Opiophilia Replaced By Opiophobia

October 1, 2014

Opiophilia Replaced By Opiophobia the Pendulum Is Again In Motion

Opiophobia There are certain phenomena in the medical field that are rather hard to understand. We were brought up knowing that opioids and like substances were bad and should be avoided at all costs and we did that but as we grew and each of us went his way in matters there are mysteries that we met. As everybody else chose careers I chose to be here practicing medicine and I tell here my perception of opiates and like substances were changed here we use them as drugs especially as pain management drugs. To many people this may sound irrational. How do you use a drug that has dangerous effects to treat an illness? Don’t worry we had the same questions and curiously we waited to have these mysteries unraveled. We use these drugs in doses that are only able to address the pain and for a time that may not cause any serious health problems. However as patients were put on these drugs the whole medical industry work up to the realization that the use of these drugs in most cases resulted in the patients being addicted to the drugs and hence demanded more and more of these drugs. These drugs are rewarding in nature and so patients that are put on these drugs will automatically tend to crave for them. That is when opiophilia became a disease to be fought from all corners to help patients on these drugs to evade addiction and dependence on these drugs.

What is Opiophilia?

Opiophilia is a love of opioids, the love for opioids may not begin as a choice but may begin gradually when a patient is prescribed opiates to help him in pain management. In the past the doctors had given a blind to the possibility of pain patients under opiate drugs to be addicted on these drugs as they believed that the dosage was not enough to make the develop dependence on these drugs. However as patients take these drugs they will become addicted as the drugs are rewarding in nature. This therefore means that before a doctor prescribes opiate to a chronic pain patient he should assess the patient and develop exit strategies that will help these patients avoid addiction.

Fortunately, the medical industry has fought opiophilia and better strategies have been put in place to ensure that patients on these drugs are safe. Opiophilia seems an already won battle. Apart from proper pain management by use of these drugs other natural ways of pain management have been embraced to help patients where necessary. These natural pain cures include Prolozone therapy, PRP and prolotherapy. These natural pain cures are now used worldwide to help patients with chronic pain.

The fight against opiophilia was won but that did not end all the problems associated with the use of opiates in managing pain in patients. Another disease came and replaced opiophilia and this is opiophobia.

Opiophobia is a disorder or affliction, so named because people affected have a great aversion to the use of prescription opioids for the treatment of pain, to the point where they will actually refuse to take or administer it. This is rather new disease in field of drugs and addiction. This term is also used to refer to instances when doctors fear or are unwilling to prescribe opioid medication to patients.

In most cases doctors who have had unwillingness to prescribe opioid medications are often counseled and so they go back to administer the drugs. Opiophobia should be addressed just as much as opiophilia since it is the opioid that goes deep in managing pain. This is because the only direct biologic pain-relief system in the human body is the endogenous opioid receptor system, consisting of endorphins and their tissue based action sites, or receptors. Using opioid based drug in pain offers instant relief and so the opiates still remain to be the best pain relief medication. The public as well as the doctors may be subject to opiophobia owing to the negative information that are spreading concerning the use of opiates in dealing with pain. The major concern of these groups is that they know that when a patient has used the opiates for a short term or long-term pain then he becomes addicted and will show symptoms of withdrawal once he stops using the drugs. This may be true but this is also true with other medications doesn’t a diabetic patient become dependent on insulin? Needless to mention several strategies have been put in place to ensure safe exit from the use of these drugs. When you are dependent on any drug for medical purposes. That is not abuse.

Because of opiophobia and opiophilia State regulators have been introducing legislation to severely curtail availability of opioid class of medication this unfortunately may be a disadvantage rather than an advantage as there are patients that are already dependent on these drugs needless to mention there is no alternative that has been put in place that can work effectively enough to replace opioid class of drugs in managing pain.

