Did Jeff Sessions tell pain sufferers to tough it out?

[DawnStorm]

This was first reported by the AP; I read about it here. I have not heard it reported anywhere else, so I'm wondering if the whole thing really happened, especially part about the Marine general refusing pain meds during hand surgery.
I searched the reference page and did not see any listings. Has anyone else heard about this? If it's true, it sounds really patronizing.

[Lainie]

I googled "sessions aspirin". Here are the results. Take your pick of cites.

ETA: IDK whether he made that claim about Kelly, but I don't trust any factual claim out of Jeff Sessions' lying racist mouth.

[DawnStorm]

Oh good lord, he did say it! I still think that the claim about Gen Kelly is a bit over the top, even for a Marine.

[GenYus234]

He did say that, here is the section of his speech where he said it. The remarks about Kelly are immediately after.

IMO, it is not quite as big a deal as it sounds. As that opinion piece points out, he says "sometimes" pain needs to be managed without opiods.

[Lainie]

Pain medicine is given after surgery, not during, and maybe he refused that. But I don't believe for a minute that any surgeon would agree to perform hand surgery without anesthesia, which is what patients are given during surgery.

Add Sessions' flexible relationship with the truth/reality, and there you have it.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

IMO, it is not quite as big a deal as it sounds. As that opinion piece points out, he says "sometimes" pain needs to be managed without opiods.

At best it's a big fat "duh." And given Sessions' history, I don't trust him to make any decisions about the availability of opiates.

[GenYus234]

From other parts of the speech, it sounds like their plan is the same as before, put pressure on doctors who prescribe "excessive" amounts of opiods. Not sure if they plan to account for the fact that doctors who work with chronic conditions or those in pain management will always prescribe greater numbers of opiods than the average doctor.

Note: In case it wasn't clear, my comment about not being as bad as it sounds was referring to the title of this thread, Sessions wasn't saying all pain sufferers need to tough it out.

[DawnStorm]

So a bit of click baity-sensationalism. Lovely. Thanks for clearing it up though. I'm not crazy about Sessions, but there's enough real stuff to call him out on; there's no need to add fake statements.

[Plurabelle]

My mom was recently in so much pain from an ongoing infection that we had to take her to the ER for IV painkillers. The referring specialist suggested that mixing advil and tylenol would produce the same effect, nothing stronger needed.

This was not the doctor, but a nurse who claimed to be speaking on her behalf.

My mom was fainting and vomiting blood from pain. The only time in a week she was able to talk and eat was on IV painkillers. My stepfather and I made it clear we were not leaving without proper palliative care.

[erwins]

I just had laparoscopic surgery. I wanted to have a good sense of how much pain was there as a baseline, and I did not want to be overly medicated, and, let's face it, I have some people around me who are judgey about pain meds. So I delayed taking the opiate I was prescribed, and took the lowest dosage while I was in the hospital. I generally felt OK, unless I tried to move. . . Of course moving around is also important to healing and being independent. But not taking a lot of pain meds helped to show that I was ready to go home, which the doctors are all for.

I'm home now, and have been on just Tylenol despite having the stronger stuff available. Today I'm realizing that because of the untreated or under treated pain, I have been breathing too shallowly, and it really hurts to take a deep breath. So I'm wondering if I need to go back on it briefly. It's an unconscious thing -- I can make myself breathe deeply despite the pain, but then a little while later I'll notice I'm breathing shallowly again because I stopped thinking about it. (Surprise, the body tries to avoid pain...)

All of this despite the fact that I have had opioids available to me on many occasions, I have never abused them before, and I have no reason to think I would now. But my boss mentioned something recently about opioids being handed out like candy. My mom would always pride herself on not taking them. It's this huge cultural thing now, and I am suddenly all insecure about how I will be viewed for using them. (I don't need to discuss it with my boss, but it's also possible it will come up in conversation.)

Anyway, all that to say that I hate the whole self righteous attitude some people have about pain and pain meds, and that it's about toughness and manliness, and moral fortitude, or moral superiority, or whatever. Maybe sometimes it's just about pain, and not wanting to have it dictate certain things about ones life, or just wanting to have it stop, or be less at times. And those don't have to be reflections on one's character.