Welcome
To the May 2009 Issue of “Chronic Pain Solutions,” our Addiction-Free Pain Management® Newsletter. Thank you for your continued interest. Each month we will keep you up-to-date on our projects, the latest news stories and research we have on our website as well as upcoming events and trainings.
Given the state of the economy, many agencies and treatment centers have been cutting back on training their staff, or delaying decisions about expanding services. What they may not realize is that by incorporating the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System as a separate pain track, (and possibly becoming a Center of Excellence) they have an opportunity to reach a typically underserved population that is greatly in need of services, as well as adding to their revenue stream. Our philosophy is always about creating win-win collaborations. To that end we encourage you to call to discuss how we might work together to bring training or consultation services to your area.
The Question of the Month covers a topic often discussed in trainings. It is from a reader in recovery who has severe back and leg pain from an accident and is afraid of relapsing if he takes the medication his doctor is recommending. Our belief is that it’s unrealistic to think that people in recovery will never be confronted with some kind of pain condition. We hope the answer and recommendations are helpful to the reader and anyone else in recovery that may be facing a similar situation.
In other training news, please join Dr. Grinstead and Dr. Shari Corbitt at the 8th Annual Addiction Conference, (May 25-29, 2009), They will be presenting a training based on their new book Eating Addiction Relapse Prevention Workbook that came out in late 2008. They will be teaching participants how to adapt the proven Gorski-CENAPS® relapse prevention protocols to eating addiction clients.
Your input is always appreciated. On the Contact Us page email any questions or comments and we will respond as quickly as we can.
APM Center of Excellence
We are proud to announce that on June 9th 2009,
Valley Forge Medical Center (VFMC) in Norristown, PA will be granted Full Designation as an Addiction-Free Pain Management® Center of Excellence after their final site evaluation. In achieving this designation, they have demonstrated exemplary APM treatment services and met the rigorous standards through the use of the APM Center of Excellence Protocols and the Gorski-CENAPS® Developmental Model of Treatment.
Tracey Vawter, Director of Planning at VFMC, stated “We are elated to be receiving the first APM certification and designation in the country as a "Center of Excellence". The APM program has had a huge and positive impact on our treatment program. This is a comprehensive, highly effective approach to treating individuals with chronic pain and coexisting disorders, which is something we're seeing more of at our hospital . . .”
VFMC will also be hosting a three-day 20 CEU hour Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training on June 10-12, for new staff and is generously opening the training to the public. Please visit our Calendar Page and scroll down for information or to register.
The Addiction-Free Pain Management® System uses as its foundation a multidisciplinary collaborative teamwork approach that includes the patient as an integral part of the team. One of the primary goals of APM is to provide concurrent treatment for someone with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including addiction using an evidenced-based manualized treatment approach.
Our Center of Excellence mission is to collaborate with treatment providers who are committed to fully implementing the Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) System. Our commitment is to recognize, support and help our APM Centers of Excellence (COE) partners reach as many people as possible with chronic pain and coexisting disorders who need and deserve state-of-the-art treatment.
To learn more about multidisciplinary treatment for chronic pain and coexisting disorders including addiction please check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Management that you can read or download for free on our Articles page.
Gorski-CENAPS® Corporation News
For the next six months Terence T. Gorski will have a full time affiliation at the
Challenges Treatment Program. This program has been awarded national certification as a "Center of Excellence" in relapse treatment and prevention by the renowned and leading international expert in the treatment of relapse, Terence Gorski.
Mr. Gorski will carry on in his role as President and founder of the CENAPS® Corp. and will continue to speak at conference and conduct advanced clinical skills training programs. This new clinical affiliation with Challenges will put Mr. Gorski in direct contact with the patients, their families, and the therapy team allowing him to improve and further develop the CENAPS® Model of Relapse Prevention to meet the needs of people suffering from coexisting disorders that contribute to their relapse.
