While the vast majority of people undergoing chronic pain management may safely use pain medication, what may not be evident is that as many as 12 million people taking prescription drugs also suffer from coexisting abuse or addiction problems.  Often this problem only comes to the public’s awareness when a nationally recognized personality is “caught” in the pain/addiction trap.  But individually, many people all throughout the United States know at least one person within their circle that has had or is having problems with their prescription drug use for pain management.

In my work I have seen many recovering people relapse and some who died as a result of a chronic pain condition that was neglected or ineffectively treated.  As someone who has their own personal experience of living with chronic pain in recovery, I’m determined to get the word out that effective recovery-prone chronic pain management is possible if you are willing to work for it.  Unfortunately, there are three major initial obstacles to effective treatment:

1.  The Denial system.  If you don’t know they have a problem it can be extremely difficult to find a solution.  It is crucial to work through your denial in order for treatment to be effective.

2.  Depression and the feeling of hopelessness.  Getting evaluated and treated for depression and working through the process of grief, loss and hopelessness is also imperative for positive treatment outcomes.

3.  The Quick Fix Mentality. Some people have a mistaken belief that if I only find the right pill or have the right medical procedure or surgery I’ll be fixed.  Unfortunately, this is not so.

You will see that once these initial obstacles are identified and you become motivated, you can then implement a multidisciplinary treatment plan that requires a three part approach:

(1)  A medication management plan—that is developed in consultation with an addiction medicine specialist. 

(2)  A cognitive-behavioral treatment plan—that addresses the psychological (cognitive and emotional) components of pain and supports changing the resultant self-defeating behaviors.

(3)  A non-pharmacological pain management plan—that includes a tool box of safer chemical-free ways to manage chronic pain and any pain flare ups.

To help you implement a multidisciplinary integrated pain management approach requires a strategic combination of all three of these components working together.  With the proper treatment plan and positive support, people undergoing chronic pain management and coexisting disorders can have successful treatment outcomes and have a great quality of life. Effective chronic pain management takes hard work and there really are no magic solutions or quick fixes.

To learn more about developing a great chronic pain management plan check out my article Chronic Pain Management Needs More than a Quick Fix that you can download for free on our Article page.

If you’d like to receive training for helping people with chronic pain and coexisting disorders, including addiction, I’m very excited to announce we are presenting my Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training in Sacramento on August 5-7, 2010. To learn more about this 3 day 20 hour training and my other upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar 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 a web-based delivery of Addiction-Free Pain Management® please go to this Link for a free demo.

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