Rae Cerce

@TLChronicPain I’d like to point something out that people and hospitals seem to miss. The hospital is the only place to get anything stronger then typically Tylenol, ibuprofen or naproxen. Of course we’re wanting pain relief when we get there! We tried everything else. Why is that so wrong????

“Just Another Drug-Seeker” – Until You Scratch the Surface ER bay 3. A woman curls around her ribs, sweat-soaked gown clinging to her skin, tears carving rivers down her face, voice shattering as she begs for anything to kill the fire. The nurse mutters, “Here we go.” The doctor rubs bloodshot eyes: “Where are all these addicts coming from?” So tired. SCRATCH THE SURFACE She’s a mom of two toddlers. Car wreck last week – broken rib. Surgeon gave 3 days of hydrocodone. “You’ll be fine with Motrin after.” Tonight she tripped over a toy, slammed the floor, pain detonated – every breath a blade, every sob a betrayal. She can’t lift her babies. This isn’t seeking. This is desperately clinging to a broken system that withholds relief. Why so quick to label “drug-seeking”? Med school propaganda + burnout. We think doctors would know the truth about opioid medication, but they’re taught opioids are a huge addiction risk when the facts don’t fit. They get just 9 hours total on pain, heavy on “crisis” horror, light on nuance (AAMC 2018). Residencies hammer CDC caps as gospel. Even when they do know opioid medication is not the addiction risk it is touted— 60% of EM docs fear DEA discipline for easing agony (AMA 2021). The flood has staff drowning – patient cries turn into “addict” shorthand as a shield against the chaos. Why the flood? Surgeons, pain doctors, family practice – they can’t refill pain meds without fear of the DEA throwing them in jail, whether the patient’s need is real or not—it doesn’t even enter the equation. Caps backfire – pain isn’t adequately treated, increasing ER pain visits 30-50% (JAMA 2022). Adding to this pain crisis, chronic pain patients are left to suffer with meds cut or taken away. It’s getting worse – 60% of pain specialists plan to quit or go opioid-free due to stress and hassle (AMA 2024). Where do pain patients turn when uncontrolled pain spirals into debilitating agony? The ER is all they have – and the ER doesn’t want them. This is a broken pain care system causing a full-blown Pain Crisis. ER’s are overflowing with patients with untreated pain. Doctors still practice in fear. @SecKennedy ignores the pain community, continues the opioid propaganda—facts forgotten, care restricted, relief withheld—patients crucified, treated with disbelief and disdain. PAIN ISN’T SEEKING, IT’S SURVIVING. Teach doctors the truth about opioids—end the fear-based care. Stop letting exhaustion crucify the hurting. Allow doctors to prescribe adequate pain coverage—prevent the ER overflow. Share YOUR story below—let’s amplify the truth together! @JointCommission @AMA @CDCgov @SecKennedy @DEAHQ —fix the broken system. @StefanKertesz @KlineDr69402 @jmkillingnyc @ibdgirl76 — @TLChronicPain #PainTruth #ChronicPain

@DiaryofaSickGrl Mines up now but just lights no decorations. I’ll decorate it after thanksgiving. For now it’s just ambient lighting lol

If you put up a Christmas tree when do you put it up?

@DiaryofaSickGrl I heard this in his voice 💯💯😊

A lot of you didn’t watch Bambi growing up and it shows

The Lose-Lose Trap of Chronic Pain in Healthcare As a former nurse, I’ve seen it firsthand: patients in agony, writhing or screaming, desperate for relief—or sitting quietly, trying to hold it together despite unbearable pain. And yet, no matter how they present, chronic pain patients often face a lose-lose situation in healthcare. If you’re calm, composed, and articulate about your pain, providers may doubt you. “If it was that bad, you wouldn’t be so calm,” they think. The label “drug-seeking” gets whispered, charted, or assumed. Your pain is dismissed because you’re not “acting” like someone in agony. But if you’re vocal—crying, anxious, loud, or desperate—suddenly you’re “faking it” or “attention-seeking.” The same “drug-seeking” label gets slapped on, but now it’s because you’re “too emotional” or “hysterical.” Your chart might note “exaggerated behavior,” as if your distress isn’t real. Either way, you’re judged. Either way, your pain is questioned. Either way, you’re less likely to get the care you need. It’s a trap, and chronic pain patients know it all too well. Chronic pain patients shouldn’t have to navigate this impossible trap—stay calm but not too calm, show distress but not too much. They shouldn’t have to perform their pain “just right” to be taken seriously. Healthcare needs to do better. We need medical workers to listen, investigate, and treat pain with urgency and respect. To the chronic pain community: I see you. Your pain is real. You deserve care —not judgment. Have you faced this trap? #ChronicPain #LongCovid #ChronicIllness #Spoonie #EndPainStigma #TLChronicPain💜

@ibdgirl76 What no

Is it ethical for a doctor to lie to a patient in order to coerce the pt into a certain medical decision?