Challenges is a state licensed and JCAHO accredited private addictions and mental health treatment center located in the greater Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. Challenges specialize in the treatment of adults for issues relating to chemical dependency, dual diagnosis, multi occurring disorders and is nationally recognized for treating individuals with a history of chronic relapse. They also specialize in Relapse Prevention for addiction. What makes this program so unique is that they admit addicts with coexisting mental health problems and have been having success in using relapse prevention methods with many of them.
Over the next six months Mr. Gorski will be working collaboratively with the staff at Challenges to further improve his Relapse Prevention Model while at the same time increasing positive treatment outcomes at the Challenges Program.
We wish Terry well on this milestone endeavor and will be supporting him and the CENAPS® Corporation in any way we can.
APM Coaching Groups
If you are someone you know is living with chronic pain and may be struggling with pain medication issues but does not want to leave their home environment, we also have our APM Relapse Prevention Coaching Program. Just because people choose not to enter an in-patient or out-patient program, doesn't mean they are not ready to take responsibility for getting well.
They can become active participants in their healing by participating in our 14-Week tele-coaching program. They will learn specific pain management skills to help them to recover their health and regain their independence using Dr. Grinstead's Addiction-Free Pain Management® Workbook and the APM Recovery Guide.
Please check out our Coaching
Questionnaire
which is the first step of deciding if someone is ready for APM Relapse Prevention Coaching.
You can also call us directly for a confidential interview at 916-575-9961.
From Our Readers
Question:
I’m in recovery from heroin addiction and have been clean and sober for over 15 years. The past few years I have been experiencing horrible low back pain from a car accident I was in. The pain is excruciating and it goes all the way down my legs and makes it hard to sleep at night. At first going to physical therapy and taking ibuprofen was working for me, but now my doctor tells me I’ve developed stomach problems and can’t take that anymore. I also can’t take Tylenol because I have Hepatitis C. He wants to put me on hydrocodone but I’m afraid that would take me out and I don’t want to lose my sobriety. What can I do?
Sign Me Afraid
Answer:
Dear Afraid,
It’s normal to have a healthy fear of medications that may lead to a relapse. You may also be putting yourself in a precarious situation if you try to “tough it out”, as I have either known or heard of people in long-term recovery who relapsed because they refused to take anything. As a result, they suffered far more with their pain and eventually relapsed in their effort of manage it on their own.
I would suggest that you work with your doctor to find safer alternative medications for the type of pain you have. You said the pain was going all the way down your legs. If this is neuropathic pain, then hydrocodone would not be very effective. A couple of recovery-friendly medications you can ask your doctor about are Cymbalta and pregabalin (Lyrica).
However, medication is only one third of what you need to manage a chronic condition. A couple of key words you used to describe your pain—horrible and excruciating—tell me that the pain is being amplified by psychological and emotional components.
To help you differentiate between the physical and psychological/ emotional components of pain, I would suggest you get APM Module One. In it you will review and analyze a list of common symptoms that people who live with chronic pain experience and identify the ones that are affecting your life right now. You will then learn to tell the difference between physical and emotional pain symptoms and how to more objectively rate your level of pain on a scale of 1 to 10. I would encourage you to work with a counselor or therapist to develop some positive strategies for dealing with your pain symptoms.
The third leg of an effective pain management plan is to develop a tool box of non-medication based interventions. You mentioned you already had good luck with one—physical therapy. There is some good information in my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment that you can read and download. Participants in our trainings across the country have come up with many, many non-traditional, non-pharmacological activities that help people more effectively manage their pain. Please email us if you would like to see a list of some of those interventions. The only limit to what you can use is your own imagination.
To learn more about developing an effective pain management plan, take a look at APM Module Three. In this module you will look at the phenomenon of pain flare ups and how to develop an action plan for more effective non-pharmacological (non-medication) pain management. At the end of this module you will have an opportunity to expand your new pain management activities and develop a final action plan to improve your ability to better manage your chronic pain.
To purchase APM Module One or Three please visit Herald House Publishers.
You might also consider entering our Relapse Prevention Coaching Program where you could work through the APM Workbook and the exercises in the above Modules with an experienced Certified Addiction-Free Pain Management Specialist. Please review the Coaching Questionnaire noted above or call 916-575-9961 for more information.
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