Indigenous people, poor people, unhoused people don't get pain care #SpoonieChat

A3: I was taught how to deal with & hide pain from the age of 3, although the latter not on purpose. I'm grateful for the techniques I was taught, but for most of my adult life I 've been seen as "exaggerating, can't be *that* bad" in medical & educational settings. #SpoonieChat

A2: #SpoonieChat

Q5: What would you say to the people and institutions restricting access to adequate pain care? What does it mean to live without unmet pain care needs?#SpoonieChat

A5: Please listen to patients in every possible circumstance. We aren't the same, but we're forced to use this system. A system based on centering the potential risks of pain care over the life-ruining impact of untreated pain. #RealPainStories w/ #SpoonieChat

A4: Local ER assumes anyone hoping for pain relief is a "drug seeker". It's demoralizing & traumatizing. There are some good nurses & techs who believe pain patients at least. We need all hospital staff to be educated re: chronic illnesses, especially POTS & EDS. #SpoonieChat

A5: Pain is too often treated as something we can live with, because it won’t kill us. But that’s not true. Plenty of people have ended their lives because they were in nonstop pain. Every patient should be looked at as a unique individual. #SpoonieChat

A6: National Pain Advocacy Center and I invite you to join this year's #RealPainStories campaign. Read all about it in the newsletter linked in the tweet below. #SpoonieChat

Exactly!! #SpoonieChat

A4: (cont'd) And I should add endometriosis, because I know far too many folks who've waited years to be taken seriously about pain levels that were massively intrusive into their lives. #SpoonieChat

A7: I need my SFG to handle my shopping, groceries, and help we exercise without that huge pain hangover. Sigh. #SpoonieChat

Dawn M Gibson A4. #spooniechat I know I have no help with pain. My kidney doctor told me I can only take tylenol. Tylenol does nothing.

Dawn M Gibson A3. #spooniechat I think most medical doctors don't realize the kind of pain chronic patients suffer through. I only take pain meds like ibuprofen when the pain is above an 8 because I was told to only take tylenol.

Our people need each other because mainstream culture doesn't get it. But folks can jump right in on here, and learn how to make life work. #RealPainStories w/ #SpoonieChat

Thanks for another amazing #SpoonieChat. Please check out #RealPainStories and don't forget to sparkle.