Seeking Relief in Chronic Pain Management

But They Call It Drug Seeking Behavior

If you’ve been around any healthcare settings that treat people with chronic pain one term that comes up a lot is “drug seeking” or “med seeking.” When it’s brought up it’s usually in a pejorative way. For example “there’s another of those drug seeking addicts.” Unfortunately, many people who are living with chronic pain are not getting their pain managed effectively. In some cases it’s because the medical professionals are afraid.

I have a lot of compassion for healthcare providers who treat chronic pain patients in California. On one hand the DEA is playing big brother and their war on drugs has now moved to a war on pain management. The alternative is when a medical professional takes a conservative track and under-prescribes; then they are at risk for litigation.

The other big problem is most medical professionals don’t realize that being opiate tolerant does not automatically mean that they are addicted. Anyone who is on prolonged opiate maintenance will have built up tolerance and needs periodic increase in the dose. Unfortunately, some people can also develop a condition called pain rebound or even hyperalgesia and now the medication has become—at least in part—the pain generator.

I invite people to eliminate the phrase “drug seeking” or “med seeking” from their vocabulary. What people are really seeking is RELIEF. They want the pain to stop. They want to have some relief from their suffering. They often; however, mistakenly believe that the only way to get that relief is by taking more medication. In fact some pain conditions do not respond well to traditional mono opiate medication management.

If you want read more about my views on this topic please go to my article War on Drugs - War on Pain Management that you can download for free on our Article page.

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You can learn more 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.

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