In talking to many other chronic pain patients who are using legally prescribed opioids safely and responsibly, I have noticed many general practitioners (GPs) are not trained in chronic pain management.
They may not know how to differentiate between the observable, destructive addiction behaviors displayed by people with substance abuse disorder and the requests of a chronic pain patient who requires a regular, stable dose of pain-relieving opioids.
This issue is magnified many times over if a chronic pain patient has to explain their condition to a new doctor — or worse still is required to present to a hospital emergency department due to the acute flare-up of a chronic condition.
Read more on themighty.com