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Palm Healthcare Company Presents The Pain Recovery Program

by | Sep 26, 2017 | Addiction Medicine, Addiction Treatment, Dual Diagnosis, Fitness, Inpatient Treatment, Opioids, Pain Management, Recovery, Self Improvement

Palm Healthcare Company Presents The Pain Recovery Program

(This content is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the content is a model)

Palm Healthcare knows the importance of addressing the multi-faceted needs of the individual who suffers from chronic pain. This is why we created the Pain Recovery Program. A person in pain is not only concerned about reclaiming their own sense of well-being and functioning. They are also concerned about reclaiming their sense of purpose, independence, and direction to life.

Palm Healthcare Pain Recovery Program

The focus of the Pain Recovery Program is assisting that person in pain in reclaiming all aspects of their life. Palm Healthcare utilizes a comprehensive bio-psychosocial perspective while incorporating the latest holistic, traditional, and state of the art, non-invasive technology and interventions.

Individuals participating in The Pain Recovery Program are provided a variety of treatment options that include:

  • Medication management
  • Nutraceutical (vitamin) therapy
  • Physical therapy
  • Strength and conditioning
  • Massage
  • Muscle manipulation therapy
  • Chiropractic care
  • Aquatic therapy
  • Hypnotherapy
  • Biofeedback

Each person in The Pain Recovery Program will receive a personalized treatment plan based on comprehensive evaluations and the specific needs of the individual and their specific needs.

Connecting Pain and Addiction

Part of overcoming pain while overcoming addiction is understanding how the two are so closely related. Patients who are struggling with one or both of these conditions often report adverse symptoms such as:

Chronic pain and substance use disorder (SUD) have similar physical, social, emotional, and economic effects on health and well-being; one can easily be confused for the other, while both can exacerbate each other.

Pain in the Brain

Chronic pain and addiction actually have many of the same exact neurophysiological patterns.

For instance: Chronis pain involves abnormal neural processing. Coincidentally, addiction results when normal neural processes are altered into dysfunctional patterns, including disruptions in:

The truth is, there is still a lot to learn about both of these conditions, including patterns of severity, the course of development and responses to treatment.

Emotional Responses

Gauging and effectively addressing emotional responses is also crucial to effective and lasting pain treatment.

Pain and Emotions

Continued pain can also cause emotional responses, such as:

  • Sleeplessness
  • Anxiety
  • Depressive symptoms

Each of these experiences can even turn into more pain. Even after these psychological causes have been addressed the feedback effect can still cause pain in the body.

In fact, there are many studies that indicate pain treatment has worse outcomes when depression is a factor. Some experts say you can even predict how a pain syndrome will evolve based on the emotional status of the patient.

Emotions and SUD

With substance use disorder, the individual’s emotional state is a core cause of continuous drug use. People who use drugs often experience these same emotional responses like anxiety and depression as a result of isolation, social and professional hardships and other side-effects of their drug use. Not to mention the way certain drugs impact the brain. Emotional and psychological trauma can be just as severe for these individuals as physical trauma.

On the other hand, some people may already have a history of experiencing these emotional difficulties and actually be trying to treat themselves by abusing drugs. This feeds into the cycle of emotional distress and substance use.

Complicated Relationship

Both addiction and chronic pain fluctuate in intensity with time under different circumstances. Depending on what is going on in someone’s life, their pain may get worse or seem to disappear, just like an addiction may seem controllable for a time before hitting another harsh bottom.

Both often require ongoing management. But the difficulty can also be that these two conditions feed into each other in a very complicated, and at times toxic, relationship.

Treatment for one can either support or conflict with the other.

The Painful Cycle of Addiction

One of the many difficulties many people experience when trying to overcome addiction while struggling with chronic pain syndrome is that there is a cycle of pain- drugs- more pain- more drugs that seems inescapable.

For example- Narcotic medication typically prescribed for chronic pain may be an issue for someone with a history of substance use disorder.

But then if someone uses a narcotic prescription pain medication, such as opioid analgesics, it can create a physical dependence. Then when the substance is absent from the body the withdrawal symptoms set in.

Withdrawal and Pain

Withdrawal symptoms frequently lead to an increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression, while creating even more physical pain. In turn, the anxiety and depression from withdrawal can contribute to that pain even further.

This pain and distress can provoke a severe obsession with whatever substance the individual was relying on to provide relief. In other words, the individual will crave the drug even more because they are not only experiencing the psychological distress from their brain lacking the drug, they are also experiencing a magnified sense of pain from the experience as well.

Again, the cycle of pain- seeking relief from the pain through substances- recurring pain- continued substance use making the problem worse. The Pain Recovery Program is about interupting this self-destructive cycle with new, sustainable methods of pain management.

The Importance of Treating Pain and Addiction

Substance use disorder in relation to prescription pain medication is widely misunderstood, and while some programs focus on treating the addiction, if there is no way of addressing the chronic pain it does not help the chances of successful recovery. Part of working with chronic pain patients struggling with addiction is education on both conditions while providing effective treatment opportunities simultaneously.

Providing pain management opportunities for the U.S. population struggling with substance use disorder is a unique challenge for many primary care physicians. That is why experienced professionals in the field of drug and alcohol addiction treatment are in a unique position to help.

