Over 3 million Australians live with chronic pain
Pain can be debilitating and there are thousands of Australians who live with it every single day. One patient says chronic pain has taken a toll on more than just her health.
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00:00 It's been years since Megan Coulius went a day without pain.
00:06 On the bad days, you know, I can be stuck in bed, I can be passing out because of the
00:11 pain, I can be vomiting.
00:13 The 33-year-old combines medication, therapies, pain devices and allied health supports to
00:19 manage her conditions.
00:21 Endometriosis, adenomyosis, prolacistic ovarian syndrome, fibroids as of this year and I also
00:29 have a heart condition as a result of my chronic pain.
00:32 She's one of 3.4 million Australians living with what she calls the ugly shadow of chronic
00:38 pain.
00:39 But despite the scale of the condition, it's still widely misunderstood and expensive.
00:45 On an average month, I would be paying upwards of $1500.
00:49 So one of the things that we're asking for is for allied health visits to be available
00:54 to people, up to 10 a year, to make it equal to the mental health assessment plan which
00:58 gives you 10 psychology visits per year.
01:00 Pain Australia also wants increased education about chronic pain within and outside the
01:06 health community.
01:07 There's a lot of discrimination that goes on with people living with chronic pain where
01:12 they're told that they're making it up.
01:13 The federal government hasn't ruled out increasing the number of allied health services available
01:18 to chronic pain sufferers, but it says more research is needed to develop a proper evidence
01:24 base before it can decide just how many services it pays for.
01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]