If your opiate addiction has resulted from a chronic pain problem, you may be uncertain how to treat the addiction as well as the source of pain. Opiate addicts in the Bay Area have access to pain clinic specialists who can incorporate specific therapeutic interventions to help you regain a normal life.
Many family doctors simply don’t think outside the box when it comes to handling persistent pain. They prescribe pills, send you for a battery of tests, and maybe even send you to physical therapy. Then, when you tell them that you need more pain medication they cut you off, or they switch you to other pills that either don’t help or offer just more of the same. Some treatments can worsen a situation. For example, someone taking opiates eight or more days per month for migraines will begin to experience rebound headaches.
Pain clinic specialists spend time beyond the normal physician residency training programs to learn how to treat long-term pain issues. Your pain will be considered acute if you’ve been experiencing it less than six months, and beyond that it can be categorized as chronic. Approximately 50 million adults in this country suffer from chronic pain syndrome, and the effects of the pain spread throughout the body.
Fatigue and Depression – A Symptom of Opiate Addiction
If that sounds like you, you are probably already suffering from symptoms of
It’s wise to give up on treatments that are not helping and seek early intervention with a pain specialist. You will not have to go through repeat testing, since a pain clinic will request records of the tests you’ve already had, unless there is a need to check for further deterioration. Pain clinic interventions include total body wellness programs such as physical conditioning, counseling, nutrition education, and functional activities that can modify neuromuscular abnormalities and restore good levels of activity. In the meantime, you can work on overcoming your opiate addiction. Both kinds of facilities are available to help opiate addicts in the Bay Area, and these specialists will be happy to work together with your wellness as a shared goal. Talk to your methadone clinic counselor today for more information.