Exit strategy from opioid therapy

There is need for a safe exit strategy to help the patients evade any possible danger that may come from using the drug. However it is better for a doctor to formulate a safe exit strategy. He will be able to do so depending on such factors as; consistence of a patient’s behavior with drug addiction, patient’s willingness to cooperate with an outpatient-based opioid analgesic tapering plan, patient’s history with substances disorders. All these assessments will help the doctor to formulate a safer exit plan for the patient.

Here at AWAREmed we are dedicated to finding the best solutions to chronic illnesses and that is why Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is always in the forefront advocating for integrative medicine since it is only through integrative medicine that a person can be healed wholly. Do not hesitate to call on her for help in managing any sort of chronic pain as well as other diseases.

Opiophilia Replaced By Opiophobia the Pendulum Is Again In Motion

Sedatives and Chronic Pain Treatment

July 28, 2014

Sedatives and Chronic Pain Treatment

What are sedatives?

Sedatives refers to the drugs which when administered to a patient, they reduce tension and anxiety and cause sedation. They are drugs which cause calmness when taken by the patient. In chronic pain treatment, these drugs are administered with a purpose to kill the pain that the patient is experiencing. This is not a common medication though and it will only be made available to the public if the clinical trials have shown that the benefits of using the drug seemingly outweigh its adverse risks.

How are sedatives administered?

Sedatives are administered to patients in many ways. The mode in which the sedation is given will though be determined by the area on which the pain is being experienced. The modes through which sedation can be administered include:-

ü Through inhalation- through nose

ü Through mouth (oral)

ü Under the tongue

ü Or sometimes administered intravenously i.e. through the veins.

Is sedation helpful in pain relief?

Yes. Sedation is a medication that has been specifically developed to help people who are experiencing pain. This medication works by calming the nervous system and hence making the patient not to feel any pain. Sometime when you are experiencing chronic pain, it may be difficult for you to concentrate on anything or even have sleep. Sedation in this case can prove helpful to you.

Does sedation cure chronic pain?

There has been confusion in many people who use sedation and think they are treating pain. Sedation is not a curative medication for pain, but it is only meant to help the patient by providing temporary relief from pain.

Under what circumstances will sedation be important?

As earlier mentioned, these medicines should only be used when prescribed by a doctor, because they are known to be habit forming. This will make them less effective the next time you will need to use them.

This medication is normally in most cases prescribed to the patients who are experiencing difficulties in sleep. This is because it is very difficult for a person experiencing severe pain to get any sleep. In this case, the doctor will prescribe sedative medication which will help the patient in killing the pain and consequently the patient gets sleep.

Are there thing I should avoid when under sedation treatment?

Yes. Sedation if not well taken care of can be hazardous. Depending with the level of sedation, (e.g. Deep sedation) taking of other drugs like alcohol as this may cause extreme drowsiness and this can reduce breathing and if intense, death may occur.

When you will also want to stop taking sedation medication E.g. for sleep aid, do not stop abruptly. Instead discuss it with your doctor to be advised on how to gradually withdraw. The abrupt stoppage may subject you to withdrawal symptoms.

Which are the types of sedation?

The type of sedation medication to be administered to the patient will be determined by the doctor when the patient visits the doctor. This choice will though be based of the intended effect of the sedative in terms of intensity. The following are the common types of sedative medication:-

Minimal sedation – when this sedation is administered, the patients respond normally to verbal communications since this is a light sedative medication. Sometimes this method may though impair cognitive function and coordination, breathing in unaffected.
Moderate sedation – this is also referred to as cognitive sedation and the patient remains conscious and an respond purposefully to verbal commands either alone or by light simulation.
Deep sedation – if this type of sedation is administered to a patient, the patient cannot be easily aroused but responds to painful simulation. The patient may require assistance to breath.
General Anesthesia – this is normally a very serious sedation treatment and its intensity is high. The patient cannot be aroused even by inducing pain on him/her. Breathing ability may completely be impaired.

Does sedation have any side effects?

