I live in Chicago and I think the care for patients has gone for a complete free fall! When I first started experiencing chronic pain around 2011-12 the healh care was bad, but nowhere near as compete garbage it is now in 2025. Beginning in 2011 I went to a pain specialist and both of us worked on what the best treatment for me would be. After about two months the doctor and I found the proper medications to treat the pain, and it worked for two years. I was prescribed seventy five 8mg dilaudid and thirty 100mg MS Contin per month. These two medications worked like a charm. For two years I had absolutely NO PAIN!! I did not increase the medication nor did I need to. Unfortunately my doctor moved back to Pakistan and gave me three referrals. Not one damn doctor he gave me the referral continued to prescribe the meds I've been been on for close to two years. I felt like I was being punished in some sick way. The medications worked. I received blood tests and other tests while I was with my doctor, and everything was going GREAT!!! Ever since this incident I haven't been able to find a compassionate doctor and/or a doctor that truly knows why these medications are used for a patient like myself. Ok, writing this lengthy paragraph is starring to get me upset, so I'm going stop right here!!!

Brian Lederer