Pain and Addiction
There are a lot of popular miscalculations in surrounding pain management and addiction. Many doctors are not prescribing scheduled pain medications like Vicodin, Percocet or Darvocet because they worry about their patients becoming addicted to these painkillers. Some medical professionals are willing to prescribe controlled pain medications to patients who are being treated for cancer or under hospital care, but they’re cautious about prescribing to patients who suffer from severe pain caused by a car accident, arthritis or a spinal cord injury.
If you feel frustrated by your efforts to get a doctor to sufficiently treat your pain, or you’re self-medicating because you can’t get the pain help you need from a physician, you’re not alone. Effective pain managing requires an understanding of the nature of chronic pain, a will to listen to the patient’s reports of discomfort and the ability to distinguish between drug tolerance and dependence.
• The neurophysiology of pain and interfaces with addiction
• Psychological issues in the management of pain
• Opioid therapy of pain
• No opioid treatments in the management of pain
• Legal and regulatory considerations in pain management