The reactionary restriction of pain medications impacted everyone, including chronic pain users, who struggle and have to jump through hoops to adequately and appropriately treat their pain. In nursing school, we were told pain was what a patient told us, and we were to respect that. And no, I'm not talking about terminal doses of pain meds. I know a woman who was told she wouldn’t get opiate pain meds after a double mastectomy for cancer. I've had clients with documented physiologically sourced excruciating chronic pain still denied monitored & titrated necessary pain meds.