Medication Management

We use a wide array of different types of medication to try to treat and minimize patient’s painful symptoms and complaints. We try to first utilize non-narcotic medications specifically designed to actually treat a component of the patient’s pain pattern. We try to decrease the body’s reactivity to the underlying problem. If needed, we use “stronger” narcotic agents to help an individual suffer less from their pain and to try to get a person back to work or improve their overall functional level. To reduce pain but not to improve function is only winning half the battle. People are always worried about “addiction”. 96-98% of all patient’s taking opioid narcotic pain medication will never have any problems with pain meds. Only 1-4% of the population can become truly addicted to any substance, and that is usually because they have an underlying predisposition to becoming addicted to any drug. Addiction is the psychological need for a drug despite potential injury or known complications whereas most patients in pain simple require the medication in order to tolerate their pain and function better. Going through withdrawal symptoms when you abruptly discontinue a narcotic pain medication, is an expected chemical reaction that happens to most people, in various degrees, and in no way signifies an addiction. Pain medication was made for people who suffer from severe pain. Period.