The psychological meaning that you assign to the physical pain signal will determine whether you simply feel pain (Ouch, this hurts!) or experience suffering (Because I hurt, something awful or terrible is happening!).  Although pain and suffering are often used interchangeably, there is an important distinction that needs to be made.  Pain is an unpleasant signal telling you that something is wrong with your body.  Suffering results from the meaning or interpretation your brain assigns to the pain.
 
Many people irrationally believe that:  “I shouldn’t have pain!” or “Because I have pain and I’m having trouble managing my pain, there must be something wrong with me.”  A big step toward effective pain management occurs when you can reduce your level of suffering by identifying and changing your irrational thinking and beliefs about your pain, which in turn decreases your stress and overall suffering. 

Your expectations—what you believe it will be like when you experience pain—affect your brain chemistry.  Your brain chemistry can either intensify or reduce the amount of physical pain that you experience.  What you think and how you manage your feelings in anticipation of feeling pain can make the pain either more severe or less severe.  In other words, you’ll usually get the level of pain and dysfunction that you expect—a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The anticipation of an expected pain level can influence the degree to which you experience pain.  When your self-talk is saying, “this is horrible, awful, terrible,” the brain tends to amplify the pain signals.  When this occurs, your level of distress increases—you suffer, remaining a victim to your pain.

But you can learn how to change your anticipatory response to pain.  You can lower the amount of pain that you anticipate by changing what you believe will happen when you start to hurt.  You can also change your thinking—your self-talk—and learn how to better manage your emotions.  You can learn new ways of responding to old situations that cause or intensify your pain.
 
As you come to believe that you really can do things that will make your pain sensations bearable and manageable, your brain responds by influencing special neurons that reduce the intensity of the pain.  Your brain becomes less responsive to an incoming pain signal.  I often tell my patients that I can’t promise you that you’ll be pain free, but I can promise you never have to suffer again—if and only if you are willing to learn and use some new tools.

If you want to learn more about pain management please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com.  You can find over 25 articles you can download for free on our Ariticles page or go to our Publications page to learn more about my Addiction-Free Pain Management® books. 

Nonpharmacological treatments have proven effective for many pain conditions. For example, recent studies have shown that endorphins mediate the analgesic effects of acupuncture and placebos as well. Still to be discovered is the mechanism by which hypnosis accomplishes its analgesic effects. Other conditions also need a medication management component. The Addiction-Free Pain Management® System uses both of those components as well as interventions designed to help people cope with the psychological/emotional symptoms of their pain.
 
Some pain disorders require pharmacological (prescription drug) interventions. Other conditions may respond to over-the-counter medications like aspirin or ibuprofen. Still other conditions may need a combination of both. However, some pain disorders can be effectively treated without any chemical interventions at all. I have a partial list of some of these nonpharmacological interventions below.

Nonpharmacological Approaches

Emotional Management              Massage Therapy
Physical Therapy                         Chiropractic Treatment
Acupuncture                               Biofeedback
Hypnosis                                    Meditation and Relaxation
Yoga/Tai Chi                               Diet/Nutrition
Sweat Lodges                             Talking Circles
TENS Units                                 Self-Help Groups
Cranial Sacral                              Reflexology
EMDR                                         Aerobics
Avoidance/Distraction                Sleep Hygiene
Swim/Hydrotherapy                  Shiatsu/Watsu Therapy
Journaling                                   Art Therapy
Reiki Therapy/Energy              12-Step/Self-Help Groups

As I mentioned this is just a partial list and the only limitation is your imagination. To learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please visit our website www.addiction-free.com and check out our Publications page to learn about my new book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders or read my article Serving People with Chronic Pain and Coexisting Disorders.

Some pain disorders require pharmacological (prescription drug) interventions. Other conditions may respond to over-the-counter medications like aspirin or ibuprofen. Still other conditions may need a combination of both. However, some pain disorders can be effectively treated without any chemical interventions at all. These non-chemical interventions are called Nonpharmacological Treatment Processes.

Any psychoactive medication could be problematic for people with a genetic or personal history of an addictive disorder. Unfortunately, there may be times when opiate (or opioid) medication management is needed, but there are risks. Sometimes people are not even aware that they are having problems due to their medication until they’re in over their heads.  I’ve worked with a lot of people over the past 25 years who needed to examine their relationship with their pain medication.  To help my patients take an objective look I’ve developed several checklists or exercises to help them. I published this process last year and will tell you just a little bit about them.  I actually published three modules and I specifically developed the second one to explore potential medication management problems.

In APM Module Two: Examining Your Potential Medication Management Problems, you can explore the reasons people start developing problems with potentially addictive pain medication and define some often misunderstood terms.  You can also get the opportunity to examine the Red Flags Checklist to see if you are experiencing any challenging medication management problems.  You can then review and sign an APM Medication Management Agreement and look at how denial could prevent you from following this plan.  Finally you will develop a safety plan designed to help you adhere to your Medication Management Agreement.  This safety plan includes developing a personalized craving management plan.

To learn more please visit our website at www.addiction-free.com and go to the Publications page to review the modules as well as my other publications. I also have an article on our website Managing Pain Medication in Recovery that is free to download.