The Pain Kills Project is a US-based blog for activism and education about opioid prescriptions and supporting pain patients. Since 2016, pain patients in the US have been subject to new CDC Guidelines regarding opioid use that have severe implications for anyone with chronic or intractable pain. In a misguided attempt to curb opioid addiction and overdoses, driven largely by illicit opioids, pain patients have been forcibly tapered or completely cut off from their legal pain-relieving medications. Patients that have been stable on their medications for years or decades suddenly have to go with too little or no pain relief. In extreme circumstances, many pain patients have taken their own lives due to a lack of pain relief or turned to dangerous illicit drugs for that pain relief. This is the silent epidemic happening alongside the opioid epidemic that has not been curbed with these draconian guidelines. 

The discussion of opioids has focused entirely on the dangers of opioids while downplaying their positive benefits for pain patients. No one is denying the possibility of addiction, which is tragic occurrence that deserves better treatment as well. Rather, we are deeply upset that now long-term pain patients have had our desperately needed medication denied or our dosage reduced for no good reason. When pain patients take opioids responsibly, they have a low risk of addiction. Despite this fact, we are treated as if we’re just one pill away from addiction. Meanwhile, the opioid epidemic rages from fentanyl-laced street drugs. There is no logical reason to cut off people from medications they have never abused; medications that help them live their lives in a way they could not without them. Yet it happens every day because opioid use has become highly stigmatized; dependency confused with addiction.

There are many blogs dedicated to helping pain patients with authors discussing their own pain, but I wanted to do things a little different. My primary goal here is to focus on educating both pain patients and non-pain patients about the pain-induced suicide epidemic and what taking opioids are really like for pain patients. It is not to deny the actual risk of addiction but to put it into perspective with the very real benefits of opioids for long-term pain patients, and the enormous death toll from suicides as a direct result of these security theater restrictions.

This blog seeks to educate and inspire activism by reporting on the latest relevant news, politics, and medical studies; raising the voice of pain patients; keeping track of related events online and off; and also encouraging the use of the #PainKills hashtag on all social media to spread the word. I believe strongly in the ways we can support each other online, which can be crucial for many bed-bound and home-bound pain patients, such as myself. I understand intimately how pain can prohibit one’s ability to protest and be active in causes we care about immensely. It’s taken a lot for me to just put together this blog.

It is my sincere hope that this blog will be a small part of solving the issues that pain patients face and help allies better understand our plight. All while also being sensitive to the concerns regarding addiction and the illicit opioid overdose epidemic.