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Out In The Open

What happens when a staunch anti-drugger falls, breaks her back and ends up in chronic pain

OITO producer — and chronic pain sufferer — Lisa Bryn Rundle investigates her intense reluctance to take drugs to deal with her pain.
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Many Canadians are prescribed high-dose painkillers such as OxyContin and morphine. Painkillers kill more than 1000 Canadians every year. (Charles Williams )
Out In The Open10:45What happens when a staunch anti-drugger falls, breaks her back and ends up in chronic pain

This past spring, Out In The Open producer Lisa Bryn Rundle* fell down some stairs and deeply messed up her back... but she's barely taken any painkillers.

Lisa insists the pain is not just valuable but crucial information that she's unwilling to mask.

But now that her pain has turned chronic, she wanted to find out whether this "I need to feel my pain" thing really makes any sense given what we now understand about the nature of pain.

Her doctor and her Shiatsu therapist both understood her fears but also warned that chronic pain can deeply affect one's quality of life and sometimes, if drugs are needed to mask that pain and keep your life rolling, they can be of value.

Lisa Bryn Rundle is a chronic pain sufferer but is reluctant to take pain medication. (Lisa Bryn Rundle )

Lisa's greatest concern is that her son can't understand why she is less energetic, grumpier and most disheartening of all, unable to pick him up.

Lisa takes Piya on her quest to find out what role drugs should - and should not - play in pain management.

*Please note: Lisa Bryn Rundle is not a doctor; she is a journalist who fell down.

This story originally aired on November 12, 2016

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