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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Living With Pain No Cause And No Cure, Chronic Pain Sufferers Get Little Relief From The Agony That Has Invaded Their Lives

Cris Salsbury Special To In Life

I am a chronic pain sufferer. That means that I have pain that lasts longer than normal, it may have no known cause, it does not respond to normal treatments and there is no real cure.

My official diagnosis is fibromyalgia, degenerative disk disease and arthritis. I have spent the last 30 years in pain, sometimes very manageable and sometimes so extreme I am totally disabled. Until recently, I have suffered in silence like millions of chronic pain victims throughout this country. My family knows the challenges I face each day, but most of my doctors, friends, co-workers and relatives have no idea what my life is like.

I only speak out now because I have finally connected with other people like me and now realize that we, as well as our health providers, need help.

It is estimated that at any one time, more than 30 million Americans suffer from undertreated acute cancer and intractable chronic noncancer pain largely because physicians are fearful of losing their licenses for prescribing too many opiates (narcotic pain relievers). Twenty years of “Say No to Drugs” effectively paralyzed the medical community, thus creating needless suffering and little or no quality of life for millions of cancer and AIDS patients, chronic pain sufferers and recent surgical patients. It’s time to say “yes” to us.

I was 13 the first time I injured my back. Over the next 20 years, further injuries, pregnancy and other causes led to back surgery, a laminectomy, which removed a herniated disk in my lower back. Additional surgeries were ruled out because my physicians felt the operations would cause more harm rather than improve my condition.

Living with some pain meant it was hard, and some days impossible, to clean my house, to sit or stand for more than an hour, to make love to my husband, to put on pantyhose or tie my shoes, to have my son or husband hug me and thousands of other little things you don’t realize you can’t do until you try.

The emotional side of pain is probably the most difficult aspect of this syndrome. I was totally incapacitated day after day, sometimes up to six months at a time. I felt useless, unable to be a productive worker, wife or mother. Listening to or filling other family members’ needs was impossible because every ounce of my energy was focused on diminishing the pain. I knew that if this was what the rest of my life would be, I didn’t want to live.

I had to change the way I viewed my life, career and future.

During both good and bad periods, I worked in communications and served on hundreds of committees and volunteer boards. But I had to curtail my involvement in local activities. The more limited I became physically, the more I had to be mentally creative.

I stopped working for other people and opened a public relations firm from my home. It gave me the freedom to continue in my profession without disclosing my physical pain or limitations to my clients.

My husband learned to accept the positive and negative me. My son, now 20, learned to accept people with disabilities and treat them with compassion. But I could only continue to be a fully productive member of society as long as my pain was adequately managed, and I didn’t find real relief until this year.

Like other chronic pain patients, I have tried just about everything to manage my pain. I’ve used more than 40 kinds of narcotic and nonnarcotic pain relievers, muscle relaxers and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). I have also tried long periods of bed rest, hot baths, cold packs, physical therapy, chiropractic manipulation, traction, biofeedback, ultrasound, deep heat treatments and an individual TENS unit (an electrical stimulation device).

I have limited my physical activities, used a back brace, a cane and a wheelchair. I have been hypnotized, used acupuncture and a variety of herbal remedies. Through back clinics I was taught proper lifting, bending and standing along with a host of exercises to do daily.

Most treatments worked to a limited extent. The surgery helped me immensely for about a year and a half. The TENS unit was effective for pain relief but tended to “scramble” my brain so I couldn’t drive or concentrate on work. The muscle relaxers did not work at all. The NSAIDs upset my stomach, often doubling me over in pain.

Only two treatments really allowed me to live a relatively normal life: exercise and narcotic pain medications. But the doctors were reluctant to prescribe adequate pain medication, so I had to “learn to live with” a fair amount of pain on a daily basis.

Much of the time I was treated like an addict or second-class citizen. From time to time my doctors would stop the medications. Each time they did, I would be back in extreme, totally debilitating pain within a month. They referred me to an addiction specialist who told me that if the pain got too bad, he could put me in the hospital and I could self-medicate with morphine.

As a sole-proprietor, this solution was impossible. I couldn’t just stop working when I hurt and enter the hospital for up to a month at a time.