@RealismHelps @DiaryofaSickGrl Tell everyone you didn’t understand the post without telling them you didn’t understand the post

@DiaryofaSickGrl Surely you want folk to 'be educated' about this? so why pray we never learn?.............Or maybe, just maybe, it's kinda true and struck a nerve?

I pray you never learn how ignorant this is 😉

@DiaryofaSickGrl okay there’s alot to unpack in that one sentance but the worst is not even the implication she strait out says she thinks you have the potential to get better. Is there just. Do people not. The word is CHRONIC people. All the time. Doesn’t. Go. Away. Ever. C H R O N I C.

@ThePOTSPostman @crystalmurphy28 This would hold doctors accountable in the best way

The problem with medical records is that they are doctor centered. Every note in a patients chart is from the doctor’s perspective. Patients need a space to document their side of the story on how the appointment went. We need notes that reflect both voices.

@DiaryofaSickGrl I’m not sure why people think their are but they do. If I had a nickel for every time I heard “gee I wish I could watch movies in the middle of the day like you” I’m sorry you mean you wish you had extreme pain and couldn’t move so you had too lay down most of the day? Mkay.

There are absolutely no perks to being chronically ill or disabled

@heysugardumplin Out of curiosity what do you expect people to do? The world has started moving again, and it’s not really an option for some of us to continue standing still in a moving world, im seriously asking you what is it you want people to do? If simply masking doesn’t work.

Stop listening to ‘mask and relax’ accounts telling you how you can go to cons, air travel, live your life and stay safe… I beg you, these people are not allies.

@tomrose @piersmorgan I’m not sure what the point of posting this was as he never said he didn’t have a right to say what he wants just called him a liar for backtracking??

You lying pr*ck. We all saw and heard what you said.

@K_Bishof NO WAY would I have signed that!!!! That is borderline insulting.

Intimidation & retaliation towards #chronicallyill & #disabled pts is an #epidemic w/in the #healthcaresystem. Dare advocate for yourself, you're labeled as difficult/aggressive. After filing a complaint at the direction of another clinician, I received this threatening letter.🧵

@ibdgirl76 This is literally my story and it’s 14 years later and I still sit in extreme pain with just gabapentin to medicate me. Not even a damn muscle relaxer.

New Pt Story: Severe infection, on ECMO and in coma for six weeks. Six organs started to shut down. Left with severe nerve and tissue damage. Guess what they will give her for pain? SUBOXONE. This mass pushing of Suboxone is above and beyond anything Purdue ever did, yet nobody seems to care. #Suboxonelies #Industryfunding #NIDAlies

@ibdgirl76 Cymbalta is so dangerous especially when given for freaking pain!

Where are all of the #addictionmedicne and #HarmRecution advocates and experts when it is about someone w history of addiction being denied opioids for pain? Crickets. New patient story : "I was an addict, got clean in 2018. Move to a new state in 2019 and thought I should hold myself accountable by telling my doctors that I was an addict. I am treated differently. I have had to make a formal complaint against a doctor.. I am 68 years old. I have low back pain. I have cancer.I have gone to pain management for over two years with no problems, all of a sudden they said, I had something else in my system. I did not. I got mad and left. Went through the referral process for another. PM. Went in there today and was told I will not give you opioid's. I was given. Cymbalta and Flexeril."

@Le__Katerina I hate to say this but it needs to be said, it’s clear “king” Charles has absolutely no idea what the hell being king ACTUALLY MEANS.

I’m genuinely confused: Why does Charles want to include Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet in his funeral plans, if he can just, you know… include them into his plans during his life?

@ThePOTSPostman Why are people like this? My boyfriend says this all the time and I’m like, but…..how does that help me being fatigued??

🤦‍♂️ Crazy how a post about not minimizing fatigue turned into someone minimizing fatigue. Chronic illness isn’t a competition. And if it were, no one would want to win it.

I. Have. No. Words. Omfg.

@atty1chgo @DonaldJTrumpJr He’s not president?

I’m starting to have a really hard time believing that the entire world isn’t just screwing with me. I feel like I’m on the Truman Show. South Park has nothing on this.

@AssesAreDonkeys @CMerandi Yes me too! It was awful!

@CMerandi Cymbalta made me into a zombie. Numb to the world entirely. Given to the wrong person, say someone a little mentally ill, maybe bullied who just needs someone to talk to... I can totally see how it could lead to kids "taking out their anger" on other students 😣

Has Cymbalta been effective for your fibromyalgia? (Not depression) We polled our members and 98% said it was not effective for pain. Many said they contemplated suicide while under the influence of this medication. What’s your experience?

@CMerandi Cymbalta nearly killed me, it not only did nothing for my pain it turned me into a scary shell of a human who bumped into walls and said excuse me sir.