the time, and that seems to be the case with most of us.

While your pain may not be as bad as someone else's, it's still YOUR PAIN, and it's bad enough for you! It's still PAIN and it hurts! It needs to be taken care of and it MATTERS. Don't minimize it or compare it with anyone elses, because it's yours!!! And it hurts.

Be your own advocate, and stand up for yourself. I had to learn to do this because I have always been meek and intimidated. But doctors are NO better than we are. NO better. Even tho they may have trouble with the DEA, that's THEIR problem. OUR problem is getting pain-control. If you don't have proper pain control, you're going to have to demand it, and that's hard to do. Just TELL the doctor that what you're taking is NOT doing it, and you NEED either an increase in dosage OR something else. You CAN do this. That's all you need to say. But don't let him say NO -- plead with him if you have to -- cry if you have to. I did.

We hurt. Our pain matters. They need to know this. They need to understand. Your pain WILL get worse -- you need to get a handle on it NOW before it gets out of hand. And it will in time. God bless & take care. Hugs, Lee