Pain Prescription Dependence

Just as chronic pain presents in a wide range of combinations, so does the use of drugs to treat pain. Patients may start on one medicine and later have others added to that to provide more or a different kind of pain coverage. They may have to take another set of prescriptions to handle drug related symptoms, and then accompany all this with yet other medicines to handle sleep or emotional issues accompanying pain. Over time drugs that were working to provide pain relief may need to be administered in higher doses to get the same effect., while the patient is getting less and less functional and is feeling more hopeless. So the pharmacy merry go round goes round and round until a life without these medicines can seem inconceivable. This can lead to scenarios of overuse, dependence and ultimately addiction in some cases.

While Centennial Rehabilitation is not a drug treatment facility, we do regularly treat patients whose pain drug use has gotten out of hand and who need to learn different ways of coping with their pain, whether these be pharmacologically or life style related. Call us to see if we can be of help to you or a loved one with Chronic Pain and Pain Prescription problems.

303.368.4500