Opinion from someone in pharmacology for many years:
I was gonna write a rant about how fucking stupid even surgeons with 16 years of combined college education and training can be, but you know what? The bottom line is, people are just not risk-tolerant for even the very slightest risk--moreover, not even for completely hallucinatory, non-existent risks that they saw on teh intartubez. The expectation in these modern times is now that NO risk is acceptable. So while the risk of liver damage due to acetaminophen is very very low, the Powers That Be have decided that since pain does not actually kill you by itself, pain doesn't matter.
That really is their calculation: That howevermuch pain you may be in, pain by itself will not kill you. The fact that chronic pain can make you want to kill yourself doesn't seem to enter into that equation. Economics of someone disabled by pain as opposed to working, having hobbies, being reasonably happy and having a life also does not enter into their accounting. It's the same rationale that is used to deny people opiates: The number of people who develop an abusive habit is relatively low, considering how many people have taken opiates for wisdom teeth, appendix removal, etc. Nevertheless, surprisingly few docs take pain management very seriously, treating it as sort of an afterthought available mainly to wealthier patients with good insurance.
My Wiccan friends are advising salvia, which one can brew into tea. Doesn't kill the pain, but puts one's mind into a state to deal with it. At night, I can take more Ambien - if I'm asleep, I ain't hurting. And hey, I guess there's always the old-fashioned remedy of a few shots of whiskey. Not like that will bother the ol' liver, huh? I hurt to some degree
all.the.time. It never stops. I've just gotten used to it, and one can do that - it's not some dramatic martyr statement.
I've considered the MJ option. Time to get RI residency or call some old club pals.
