Chronic Pain Management – The Problem with Some Pain Medications

Written By: Dr. Stephen F. Grinstead, LMFT, ACRPS, CADC-II Date: March 31st, 2009. Topic: Member Blogs.

In one of my articles posted to our Addiction-Free Pain Management® website I discussed the growing problem of prescription drug abuse and addiction. However, despite what is being covered in the media only part of the problem is for people using this medication for legitimate chronic pain management. There are also many people using prescription pain medication for non-medical reasons—to get high. One of the fastest growing drugs of abuse/addiction for adolescents is prescription mediation.

It is also a growing problem in pain management. In fact as I cover in my article, according to researched published in Pain Physician Journal (2006), 90 percent of people in the US receiving treatment for pain management are prescribed opiate medication. Of that number 9 percent to 41 percent had opiate abuse/addiction problems depending on which research study was reviewed.

I believe one reason so many people run into problems is due to lack of understanding about risk factors for an addictive disorder. For example, if you have a pre-existing addictive disorder even if you’ve been in recovery (remission) for decades you are at much higher risk for abuse/addiction to your pain medication than the average person. Also, if you have a family history of any addictive disorders including alcohol that also puts you at much higher risk. Another risk factor is only using medication for pain management and not having a biopsychosocial treatment plan in place.

If you want to read more about prescription drug abuse/addiction please go to my article Addressing the Problem of Prescription Drug Abuse/Addiction that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

To learn about two skill trainings coming up in Sacramento California designed to teach treatment strategies for people living with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including disorders including addiction please Click Here.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people in chronic pain and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their pain and coexisting psychological disorders including depression or addiction effectively please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com. To learn more about how to develop an effective chronic pain management plan please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.

To read our latest Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. To sign up for Chronic Pain Solutions, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

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