On November 5, we published a letter from J.R. Wilson, an Arizona man who is the principal caregiver for his wife, a chronic pain patient.

Here’s the original article.

It was an honest assessment of a difficult situation that reached many of the National Pain Report readers. Mr. Wilson sent me a letter by email on Tuesday that updated his wife’s situation. I wish we could report that it’s good news for the Wilsons.

It is not.

December 17, 2019

Dear Mr. Coghlan,

I wrote to you a few weeks ago (4 Nov 19) concerning my wife’s pain and some of the issues, that I, as a caregiver experience because of her pain… I was amazed at the comments from so many people – nearly all offering empathy and/or sympathy and sharing their own stories. Some of the comments were from pain sufferers and some were from caregivers that face the same (or worse) situations than me. SO many people have it worse than my wife – but yet they (or their caregivers) took time to write. It was truly humbling.

The purpose of this letter is two-fold. First, to mention the outpouring of concern as mentioned above and second, to update you (and your followers) on the latest events in our on-going effort to get help for my wife. I’d mentioned in my previous note that the provider she had been seeing for the last several months was a joke (I didn’t use that word – but that’s what they were). One of our concerns from the start was them cutting her methadone prescription in HALF from the very beginning. Kathy had been taking the same amount of methadone for over 20 years – and it had been working – with obvious no side-affects…but these people cut her prescription in half. Anybody familiar with opioids knows what happens when dosages are cut – even by a little! Initially, we thought that it was an issue with the State of Arizona, but found out that the state – although wanting to combat illegal use – actually acknowledged legitimate pain sufferers and wrote that they should not be subject to the same strict rules and that their medications should NOT be messed with. My wife’s provider LIED to us from the very start saying that the State limited them – and when called on it – said (arrogantly) “if it makes you feel better, I just didn’t think you ought to get that amount of pills”. WOW! He made an arbitrary decision that totally affected my wife, her quality of life, and OUR quality of life.

As if that weren’t enough, after our last appointment (early December) they sent us a Certified Letter terminating their relationship with my wife. We’re sure they did this because my wife continued to ask for the correct amount of medication. Now, my wife has no doctor, no clinic, and no source of methadone! We are at a loss and have no idea of where to turn.

We are quite concerned about what happens next!

Sincerely,

J. R. Wilson

Subscribe to our blog via email