People with chronic pain who develop substance use disorders due to taking medication present a difficult challenge to treatment professionals.  Many health care providers see no difference in treatment outcomes when these people are treated either in a pain clinic for their chronic pain condition or at an addiction treatment center for their substance use disorder issues. 

In either case the prognosis ranges from poor to fair at best.  However, I believe it is possible to increase the probability of a more successful treatment outcome by creatively combining existing chemical dependency and chronic pain treatment methods using a multidimensional, non-traditional approach I’ve named the Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) System. 

The APM™ system is a treatment approach that uses a biopsychosocial model to integrate the most advanced pain management methods developed at the nation’s leading pain clinics, with the most effective treatment methods for addictive disorders developed at the nation’s leading chemical dependency treatment programs. The result is a unique integration of treatment methods that combine proper medication management with non-medication techniques to insure both chronic pain management and addiction treatment. This leads to relief of pain while lowering or eliminating the risk of addiction or relapse.

People with a chronic pain and addiction diagnosis have specific needs that are different from the typical chemically dependent person or the person who suffers only from a chronic pain condition; therefore, a specialized APM™ approach needs to be formulated and implemented.  In addition to the pain and chemical dependency screening, this approach assesses for the psychological issues present before any prescription medication abuse, new psychological problems arising from the pain and subsequent addiction, as well as finding innovative treatment modalities for this particular population. 

To learn more about needing a team approach please check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment 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 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 latest 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.

With the economy being in such a turmoil one of the areas impacted is healthcare.  Of course getting healthcare coverage has been problematic for quite some time but now it’s even worse.  Today someone living with chronic pain is probably not getting effective treatment due to cost containment, managed care, and HMOs. 

Although there is sufficient research and common sense supporting multidisciplinary treatment interventions for someone living with chronic pain just try to get it authorized or covered.  This is very troubling due to the fact that earlier multidisciplinary intervention and treatment will save significantly over a relatively short period of time. 

When someone doesn’t get their chronic pain condition adequately addressed several problems can occur.  One problem is the pain condition leading to a lower level of functioning and impaired quality of life.  This can lead to serious grief/loss and depression.  Another risk is with under-treated chronic pain is people tend to turn to dangerous alternatives to seek relief such as doctor shopping to get more meds.  Others may start using alcohol to cope while others may turn to illicit drug use to seek relief.

I believe that the risk of addiction or other psychological dysfunction is significantly amplified if people don’t obtain an effective chronic pain management plan in the first 6 months to a year.  As I listen to a since of helplessness from many participants at my trainings and gleaning the same desperation from reading emails from many visitors to our website leads me to want to let people know that despite all the obstacles we can still make a difference.

I want to let you know that there is hope.  People living with chronic pain can improve their situation.  We are doing our part to address this need for cost-effective help by making my Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) publications and APM™ phone coaching available at reasonable rates and you can go to our Article Archive Page to download over three dozen free articles.  You can visit our Publication and Coaching pages for more information about those cost-effective options.

One example of phone coaching we offer is our one year APM™ Continuing Care Coaching for people completing a residential or outpatient treatment program.  This type is offered in three Phases including an individual 1 hour phone intake consultation session and three one hour individual exit interview telephone coaching sessions after each phase.  Optional “as needed” individual telephone coaching sessions may be added for an additional fee.  All sessions are conducted by phone through a conference call service. 

We also offer APM™ Relapse Prevention Coaching and this usually requires a three month commitment.  This also includes an individual 1 hour phone intake consultation session to determine each person’s needs.  People need to obtain my Addiction-Free Pain Management® Workbook and APM™ Recovery Guide as an integral component for any of our APM™ coaching services.  You do NOT need to have problems with addiction or be in recovery in order to benefit from these services.

To see if APM™ coaching might benefit you (or your clients, family members, friends, etc.) please Click Here to complete and submit our APM™ Coaching Questionnaire.  If you have any questions or would like more information, please give us a call at (916) 575-9961 or go to our Coaching page on our website.  We also offer phone assessment and treatment planning consultation to any healthcare providers.

To learn about dealing with the psychological component of chronic pain check out my article Coping with Anticipatory Pain that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are in recovery and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing your pain and medication effectively go to our Publications page and check out my book the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. 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 latest 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.

Living with chronic is a major challenge for most people—I know it is for me.  One of the reasons so many people struggle concerns not identifying all the coexisting conditions or problems that could be interfering with effective chronic pain management.  I cover these in-depth in my publications (e.g., Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders and the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide) and this month my new article is entitled Overcoming Obstacles for Effective Pain Management that you can download for free on our Article Page.

I want to just post the bulleted highlights of that article here.

The Problem

• * Undiagnosed Coexisting Disorders

• * The Denial Blindfold

• * The Depression and Isolation Pit

The Solution

• * Knowledge is Power

• * Pain is our Friend—not our Enemy

• * Treating the Bio-Psycho-Social Components of Pain

• * The Addiction-Free Pain Management® System

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 latest 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.