As someone who lives with chronic pain and periodic pain flare ups I know how important it is for me to know as much about my pain and pain management as possible.  If you’ve read any of my articles or other publications you know that my premise has always been that knowledge is indeed power in chronic pain management. 

One of the areas I need to focus on the most today is regarding my periodic pain flare ups and my intermittent migraine headaches.  If you or someone you love lives with chronic pain or periodic acute pain episodes please know that effective pain management is possible.  One of the first areas I teach my patients with is how to identify and manage the psychological/emotional components of their pain.  Then I teach them about the connection between stress and peoples’ perception of their pain.

Emotional management and stress management are part of what I call the nonpharmacological (non-medication) component of chronic pain management.  Over-dependence of potentially addictive medication is where many people get in trouble with their chronic pain management.  Another trap is when people start fearing or becoming overly angry with their pain. 

I believe that for true healing to occur people living with chronic pain need to make peace with—or even friends with—their pain.  After all our pain really is our friend in the sense that pain is hardwired into us to warn us when something is wrong or that there is damage to the system.

To learn about effectively managing anticipatory pain please read my article Coping with Anticipatory Pain that you can download for free on our Article page.

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.

To listen to a recent radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

To read the November issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, 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.
 

Today I want to share with you the Thanksgiving Blessing of Gratitude my family asked me to come up with for the family gathering since Ellen (my wife) and I could not be there.  My father Bob died last year but as you will see he is still here for us in spirit.

I hope you like it.

 Steve G.

 ************************************************************

As the family gathers together today let each of us think of all the things we are grateful for this past year . . . Remembering the visits and conversations we’ve all shared; the ups and downs, the difficulties and successes.  In the face of it all, an attitude of gratitude will move us continually forward, our higher power delicately guiding us toward solutions, inviting us to turn our pain and problems over and let go.  Our family has so much to be grateful for.  We’re sure that Bob’s Spirit is with us today, smiling down upon his family.  And although all of us can’t be together physically we are all together in spirit of family—and as Bob might say; Family is EVERYTHING. 

We’re grateful for all the time with Mom this past year and all the fun and humor from a year with Duke.  We’re grateful that 2811 continues to echo with the sound of the “little faces” laughter and delightful noise.  Our family is rich in so many ways – when we focus on what is wrong or what we don’t have, we forget that lots of people never have an opportunity to experience what we share.  Before we start eating we would like to have each person share the one thing they are most grateful for this past year.

I (Steve) am grateful for the opportunity to share in the gathering at 2811 and other places by email so all of the Grinstead family can be together in spirit with an “ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE.”

I (Ellen) am grateful for the love and acceptance the Grinstead’s have given me over the years; always a daughter – never a daughter-in-law.  That’s means so much to me, especially this year.

 Happy Thanksgiving to One and All!

As anyone who ever experienced a migraine headache knows it can be extremely debilitating—I know this first hand as someone who experiences periodic migraines.  Unless a chronic migraine patient goes to a treatment provider who understands appropriate interventions for this condition, they can run the risk of unnecessary pain and suffering, including the possibility of prescription drug addiction.  Many people are given opiates for migraine treatment even though they are not an FDA approved medication.

Medications used to combat migraines fall into two broad categories

Pain-relieving medications. Also known as acute or abortive treatment, these types of drugs are taken during migraine attacks and are designed to stop symptoms that have already begun.

Preventive medications. These types of drugs are taken regularly, often on a daily basis, to reduce the severity or frequency of migraines.

Unfortunately, in the realm of Migraine treatment, little emphasis is placed on whether the medications have been specifically FDA approved for the treatment of Migraine since so few are FDA approved for the prevention of it. In fact, there is not a single medication that was originally developed for Migraine prevention. All were originally developed for other purposes. When it comes to treating Migraine attacks (acute treatment), however, this is not the case. There are seven triptans (Imitrex, Maxalt, Zomig, Amerge, Axert, Frova, and Relpax) that were developed for and FDA approved as Migraine abortive (management) medications. These medications work to actually stop the Migrainous process in the brain and stop the Migraine attack and its associated symptoms.

Ergotamine medications (used as vasoconstrictors for migraine prevention and are sometimes mixed with caffeine) such as DHE and Migranal; they are also FDA approved for Migraine treatment as is Midrin (a combination of acetaminophen, dichloralphenazone, and isometheptene). The NHF study also involved prescription pain relieving medications, which cannot abort a Migraine, as well as the triptans. Thus, the issue here is not so much FDA approval of acute medications, but the difference between using “generic pain medications” as opposed to Migraine-specific medications.

To learn more about this topic please go to our research page and scroll down to the posting titled Information and Guidelines for Migraine Management that you can download for free on our News & Research 2008 Archive page.

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.

To listen to a recent radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

To read the November issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, 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.