Drug Treatment for People with Chronic Pain

People who are in chronic pain will most often take very strong narcotic painkillers to help them get through their daily lives. Many people, who take these drugs for chronic pain, do so responsibly without developing symptoms of addiction. While these people who take their drugs for chronic pain may become physically dependent on their painkillers they are not addicted. Then there are those who are taking their medication for their chronic pain and slowly find themselves with a serious addiction problem that is ruining their lives.

Addiction is a physical and psychological condition. People who have an addiction with their narcotic painkillers are compelled to use those substance; most often not as prescribed. They might continue using painkillers even if they know they are bad for them; their use is compulsive on a physical and psychological level. People who exhibit the signs of taking painkillers for chronic pain have developed an addiction and probably should seek drug treatment. And luckily there is drug treatment for people with chronic pain.

For someone who is chronic pain going to drug treatment can be scary. This is because they are dealing with some real pain and drug treatment is going to ask them to give up their pain medication. The truth is while a chronic pain patient may be dealing with pain; the use of the prescription painkillers hasn’t been for their pain in a long time, it has been to get high or feel the euphoric effects that painkillers give and that alone.

Drug treatment for people with chronic pain: Medications

So what drug treatment for people with chronic pain will do is, instead of asking people with chronic pain to stop taking pain medications at all; the doctor may just change the medications. Sometimes a different medication that has a lower risk of causing addiction or abuse issues can be just as effective in handling chronic pain.

Drug treatment for people for chronic pain will try to use medications that don’t cause that initial “rush” that the other drugs do and provide relief for a longer period of time so there doesn’t have to be a repeated use of the medication.

Drug treatment for people with chronic pain: Counseling Sessions

At a drug treatment for people with chronic pain change the medications will help with the chronic pain but it will not take care of the addiction issue. People with an addiction have a psychological attachment to the drugs they take and that attachment may not decrease even if they stop taking the medication. So what drug treatment for people with chronic pain offers is counseling. The most common type of counseling or therapy is known as cognitive behavioral therapy. It is extremely beneficial in drug treatment in general but also in drug treatment for people with chronic pain. CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) can help people with chronic pain by:

• Reducing the pain
• Reducing pain related behavior
• Improve daily functioning
• Reduce stress and distress

Drug treatment for people with chronic pain: Alternative Therapies

Some drug treatments for people with chronic pain offer alternative therapies such as exercise, yoga, acupuncture, or massage therapy. Yoga has demonstrated as being especially beneficial for those people with chronic pain. Drug treatment for people with chronic pain will more often than not offer alternative therapies such as these. Because the whole point of drug treatment for people with chronic pain is to help them be their healthiest self so they don’t need the narcotic painkillers. Alternative therapies at drug treatments for people with chronic pain also allow the individual to focus on something other than their addiction to their medication.

It is well recognized throughout the drug treatment world that many people end up with addictions due to the prescription drugs that are supposed to be “helping” them with their pain. Often times it can be scary for a chronic pain patient to realize how far into a painkiller addiction they have gone. That is why most drug treatment centers offer a specific approach for people with chronic pain.

If you or someone you love is in need of treatment for chronic pain and addiction, please give us a call at 800-951-6135