There’s been a lot of controversy about medical marijuana the past decade. On my latest News/Research post this month I have some updated information. I’m including a brief intro below and if you want to read the entire post please go to our News/Research Page and scroll down to the Cannabis for Chronic Pain Management post.

In 2002 I published a controversial article on medical marijuana. Last year I published an update on my thinking regarding the use of marijuana as a legitimate, effective medication because of the recent quality research that has been done on some its components.

With over $100 Billion dollars a year spent on chronic pain conditions, including the $20 Billion the pain management industry in this country has spent, at least one pharmaceutical company is positioning itself to introduce medical cannabis into the mix. Here is an excerpt from a recent Wall Street Journal Market Watch press release.

To learn more about the controversy of using marijuana for chronic pain management please check my article The 2009 Medical Marijuana Update that you can download for free on our Article page.

You can learn about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people undergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders; including depression, addiction and other coexisting psychological disorders effectively; please consider my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

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.

To see an online overview of Cognit delivering Addiction-Free Pain Management® please go to this Link for a free demo.

To learn about my upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

Chronic and persistent pain syndromes are as much behavioral and psychological (thinking and feeling) problems as physical or medical problems. Health professionals involved in pain management must have a thorough knowledge of the latest pain management techniques in order to select the best methods and strategies for helping each patient undergoing chronic pain management.

Psychotherapy approaches have relevance for many different areas of chronic pain management, and indeed other aspects of medicine in situations where people’s behavior is affected more by what they think, feel and believe than by the extent of damage from diagnosed physical condition.

Seeking chronic pain management relief often leads people down the quick fix path or the “better living through chemistry” action plan. Pain is often seen as the enemy.  The truth is human beings need pain to survive.  Pain is the signal that says something is wrong; that we need to find out what is it, and then learn how to manage it. 

When medication does not eliminate the pain or improve the lifestyle losses people are experiencing, the result is usually irrational thinking and uncomfortable emotions—in other words, suffering.  When this occurs, the level of distress increases and people suffer thereby remaining a victim to their pain. This further increases the drive to use medications as the only solution for their pain problem. That is why I’m an advocate of a multidisciplinary team approach that includes psychotherapy for effective chronic pain management.

To learn more about my thoughts and utilizing a team approach for more effective chronic pain management please check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary 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.

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.

To see an online overview of Cognit delivering Addiction-Free Pain Management® please go to this Link for a free demo.

To learn about my upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

This month I posted a new article on our website on Suboxone. I’m including a few paragraphs below.

There is a difference of opinions on whether patients should be maintained on Suboxone (buprenorphine) or go through a total detoxification for opiate addiction. A similar debate has been going on for decades about another medication used for opiate addiction treatment—methadone. I would like to propose a third option: using the medication as a transitional treatment intervention with eventual discontinuation.

Unlike methadone physicians are more likely to prescribe Suboxone in their offices for people who are dependent or addicted to opiates such as opiate pain medication, heroin, or methadone. Buprenorphine (the active treatment medication in Suboxone) is a more convenient maintenance medication for opiate addiction because it does not require daily or weekly visits to a clinic. Buprenorphine blocks the effects of other opiates; it reduces or eliminates cravings and prevents withdrawal symptoms such as pain and nausea.

Subutex and Suboxone are the brand names that buprenorphine is being marketed as for the treatment of opiate dependence. Both medications contain the active ingredient buprenorphine hydrochloride, which works to reduce the symptoms of opiate dependence. Subutex contains only buprenorphine hydrochloride which was developed as the initial product.

Please check out this entire article titled Revisiting Suboxone: Maintenance versus Total Detoxification that you can download for free on our Article page.

You can learn about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people undergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders; including depression, addiction and other coexisting psychological disorders effectively; please consider my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

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.

To see an online overview of Cognit delivering Addiction-Free Pain Management® please go to this Link for a free demo.

To learn about my upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.