Sedatives Almost all drugs, prescribed or over the counter will have some side effects. In this case, sedation is no exception. Some of the powerful sedation medicines have very high chances of causing addiction to the patient, especially if they are abused. Apart from the risk of addition, these drugs may also sometimes produce unpleasant reaction to the patient. It is important to note that the reaction that results from different patients when they take a given drug is quite different and hence it is vital after you see a negative reaction to the drug you see your doctor as soon as possible.

Is sedation same as opioids treatment?

Not really. As mentioned earlier, sedation refers to the medication which is normally given to the pain experiencing patient in order to bring about calmness. On the other hand, opioids are curative mediations which are given to pain experiencing patient with aim of not just giving them a temporal relief from the pain but to get them a permanent solution to the pain. Therefore, in simple terms the difference between the two is that opioids are medications that cure pain while sedatives are medications meant to calm or cool down the pain. Both medications should be administered by a qualified physician though, to avoid risks of addiction.

Sedatives and Chronic Pain Treatment

NAD and Addiction Pain Treatment

July 27, 2014

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide In every treatment, the aim is always to provide healing to the patient within the shortest time possible and at the same time ensuring the medication remain friendly to the patient and doesn’t have harmful side effects. Contrary to this expectation, some of the medications used to solve the patient’s health problems seem to pose some danger to the patient. This danger could be in the form of side effects or addiction.

The problem of side effects has arguably been addressed in many cases and the cases are minimal and if any, they are those unavoidable and can be explained by the opportunity cost laws. To address these medication related problems, ways of proper choice of medication have been sought. One of the problems whose solutions have been sought over time is the medication free from addiction to the patient.

How can pain be cured without addiction?

Pain is normally a complex condition to treat and therefore there are many treatment options to choose from. The bad news though is that some of these (medication) methods have been proven addictive to the patient and at some point if addicted, the patient will not be able to stay without taking these medications.

The best way to safely manage pain is by choosing a method of treatment that will not result to be addictive in the long run. Is there such a method? Yes, there are methods which scientists have proven addiction free. One and of course the most effective in treatment of addiction is the NAD treatment.

What is NAD?

NAD is an abbreviation which stands for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide. It is a metabolic co-enzyme which occurs in our bodies in two compounds; NAD and NADH. These enzymes are the ones responsible for all the activities in our bodies. NADH is used for improvement in mental clarity, being alert, concentration and memory as well as in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease from a person. This molecule is normally formed from vitamin B3 (niacin).

What is NAD energy deficiency?

Every human body requires energy for survival. This energy doesn’t exist naturally, and thus it must be made available in our bodies by the biochemical processes within our bodies. NAD is a co-enzyme which acts as the power plant in our body and if it is low in our bodies, there will be obviously a metabolic energy deficiency. This metabolic energy deficiency is normally referred to as NAD Energy Deficiency (NED). This deficiency in NAD can result to many diseases related tot it such as: – Chronic fatigue, Depression, stress anxiety and variety of other illnesses. This means that one of the best way of treating pain or chronic fatigue is by raising the number of NAD compounds in the body to ensure that there is no deficiency. This will consequently ensure that there is sufficient supply of metabolic energy required to cure the pain.

Why does NAD treatment not cause addiction?

NAD Among the known medications which cause addiction to the patient in the long run, are the medications which use drugs. NAD treatment enjoys the fact that it doesn’t use drugs in its treatment. This is actually what makes the NAD treatment preferred by many people over many other treatments which makes use of prescription drugs or over the counter drugs to treat pain. Unlike these other treatment methods, NAD is a natural treatment method which uses the principle of body’s ability to heal itself if the necessary conditions are maintained. The condition in this case is by ensuring there is no deficiency in NAD and thus the ensuring all body’s activities are correctly taking place. This is due to enough generation of energy (Metabolic energy) by the NAD co-enzymes.

How safe is NAD treatment?

