Chronic Pain

Last week while doing a group at Sunrise Detox in New Jersey, I found that eight of the fourteen patients were there because of an addiction to pain medication. Many of those people stated that prior to their injuries or surgeries, they had never had any drug problem. In addition to that, a few even stated that they had drank socially throughout their lives. And, of course, the number one question that I was asked by the group was ‘How will I live without my pain medication, and am I really an addict?’

After the group, it made me question the same thing: Are these people addicts, or are these people just victims of working with some uninformed medical professionals when it comes to narcotic medication. One of the patients was put on methadone after having major knee surgery. I am not a doctor, but to me, that is a recipe for disaster.

I wondered as to why it is that some medical professionals insist on giving patients such large doses of narcotic medications. I find that in the year 2010, after working with some holistic based treatment centers, there are other options out there for one’s pain i.e. acupuncture, yoga, physical therapy. I have even heard from some professionals that EMDR has helped in some cases.

I feel that we owe it to the individual to allow them to explore the options more, deal with their chronic pain without medication before we give them any sort of narcotics.

Over the past six months, we at Sunrise have seen more chronic pain patients addicted to narcotics than ever before. I personally believe that some people are predisposed to addiction, which is all the more reason to be careful not to give out opiate based medications for pain.

I now refer back to my original question: Are these patients addicts, or have they just had medical care by professionals not fully trained in addiction?