A Sad Day

[Guest guest]

I want to talk about something that is not often discussed in BI forums. What

I want to

discuss is pain meds. The reason I am bringing this up is because I

know that many of us have pain from connective tissue disease or other

illnesses. Very often, doctors will prescribe pain medications such as percocet,

or darvocet

or worse (oxycodone). A year ago, I was prescribed oxycodone, and realized that

I did

not want to continue taking them - they were simply too addictive. At that time,

plaquenil

was not doing enough to relieve the pain. But there came a point that the 'cure'

was

worse than the pain. Thank God I was able to see it -- and stop it.

My friend Ann took percocet for chronic pain. Ann was my age, and she and I

had much in common. I loved her kindness, her wit and her intelligence. She had

two

teenage children, and a loving husband. A few months ago, I became alarmed at

how

depressed she seemed, and many pills she was taking. I tried to talk her into

going into

treatment (rehab). She finally agreed to go into a 5 day 'detox'. I picked her

up at her

house, and grabbed her favorite pillow, an overnight bag, and we drove to the

clinic. When

we arrived, we were met by a nurse who was very understanding and helped put Ann

at

ease. Ann stayed the 5 days, then went home. I saw Ann a few times after that,

but I

was busy studying for the bar exam, and didn't see a lot of her.

Ann told me we would celebrate when I passed the exam - go to lunch and splurge

on Starbucks frappucino. So today I decided to call her, to share with her my

good

news. Her husband answered the phone. When I asked for her, he paused...

and told me that Ann had died. Ann had apparently decided to take pain meds

again... and one day she took too many.

I am very sad today. I know I should not be so selfish, but I feel cheated. I

looked

forward to having that lunch with Ann. I wanted to share with her my joy and

anticipation

of working again. But now I can never do that. I can only imagine what her

family is going

through. There was little I could say to her husband, except how sorry I was

for his loss.

He lost his wife, and their teenage children lost their mother. I lost a

friend.

Please please be careful of medications. I don't want to lose another friend.