Many researches have been done on NAD therapy to determine its effectiveness and effect in the treatment. Scientists have found sufficient grounds through these researches to conclude that NAD therapy is very safe for treatment of any human being. An advantage of NAD treatment is that it is a natural energy supplement which also generates cellular energy. This energy may also help you in the following:-

It may act as a potent antioxidant and a free radical scavenger since phagocytes normally use NADPH as a source of their energy to destroy pathogens in the body. In this case, it will protect your body from free radicals and to prevent sicknesses and damage. Another important task that NAD plays in your body is that it protects your cells from DNA damage by genotoxic particles.
NAD plays a role in enhancing your moods and emotional balances since these co-enzymes are found in the brain. They perform this task through synthesis of the neurotransmitters which are important for maintaining a positive state of the mind.
Another benefit that you will get from NAD therapy is that it increases the mental clarity and alertness. Research has shown that brain uses 10times more NAD energy than any other body organ.

Looking at all these benefits and there is no addiction when one uses the NAD TREATMENT FOR PAIN, there is every reason to now conclude that this is the best treatment method for pain.

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

NEURAL PROLOTHERAPY

July 26, 2014

NEURAL PROLOTHERAPY CURE FOR PAIN

What is pain?

Pain refers to a natural response by the human body to prevent us from causing more injury on the already injured area. The intensity and persistence of pain gives rise to two types of pains: – one of which is the pain that experience briefly then disappears. An example of this kind of pain is the one we experience when we touch a hot object. This pain disappears after some time. The second time of pain is the one that persists and occasionally this is the kind of pain that takes you to the doctor. It is referred to as chronic pain. This pain is normally termed as neurogenic pain.

How do we experience pain?

Pain is normally communicated to the brain through our autonomic nervous systems which composes of nerves. These signals are sent to the brain once a given part of the body is injured, saying that it is in pain. The interpretation of this signal takes place in the brain and it then makes us aware of the pain, which prevents us from making more injury to the affected area.

What is neural therapy?

This is a treatment of gentle superficial injections that treats chronic pain and dysfunction through resettlement of autonomic nervous systems (ANS) at the site of pain. This results to normal signaling from the nerves to the tissues and the organs that they control.

The autonomic nervous systems functions without our deliberate in order to control vital activities such as blood circulations, metabolism, body temperatures, heart beats etc. The problem with this system is that it can be disturbed by some negative influences such as pollution, toxicity, noise, stress etc. If this disturbance happens, the autonomic nervous systems will not be able to function normally and hence effects such as chronic pain.

The only solution to this problem is by restoring the system to its functional state. The good news is that researches have proven that neural therapy has the capacity to restore this system so that the autonomic nerves can communicate normally again.

Neural therapy can be used to treat quite a wide variety of conditions. Such conditions which can be addressed by this therapy are the chronic pain. Chronic pain condition can improve significantly even after just one treatment. Some of the conditions which benefit from effectiveness of this treatment are Neuralgia, Sciatica, Neck and back pains. The effectiveness of prolotherapy can be realized when a person is treated with neural therapy prior to or at the same time as the prolotherapy treatment.

Is neural therapy treatment painful?

This treatment uses a very thin needle to inject and thus it is almost painless. The needle which is used to inject this sugar solution under the skin is almost the size of hair. This means you may not even feel it. The advantage of this treatment method when used to treat pain is that it will relief you of pain almost immediately. The relief comes within a few seconds of the injection since the injection focuses on the pain area.

How long does it take me to be pain free?

When subjected to perineural injection therapy, these treatments should give you pain relief anywhere within two hours to two days. In case the pain comes back within one hour after the medication session, it is very likely that the therapy won’t work for you and thus other medication option may need to be considered. The other treatment which will be of help in this case is the Prolotherapy. After every session, you should remain painless for longer and longer periods until the pain doesn’t come back or it may even never come back at all.

NEURAL PROLOTHERAPY

Can I be able to stop my pain medication after this therapy?

Yes. Many of the people who have undergone this therapy have reported to have been on narcotics and nerve pain medicine for long time. At the end of the therapy when the pain has gone, you can actually stop your pain medication. This is one of the reasons why neural therapy makes it possible for you to treat pain while remaining free from addiction. It saves you the addiction which would have resulted from the prolonged use of these pain killing medications which are reported to be among the leading contributors of drug related addictions. It is although advisable that when you are stopping your pain medication you should do it gradually (slowly) to avoid the withdrawal effects which follows abrupt stoppage of taking addictive substance.

