When people are undergoing chronic pain management they want help stopping or relieving their pain symptoms. What they may not realize is that some pain medications can actually cause or increase the pain that they are using the medication to manage. That is why it is crucial for people undergoing chronic pain management to educate themselves and learn as much as possible about their chronic pain condition as well as the most effective treatment options.

For example many people experiencing frequent headaches, especially migraines, do not realize that the medication they are using can actually be increasing the frequency and even severity of their pain. The use of opiates to treat migraines can lead to an increased risk for what is called transformed migraines. Transformed migraines are chronic, daily headaches with a vascular quality—meaning that they are throbbing in nature.

As anyone who ever experienced a migraine headache knows it can be extremely debilitating. Unless a migraine sufferer goes to a treatment provider who understands appropriate treatment interventions for this condition, they can run the risk of unnecessary pain and suffering including transformed migraines or even potential prescription drug addiction. Many people are prescribed opiates even though they are not an FDA approved medication for migraine treatment.

The evolving need of people undergoing chronic pain management for safe, effective pain relief is driving research into new therapeutic modalities and fresh approaches to familiar treatments. New innovations involving both opioid and nonopioid pain modalities as well as nonpharmacological approaches are vital because some patients fail to achieve a good outcome with opioid therapy alone.

To learn about relapse prevention for people living with chronic pain and coexisting disorders, including addiction please check out my article Relapse Prevention for 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 are working with people udergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders including 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.

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