time, the body develops a dependence upon it. It does not matter which disease you are treating; high blood pressure, anxiety or pain. Once the medication is stopped, the body's functioning may return to the way it once was. This may not be desirable nor pleasant. Addiction usually involves poor lifestyle choices and using medications inappropriately. I ask my patients two questions concerning the possibility of addiction and their answers usually alleviates their concerns. The first is, “What is this medication used to treat?” The second is, “If you no longer required treatment for this condition, would you continue to take the medication?”
Patients sometimes take their medication incorrectly, which also |
causes difficulties with treatment. When you are experiencing chronic pain, the pain does not go away. Therefore, if you know the pain will be coming, why would you wait to take your pain medications? There are many health care practitioners, myself included, that feel that pain medication should be taken before you hurt. There is some logic to this. The way your body experiences and remembers pain is very complex. Once the pain has gone away your body tends to forget how bad it was, but once it returns it can be more painful than originally perceived. This is true with chronic pain.
. .. Chronic pain should be treated with three types of medication: background (long lasting pain relievers) , quick |
acting relievers (also called breakthrough pain relievers) and adjuvant or atypical analgesic agents. The background pain relievers (generally opioid narcotics) are just like they sound; they provide a constant supply of medication to keep the pain 'at bay'. These can either be slow release tablets or skin patches. Quick acting relievers are used when pain 'breaks through' the background medications. These breakthrough medications should only be used a few times a day. Adjuvant pain medications help the other pain medications work better, so that hopefully you can use less overall. This is another reason why the treatment of chronic pain can
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