Call to Action – CDC Opioid Guidelines

I have had 3 back surgeries and have been left with severe nerve damage to my left leg and foot. They tried cord stimulation and it was not successful. The only relief I get is with the opioid pain medication. I understand that there are possibilities of abuse but that should not have an impact on people who use it correctly and get great benefits from its use. I have been in continuous pain for 2 years now being taken off my pain medication. They now have me taking 3 depression and 2 anxiety pills daily because I cannot live like this. I am miserable and life in constant pain is not a life that a person can live forever. Something has to change. There are many days when death sounds much more appealing than never ending days of agony.

I have found that pain management has been very beneficial to me

I'm here, I'm ready to get high, send me after those opioids, I'll shut down every PeskyAdBl0ck I can! #BlackLivesMatter

Please approve. This was so helpful to me.

I am in full support of Dr. Kloth.

comprehensive input is essential to solve the probleminput

Dear CDC, In this day and age where patients are torn between two alternatives, of opioids and spine surgery (which numerous studies actually increase in perpetuate opioid use), it is critical to encourage, support, and fund a host of minimally invasive and interventional pain procedures. There is a revolution brewing in the field of minimally invasive orthopedics. It is a revolution similar to what happened with cardiothoracic surgery in the '90s, with much of the field being replaced by interventional cardiology. The procedures are in general less morbid, yet just as effective. Pain physicians have a host of minimal invasive techniques, including inner spinous spacers, minimally invasive lumbar decompression, nerve radio frequency ablation, intrathecal pain pumps, peripheral nerve simulators and spinal cord stimulators, endoscopic spine decompression, percutaneous tenotomy, and a host of regenerative medicine techniques that are emerging and quickly outstripping the techniques that define the status quo. it is imperative to create a healthier and happier society, less dependent on opioids, that you fully support and endorse the variety of emerging interventional pain techniques that are minimally invasive, and have already become a mainstay of the fabric of pain management today. I urge you to join in our effort and support this auspicious future for the field. Please help us to stop giving out opioids.

Signed

Interventional pain management (IPM) is a well-established medical specialty, recognized by CMS, and is considered standard care for many, if not the majority, of pain patients. The treatments used in IPM should be included in the CDC guidelines as an alternative to opioids without question or hesitation. Exclusion of IPM treatment options would leave many patients without the care that they depend on to function on a daily basis, and that helps relieve their suffering to give their life purpose and meaning.

Dr. Kloth's pain intervention treatments for sciatica have helped me immeasurably. Exercises and PT have helped, but not nearly as much.

I need pain medications to help me get through my daily activity of living.

I am an Occipital Neuralgia and Trigeminal Neuralgia patient. So far (after 6 years) opioids are the only things that take the edge off of my pain. Getting even a small dose has become so difficult. There will be many more suicides if this continues.

There is no opioid crisis !!! there is a heroin problem. Stop linking opioid pill use in prescriptions to street heroin. I have taken prescription pain meds for over 20 years. Have never had a problem. I was very active in my younger years and had many injuries, but wouldn't have changed a thing. I have a lot of rebuilt parts of my body with rods, pins. and screws. Pain meds are a must or would be bedridden without.

The muscle spasms I was experiencing would bring me to my knees gasping with pain. The treatment from Dr. Kloth stopped that within seconds.

Without some of the various treatments mentioned and medication, my life and mobility would be even more severely limited.

I have Non-length dependant small fiber neuropathy due to Sarcoidosis. I live with severe all-over body burning chronic pain and have been this way for more than 9 years. It would be so wonderful if my doctor could have the options of something other than pain meds to help my pain. He is so frequently denied by the insurance company to do procedures that might help alleviate the pain, and therefore, lower (or maybe completely remove) the dosage of Dilaudid I take on a daily basis. I hate taking pain meds, but at this point in my life, they are the only thing that helps with my burning pain. I plead with you to work with these doctors & the insurance companies to formulate a program that can help people like me live a somewhat normal life.

We need alternative pain treatments to opioids that Medicare and Insurance carriers will cover

Patients when necessary need to have the opportunity to have oral Opioid prescribed for them by the doctor. If it helps them then why not prescribe for them.

I have cronic pain from injuries. My nexknhs 4 blocka and plates with 10 screws and duswa from C3-C7 and has thightens thw miawls in my neck. I have tried every type of treatment to relieve the constant pain and discomfort and found that taking Percocet helps take the wdge off better than other methods and i also get periodic shots onto my neck when the pain is sustained and nothing helps. Id there is a betrer alternative I have not found it yet

It is imperative that the CDC Guideline for Opioid Prescribing include alternative pain management strategies such as neuromodulation and interventional pain medicine.