I went back to reread her paper after reading this because I know I didn't see her write anything about us getting "high" or being addicts. I believe you must have seriously misunderstood or didn't read it completely. I want to make it clear that I am not starting a fight, flaming you or being mean. I thought it necessary to point out to you the fact you did not read her paper very well.

I found a couple of places where, and correct me if I'm wrong, I believe you completely put words into her mouth so to speak that weren't there. I'm going to quote the parts I found and I would ask you to quote where in her paper she said we get "high" and are addicts.

This part she is saying that some experience high relief in pain for awhile from meds. I also see that she's saying our bodies become tolerant to a certain med,not just pain meds but all of them, after a certain amount of time.

Here I see she said that the meds are highly addictive, which they are. Ask any doctor, narcotics by their very nature are labeled as addictive but it does not mean WE will become addicted. We can't become addicted simply because we experience a great deal of pain and we don't take them because of any psychological need. Our bodies to build up a tolerance and our bodies become dependent on them. The word dependent has nothing to do with addiction in this context. It also does not apply only to narcotics. The words tolerant and dependent describe a fact that happens after taking any medication for an extended amount of time.

I also see that she stated another fact about narcotics. They are abused by millions of people because they do get a high from taking them. She says that anyone being given narcotic drugs need to be monitored so they do not become addicted.

No where in the above does she state that people with rsd get high from their meds or that we become drug seeking addicts. Another statement of fact is a great deal of Pain Management doctors DO require you to sign a contract and regularly submit to a urinalysis. I had to sign one when I went to the 1st appt with my pm. If you don't sign it, you don't become a patient of his. It's that simple. I also have to have a urinalysis done once every 6 months. The whole first year I had to do it every single visit! I promised in signing that contract I wouldn't get any meds from another doctor. These contracts are there to protect not only the patient but most importantly it protects the doctor. As with anything else doing it or not is up to a individual pm doc. Most do, some don't. Just because you haven't had to do it does not mean many others don't.

I am offended by the fact you took things completely out of context and put words in her mouth. She worked very hard on this and IMO presented a VERY thorough piece of work about rsd using our own words in places to make the point to non rsd'ers that this is real.

Once again, I invite you to do what I did and quote the specific sentence or sentences where she says we get high from our meds and we are addicts.

Respectfully,

Karen