[Poncho]

Hi Maria,

Being in similar professions and situations - I can definitely relate to what you are saying here. It seems as if some if not many health care practitioners in general do not learn or will not learn (take your pick) - that there are 3 different groups of patients that need to take medications such as methadone for either chronic pain, opiate medication addiction and lastly drug seeking/abuse. It just seems as if when some of our collegues notices that a patient is on methadone or similar meds there is an automatic assumption of "drug addiction" as if it is being prescribed for recreational purposes only. AND they "paint" us all with the same brush. - I'm not saying all providers do this, but I have to say - all too frequently, assumptions are made before doing any real investigating of the reason(s) behind this type of medication regimen.

Unfortunately, been there - done that..... However, Maria, I'm confident when you are on the other side of surgery - you will soon start coming off this stuff and not have to go through this kind of crap again.

One thing I do know is that I have learned a lot from being on the "receiving" end of the health care system!!!