He suggested one other solution: cut my spinal cord if the pain became too intense. I was horrified. I could, on one hand, take medications which allowed me to live a healthy, pain-free, normal life. Or, in his opinion, I could be out of pain by electing to become permanently disabled.

That incident prompted me to investigate further. I discovered that in Europe, Mexico and Canada, pain is treated more humanely and the pain medications I was taking were available over the counter.

Then I saw a small newspaper ad about a new organization called the Washington Intractable Chronic Pain Association (WICPA) for chronic pain sufferers and health providers.

WICPA’s founder, Tikvah Hoffman, had been working with former state Rep. Betty Sue Morris to develop an Intractable Pain Treatment Act (IPTA) for Washington. Only five states (California, Texas, Oregon, Nebraska and Missouri) to date have IPTAs, which protect health providers who prescribe, administer and distribute narcotics when medically necessary for the treatment of pain.

Until this protection is in place, most physicians will not treat chronic pain, cancer and postoperative patients with adequate medication because they are afraid of losing their licenses. Washington’s legislation did not pass in the last session, but through WICPA, chronic pain patients finally had a voice.

All this time, I thought I was alone. I had never spoken to anyone else who suffered from chronic pain, especially no one who took medication even stronger than me to control pain. I began meeting physicians all over this country who were willing to treat people with chronic pain. I met pain management specialists who knew that fears of addiction in chronic pain patients were unwarranted. At least two studies have now proven that chronic pain sufferers do not become addicts.

Addicts abuse narcotics compulsively and do so despite adverse consequences in their social, physical, psychological or spiritual lives. They look for an emotional high to lift them out of reality. Chronic pain patients use narcotics under a doctor’s supervision to face reality, to live normal lives and be productive citizens. There is no escape or emotional high from the narcotics because the pain “eats up” the high a non-chronic pain person would feel.

I had to arrange to see an out-of-state physician to ensure I was able to be treated effectively for my chronic pain. I am now pain-free much of each day. Although my solution is not the best solution for all chronic pain patients, I do not apologize for the medication I take it to treat my physical condition.

It allows me to be a productive member of society. I maintain a successful business, serve on the board of the Spokane Public Relations Council, volunteer as an advocate for abused and neglected children, serve on the American Red Cross public support committee and on WICPA’s board.

I hope my work with WICPA will save other chronic pain patients from unnecessary suffering, assist in protecting health providers who work with people with pain and educate the public about this problem.

Staff illustration by A. Heitner

MEMO: Cris Salsbury is the owner of Trade Promotions, a marketing and public relations firm in Spokane. She has published one book, “A Guide to Solar in Washington State,” and several articles in publications such as Cat Fancy, Solar Washington, Northwest Nonprofit and numerous newspapers and newsletters.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Find out more For information about the Washington Intractable Chronic Pain Association (WICPA), call Cris Salsbury, 328-8534, or Tikvah Hoffman, (360) 574-0467. The address is 2308 N.E. 94th St., Vancouver, WA 98665. Doug Ventera is the director. WICPA is raising funds through the sale of “Poetry of Pain: Poems of Truth, Acceptance and Hope for Those Who Suffer Chronic Pain,” by Linda Mattinson, an Edmonds, Wash., author. Send $10.75 plus $3 shipping and handling to WICPA at the above address. For information about the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association (NCPOA), call (301) 652-4948. The address is 7979 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814.

Cris Salsbury is the owner of Trade Promotions, a marketing and public relations firm in Spokane. She has published one book, “A Guide to Solar in Washington State,” and several articles in publications such as Cat Fancy, Solar Washington, Northwest Nonprofit and numerous newspapers and newsletters.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Find out more For information about the Washington Intractable Chronic Pain Association (WICPA), call Cris Salsbury, 328-8534, or Tikvah Hoffman, (360) 574-0467. The address is 2308 N.E. 94th St., Vancouver, WA 98665. Doug Ventera is the director. WICPA is raising funds through the sale of “Poetry of Pain: Poems of Truth, Acceptance and Hope for Those Who Suffer Chronic Pain,” by Linda Mattinson, an Edmonds, Wash., author. Send $10.75 plus $3 shipping and handling to WICPA at the above address. For information about the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association (NCPOA), call (301) 652-4948. The address is 7979 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814.