Anne Fuqua, a former nurse, recently shared her opioid crisis story in the Washington Post. But it’s not the story you might be expecting to hear. Anne isn’t suffering from addiction. Instead, she suffers from pain and spasms caused by dystonia.

Anne can’t take many of the medications typically prescribed for her condition, but, for reasons her doctor can’t explain, she does respond well to opioids. So much so that her body is no longer rigid, her fists aren’t clenched, and her pain is diminished.

However, because of new laws and policies enacted to address the epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States, she’s already experienced the loss of her physician who no longer wants to work in pain management and reduced doses of medication that brought the return of pain and other symptoms.

You can read Anne’s full story here, which will leave you with quite a lot to think about. How do we solve the crisis of opioid addiction but continue to treat patients who truly benefit from these medications?

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-other-opioid-crisis-pain-patients-who-cant-access-the-medicine-they-need/2018/03/09/5ad83b24-2301-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?utm_term=.3d152c567fbd