http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...029836,00.html

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Treat Pain
By Claudia Wallis
Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005

"Chronic pain is a thief. It breaks into your body and robs you blind. With lightning fingers, it can take away your livelihood, your marriage, your friends, your favorite pastimes and big chunks of your personality. Left unapprehended, it will steal your days and your nights until the world has collapsed into a cramped cell of suffering.
Penny Rickhoff's world began to shrink suddenly in 1990, after a very tall and very heavy file cabinet toppled over onto her back. The freak accident damaged her spinal cord, leaving her with a constant, gnawing pressure in her lower back. "If I sit for very long, I'm in excruciating pain," she says. Once an avid tennis player, world traveler and amateur pilot, Rickhoff, who is in her 50s, was not only grounded, but she also became almost a prisoner in her home, unable to drive more than a short distance, unable to go anywhere without toting special "tush cush" pillows.

After seeing a dozen doctors, Rickhoff finally realized she wasn't going to be cured and started looking for ways to live with the pain. She took up Tai Chi and learned how to breathe deeply using her abdominal muscles. These pain- management skills..."

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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...029836,00.html

This article was informative and well written. It completely describes problems associated with taking prescription drugs, but it also describes how they are helpful and often neccessary in treating a person with chronic pain. Everyone involved (doctors, patients, families, government bodies) needs to realize that there is not a cookie cutter mold of treatment that works for everyone and that's why there are different drugs, therapies, and options out there depending on different people's situations.