Although we have entered a new millennium, many old controversies are still raging.  One of these issues is the use of marijuana as a legitimate medication; espcially for chronic pain management.  There are two polarized camps fueling this debate.  One side preaches the evils of using this herb and the other side extols the virtues.

There are many risks associated with marijuana, especially smoked marijuana, that must be considered not only in terms of immediate adverse effects on the lung; e.g., bronchi and alveoli, but also long-term effects in people with chronic diseases and those with a poor immune status.  The major problems I have with someone smoking marijuana as a medicine is the inability to regulate the dosage and, even more important the delivery system. 

The level of THC varies so greatly in the marijuana that is currently available, that coming up with a therapeutic dose for smoked marijuana is extremely difficult.  In addition, marijuana has other ingredients that may have problematic side effects.  Then there is the dangerous delivery system—the issue of smoking it.  The components of the smoke are hazardous, especially in the immuno-compromised patient.  No other medication we have is administered that way because of the potential dangers. 

Several years ago (about 2000) I wrote an article titeled The Mecical Marijuana Controversy.  Yesterday I posted a new article on our Aricle Page that you can download for free; my article is titled 2009 Medical Marijuana Update (below you will find a link to download that article).  Since my original article in 2000 there has been significant research on THC and other cannabinoids that do show promise for chronic pain management that you can learn about in my new article.

To learn more about medical marijuana and chronic pain management please check out my article 2009 Medical Marijuana Update 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 or are living with chronic pain and have any resistance or denial and want to learn how to develop a plan for helping to identify and manage denial please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Denial Management Counseling for Effective Pain Management Workbook. 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.

Not only have I been working as a therapist and trainer in the field of chronic pain and coexisting disorders for more than 25 years, I have been living with my own chronic pain condition for over 27 years. I still have periodic episodes of pain flare ups where I need to put into practice all that I’ve learned and like everyone living with a chronic pain condition some days are better than others. But even on the bad days, one thing is certain—pain does not control my life.

I want to discuss something I had to resolve for myself early on in my own recovery because for a time I was suffering with my chronic pain. Now I always ask the patients I work with and the clinicians I train to ask their patients to consider this question: Are you willing to make peace with your pain or do you want to continue to suffer?

In essence what I’m asking is: Are you willing to do what is necessary to make pain your friend and move on with your life? As you might imagine, and perhaps you’re thinking this yourself, they looked at me like I’ve lost my mind; and they’ve told me so in no uncertain terms! Nevertheless these types of questions open up the door for a deeper level of healing to begin.

When you are willing to consider that your pain can be more of an ally than an enemy; the next step is to develop an effective chronic pain management plan. This entails learning all you can about your pain and how to intervene in an appropriate way that continually improves the quality of your life.

Many people 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 thinking and beliefs about the pain, which in turn can decrease your stress and overall suffering. Because of the two parts—pain and suffering—pain management must also have two components: physical and psychological. The way people sense or experience pain—its intensity and duration—will affect how well they are able to manage it.

Anticipation of an expected pain level (i.e., anticipatory pain) can influence the degree to which pain is experienced. In some cases, when the anticipatory level of pain expectation is lowered, the brain responds by influencing special neurons. This renders the brain less responsive to an incoming pain signal. Herein lays the rationale to include biofeedback, positive self-talk, meditation, and relaxation response training as part of your pain management treatment plan.

To learn more about dealing with the psychological component of chronic pain please 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 working with people in chronic pain or living with chronic pain yourself and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing the 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 listen 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.
 

In most cases, anxiety about pain is more likely in acute pain stage while depression prevails in the chronic pain stage. A sub-acute stage occurs after the acute stage but before the chronic stage. It usually occurs at about the three- to six-month range. At the acute stage the person in pain generally feels a reasonable sense of hope that the pain will resolve within the near future. In the sub-acute stage and at the beginning of the chronic stage, people’s thoughts and emotions about the pain begin to change.

It is not uncommon for someone to begin to wonder if the pain will ever go away or if they’ll ever get better. These types of thoughts lead to anxiety. Although most people believe that their anxiety will subside when the pain goes away, the anxiety frequently leads to a significant increase in pain perception. This results in a vicious cycle of pain, anxiety, more pain, and more anxiety. Anxiety can occur at different intensities, all the way from mild nervousness to full blown panic attacks. 

Anxiety can be characterized by the following

1. Muscle tension, including shakiness, jitteriness, trembling, muscle aches, fatigue, restlessness, and inability to relax.
2. Nervous system hyperactivity, including sweaty palms, heart racing, dry mouth, upset stomach, diarrhea, lump in throat, shortness of breath, etc.
3. Apprehensive expectations, including anxiety, worry, fear, anticipation of misfortune.
4. Trouble concentrating, including distractibility, insomnia, feelings of edginess or irritability, and impatience.

Excess anxiety and tension can cause you to experience heightened emotional upset (anxiety, depression, anger), increased pain, slower healing times, and increased side-effects to medications, among other things. An ongoing stress response causes numerous negative problems such as increasing muscle tension and pain while also decreasing the activity of your immune system and blood flow to your extremities.

This anxiety cycle can lead to what I call the anticipatory reaction. To help you deal more effectively with anticipatory pain please read 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 living with chronic pain, especially if you’re in recovery or believe you may have a medication problem and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing your pain and medication effectively, please 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 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.