Since I regularly complain about the abysmal treatment of chronic and intractable pain patients in the USA, I thought that I should share this 2011 article written by a physician that explains the dilemma that (at least the good) doctors go through every time a pain patient walks into their office. I've included just a small excerpt from the article below, but I promise that the article is well worth reading in it's entirety. Although it SHOULD not be necessary, it may be extremely helpful to be able to empathize with the physician the next time that you have to try to convince them that your pain deserves adequate analgesia.
Treatment of chronic pain puts doctors in a no win situation
http://bit.ly/1ijfMMD
Steve
"...How the physician can be expected to “believe” the patient, yet not rely only on subjective history by the patient but have objective evidence often for problems where no objective evidence exists, is the inherent flaw in trying to define and regulate pain management....
...We are supposed to both show compassion and adequately treat non-malignant pain with the same drugs that professional patients and opioid abusers seek to get prescriptions..."