First, we need to acknowledge a few issues, including:

  1. People recovering from addiction experiencing pain are less likely to receive adequate pain management than anyone else.
  2. Insufficient pain relief is a substantial risk factor for possible relapse into substance use.
  3. It is crucial to distinguishing between patients who are seeking relief for legitimate pain and those who are seeking pain medication for recreational abuse
  4. Psychiatric and medical illnesses can complicate effective pain management

Experts believe that addiction specialists, in particular, can make significant contributions to the management of chronic pain in patients who suffer from substance use disorder. Addiction specialists can:

  • Help create safeguards to assure any pain medication is taken appropriately
  • Reinforce behavioral and self-care components of pain management
  • Help individuals with strategies to reduce stress
  • Assess patients’ recovery support systems
  • Help to understand and identify relapse risks

Chronic pain management can be a complex process. Experts say that the efficiency of treatment is amplified when all medical and behavioral healthcare professionals involved collaborate as a team. Palm Healthcare Company’s Pain Recovery Program is all about a united effort toward treating both conditions with a variety of experienced professionals and trainers.

Considering how urgent the addiction epidemic is, and the fact that many people struggling with addiction do suffer from chronic pain, it is so important to have programs like this available. Education, support and relapse prevention is the key. If your or someone you love is struggling with substance use disorder and chronic pain, please call toll-free now. We want to help.

 CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398

American Opioid Commission Calls for State of Emergency

by | Aug 2, 2017 | Addiction, Drug Abuse, Heroin, Opana, Opioids, Prescription Drugs

 American Opioid Commission Calls for State of Emergency

America knows all too well the devastation of opioid addiction. With an overdose outbreak that has been progressively damaging and related death rates becoming increasingly alarming, we have reached new depths of drug-induced desperation. Therefore, the news from the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis is not all that shocking. The panel charged with examining the nation’s opioid epidemic is now urging the President to declare a national public health emergency to combat the ongoing crisis.

When we look at the history of American presidents announcing a ‘state of emergency’ it typically has to do with national security, foreign policy and war, or natural disasters and viral illness. So, to put the issue of addiction up next to these drastic calls to action might just bring a new level of intensity to battling opioid addiction in America.

American overdose deaths involving opioids have quadrupled since 1999. From 2000 to 2015, more than 500,000 people died of drug overdoses. The majority of these overdose deaths have opioids involved.

In America, drug overdoses now kill more people than gun homicides and car crashes combined.

Opioid Commission Calls for Action

The Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was enlisted as the chair of the opioid commission back in March. The opioid commission also includes:

  • Democrat Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina
  • Former Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island
  • Republican Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts

At the time the commission was created Chris Christie said the idea behind the administration’s new approach to fighting addiction would focus a lot on assisting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This week the opioid commission’s statement calling for the President’s immediate action states:

“Our citizens are dying. We must act boldly to stop it. The first and most urgent recommendation of this Commission is direct and completely within your control. Declare a national emergency.”

While insisting that the administration put forth an emergency declaration, the specially appointed opioid commission said that Trump is the-

“-only person who can bring this type of intensity to the emergency and we believe you have the will to do so and to do so immediately.”

The opioid commission was deliberate in the details, acknowledging that with 142 Americans dying every day from drug overdoses-

“America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks.”

When you think about it in this context, the statistics become even more startling and horrifying. The fact that so many men, women and even children in America are losing their lives to drugs like heroin and prescription pain medication. The opioid commission went on to say:

“Your declaration would empower your cabinet to take bold steps and would force Congress to focus on funding and empowering the Executive Branch even further to deal with this loss of life,”

“It would also awaken every American to this simple fact: If this scourge has not found you or your family yet, without bold action by everyone, it soon will.”

In the last few months there has been some waves of criticism against the opioid commission after missing two deadlines to release this report in June and July. Now that the report is finally here, what can be done to address the concerns the opioid commission brings with it?

Will the White House Take Action?

According to initial reports the White House intends to “immediately” review the recommendations of the opioid commission. In the statement from the White House:

“The opioid crisis is a tragedy that has been harming America’s communities for far too long. We appreciate the Commission’s hard work on this important interim report. We will immediately begin reviewing its recommendations, and eagerly await its final report.”

The final report from the opioid commission is expected to be submitted during October. Still, many are hoping the Trump administration does not wait that long to start planning for a response.

The opioid commission made many recommendations in the interim report for efforts to curb the opioid epidemic and the increasingly high death rates. Those recommendations include:

  • Rapidly increase treatment capacity for those who need substance abuse help
  • Establish and fund better access to medication-assisted treatment programs
  • Make sure that health care providers are aware of the potential for misuse and abuse of prescription opioids by enhancing prevention efforts at medical and dental schools
  • Equipping all law enforcement in the United States with naloxone to save lives

Naloxone is the opioid overdose antidote used by first responders to save people overdose victims. So far access to Naloxone and Narcan, the name brand, has expanded, but many think not nearly enough.

With the fight for healthcare in Congress seeming to hit every rough patch possible on the road to settling on legislation, people are already worried about how coverage may or may not change for tens of millions of Americans. So the concern for how to face a growing addiction problem while simultaneously afflicted with a potential healthcare crisis is very real for a lot of people.

Time will tell if the Trump administration acts on the suggestion to declare a state of emergency to call more action toward the opioid epidemic. And if they do declare it, what will change?

Palm Healthcare Company Offering Holistic Health

While Palm Healthcare Company is not qualified to fix all the problems in politics, we do believe in providing quality care to as many men and women struggling as possible. Palm Healthcare Company facilities create a safe, comfortable and effective environment to experience powerful and life-changing courses and treatments focused on holistic health.

While the opioid epidemic may not be an easy issue to solve, Palm Healthcare Company believes in helping those who have suffered from addiction to opioids and/or other drugs find a new way and a second chance. With medical detox, personalized inpatient and outpatient treatment options and aftercare opportunities such as Recovery Coaching, Palm Healthcare Company wants to support every part of your journey.

Overcoming the opioid epidemic means helping those who have suffered heal.

Drug abuse and addiction is a devastating and deadly disease, and providing effective and compassionate treatment makes a lifelong difference. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, think about who you want to be working with to find a real solution. Please call toll-free now.

CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398

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