When one person in a family suffers from living with chronic pain they are not alone in their misery. Everyone in the family is affected and attempts to cope in their own way. Unfortunately many of these coping strategies don’t work and often make the problems worse. 

All members of the family system need to move into their own recovery process regardless of what the person living with chronic pain and coexisting problems inclluding addiction does or doesn’t do. Families can recover even if their loved one keeps living in the problem and refuses help to move into the solution.

Normal problem solving tools that families have developed that work very well in other family crisis areas really don’t work when living with a family member who suffers from chronic pain with coexisting addiction. Some family members keep trying the same coping strategies over and over again and kept hoping that maybe this time it will work although it really never did and probably never will.

It is important that all members of the family receive accurate and helpful information about the family symptoms that develop when one family member is living with chronic pain; especially if they have also developed an addictive disorder. Families need healthy coping tools that can lead the family out of the problem and into their own recovery solution.

The chronic pain problem is growing. People are suffering in greater numbers. Many people undergoing chronic pain management are not receiving adequate treatment. Many are becoming hopeless and helpless while others are experiencing medication abuse and even addiction due to mismanaged chronic pain and this seriously impacts the entire family system. This must change.

Since 1996 I have been researching and developing the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System to help address this growing problem. I have joined several pain management organizations in order to have better access to quality research. I want to revisit how serious this problem with chronic pain management is becoming and review some ideas for improvement that also includes vital education for family members.

It is crucial to improve the problems associated with uncontrolled chronic pain. This is a societal necessity, a medical challenge and an economic requirement. If the need for chronic pain management is not recognized as a serious problem and treated effectively it takes an enormous personal toll on millions of people and their families. It also puts a major drain on our already stretched healthcare dollars. Undertreated chronic pain can also compromise the productivity of our workforce.

Even though the overutilization of the healthcare system by this population is a major drain on society and is one of the most serious public health concerns, it has been curiously missing from the current national debate on health reform. We must take the necessary steps to re-define chronic pain management as a much needed component of our healthcare system and must immediately address this public health crisis.

To learn more about my thoughts on the need and right for effective chronic pain management please check out my article The Right to Quality Chronic Pain Management 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 or a loved one is undergoing chronic pain management, especially if you’re in recovery or believe you may have a medication or other mental health problem and you want to learn more effective chronic pain management tools, please go to our Publications page and check out my books; especially the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. To purchase this book please Click Here.

If you would like to see my upcoming trainings and especially to learn about my 20 hour (three days) Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training on December 7-9, 2009 in Sacramento California designed to teach treatment strategies for people living with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including disorders including addiction please Click Here and scroll down to the December 7-9, 2009 for the description and how to sign up.

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.