Born in Missouri

Thank you for your kindness and understanding, O&D.

As for ranting in the wrong section, my post was not planned. I reacted to a trigger. Triggers are curious, fragile things. And spontaneous.

Perhaps I feel things too deeply. It’s important to me to acknowledge and try to empathize with the person displaying emotional discomfort. If I've inadvertently hurt someone, I try to validate their hurt without judging it. I also avoid being defensive since doing so places the focus on myself and does nothing to make the other person feel better.

I follow advances in pain management closely. For a while, I had hoped that a drug called ziconotide (derived from the venom of cone snails) would help me. It’s over 100x more powerful than morphine and it’s non-addictive. The downside is that it can only be administered intrathecally (into the spinal canal). The other downside, for me at least, is the possible side effects: confusion, memory impairment, speech problems, aphasia, and hallucinations. That said, ziconotide-induced side effects are only temporary and reversible and there are no opioid-like withdrawal symptoms.

Yeah we all get like that from time to time...I can be a pill myself sometimes. Come back all rested and chipper.

What do you mean "be a pill"? Urban Dictionary refers to a pill as an annoying or nagging person. I didn't realize that I was being a pill.