RE: Rush...

[Guest guest]

Thought this was thought provoking.....Kathi in OK

Subject: Fwd: Subject: Dear Rush: Feel Your Pain

I know everyone must be sick of hearing about Rush Limbaugh and how

he

sold out his doctors and the chronic pain community, but I found

this

letter in another group (name withheld because names of other groups

are

sometimes not allowed) and I just had to pass it on.

It is such a great letter, I though many of you would appreciate

hearing it. I know it cheered me up!

Dear Rush: Feel Your Pain

Arnold Glueck, M.D., and J. Cihak, M.D.

www.newsmack.com/

Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Dear Rush,

Just the other day on the EIB Network you referred to yourself as

our " hero and leader. " Here is a suggestion that will make you a

real

champion for more than 40 million people and not just to your

conservative ditto-heads!

And all you have to do is set the record straight and feel your own

pain.

Instead of claiming to be a drug addict, why don't you just tell

prosecutors to get off your aching back – and neck? Admit you are

one of the millions of patients in chronic pain and start taking the

legal meds you need.

Dependency on a medication is not the same as addiction. Granted,

claiming to be an " addict " usually gives you a legal leg up. After

all, other celebs caught " under the influence " usually take the easy

way out, claim addiction and run off to rehab. They then get good

parts and high accolades because their brethren want to help them!

Toss them an or Emmy and everything comes up dieffenbachia.

But Rush, you're not like other celebs. And you weren't caught with

your hand in the recreational cocaine jar. So there is a higher

calling for you: a chance to lead patients out of the dark ages of

pain control and to the mountain top of compassion!

When patients just like you need legal medications for legitimate

pain, that's when the trouble begins. Because a handful of drug

seekers have popularized opioids such as OxyContin as the drug du

jour, prosecutors and politicians are making drug " diversion " their

cause du jour.

You and others will be lucky your physician doesn't get charged and

go to jail, as have so many already. They are already sniffing

around

your doctors on both coasts. So who's next?

As we noted in a July 2003 column, " The Painful DEA II, " the war on

legal drugs ensnares too many doctors and not enough

dealers: " Prosecutors and law enforcement officials throughout the

country are egregiously targeting doctors for helping patients

manage

crippling pain with controlled, legal drugs. " We concluded, " Those

who require legal medications ought to be able to receive them

without their doctors and pharmacists going to jail! "

And just to make matters worse, the new Bush anti-drug plan will

target painkillers. On March 1, C. Kerr of the Associated

Press reported that " President Bush's national anti-drug strategy

will for the first time target the use of pain relievers, sedatives

and stimulants. ... A key part of the strategy being released

involves government efforts to help states develop monitoring

systems

to track a patient's use of prescription medicine. "

That means that every patient's prescriptions will be entered into a

government database for only-who-knows to surf at their leisure. A

fed in every sink and medicine cabinet!

Recently, a prominent medical organization, the Association of

American Physicians and Surgeons, came to your aid by supporting the

right to privacy when it comes to your medical records in Florida.

The AAPS says that means even fewer doctors will be willing to risk

prison time to prescribe pain medications, and pain, already vastly

undertreated, will be even more so. At a cost, we might add, of

billions every year in lost work and other economic costs, not to

mention the devastating effect on families and relationships.

Rush, it was also reported on Monday, March 1, 2004, that you are

being honored by Talkers magazine and the National Association of

Talk Radio Hosts, which will give you their annual Freedom of Speech

Award in May.

So, Rush, you are our guy – someone who understands the issue,

has been persecuted and is not afraid to speak out. Even the ACLU is

with you on this one!

Thousands of pain patients, families and doctors will converge on

Washington in April for the " Americans in Pain – Silent No More "

march organized by the American Pain Institute, Pain Relief Network

and American Pain Patients Coalition. (See www.

AmericanPainInstitute.org)

In the government-declared war on pain, patients need a general to

lead them.

So take your legal medications, use them legally, and meet us there!

Be the Grand Marshal. Then you will be a real hero and leader.