Are there any side effects of using NPT?

This therapy doesn’t have many associated side effect, but prolonged soreness at the injection site and temporary bruising may be among the uncommon side effects. Just like with any other injection, NPT injection may pose potential risks of infection, fever, allergy, and sometimes no relief or even worsening of pain however, these are rare cases to be reported and if they occur, NPT may not be the causation.

Are there restrictions in terms of activities that one can do while under this treatment?

When you are under this treatment, we in fact encourage activity. If you remain active, your blood will be flowing well. Exercise helps much when undergoing this treatment. Therefore there are not restrictions on activities when under this medication.

Where do I get this treatment?

You don’t have to be worried about this anymore! The best known doctor who many people recommend when it comes to Prolo Neural Therapy, Dr. Akoury is here for you. Call us today and get your problem addressed.

NEURAL PROLOTHERAPY CURE FOR PAIN

Pain Management without Addiction

July 15, 2014

Addiction-Free Pain Management

Pain management refers to the process through which we reduce or control pain in our bodies. One of the common methods of doing this has been prescription medication. While this method has proven to work well to some extent, in some cases it may result to addiction by the drug prescribed. If this happens, it makes it impossible for the patient to stay without taking the drugs since once one fails to take them pain returns and only reduced or ends once the drugs are taken. This is a common case when opioids are used for pain treatment.

How do we curb this problem then? Just as the saying goes, if you don’t repair a crack, you may end up building the whole wall. The best way to prevent addiction from drugs while trying to cure pain is by ensuring that the treatment that you use is effective and has no history of addiction when used. This type of treatment which doesn’t lead you to addiction is the one we call addiction-free pain treatment/ management.

Which are the Addiction-free pain management methods?

Many of effective treatments of pain methods which are addiction free will try to avoid usage prescription drugs or at least ensure they used a drug whose history doesn’t indicate signs of addiction. Let’s look at some methods which have proven to be effective in the management of pain and leaving the patient addiction free.

Pain management

THE PROLOZONE TREATMENT

What is provolone treatment? This is a form of muscular-skeletal and joint pain treatment technique. It uses the power of oxygen to cause the damaged tissues, ligaments, joints and even tendons to regenerate. This method of treatment causes a complete healing and a permanent pain relief.

How does it work?

Before we even look at the technique used by provolone to heal, it is important to remember the fact that most pains we experience in our daily life originate from injuries. These injuries may or not be physical. For a permanent pain relief to be realized, we must start by treating the injury itself and ensure it heals as well. For a damaged part of the body to regenerate and heal, it must have the critical elements necessary that only the blood can provide. These elements are: – Vitamins, minerals and oxygen. Of the three, by far the most important of them all is oxygen.

Prolozone works in three ways;

First, injection of homeopathic anti-inflammatory medication is done to prevent or reduce inflammation and swelling. This will increase circulation.
The second thing is to treat the area with vitamins that are critical for healing to occur.
Finally, the area is infiltrated with oxygen in the form of ozone.

What happens after this treatment?

The result of the treatment is that the tissues get what they need to heal, and consequently heal. Important to note is that circulation to the area is also established and therefore the treatment is complete.

Which are some of the conditions which can be treated with provolone?

The following are some of the conditions which can effectively be treated with ozone:

Torn tendons
Neuromas
Heal spurs
Sports injury
Sciatica
TMJ syndrome
Degenerated or herniated and many other conditions.

Can this treatment be addictive?

Not at all. We must note that this is a therapeutic treatment and thus it doesn’t use drug prescription which would in some cases result into addiction. The good thing also about this treatment over the other pain killing treatments is that it does not only kill the pain but also produce permanent healing of any injured area.

NEURAL THERAPY

This is another addiction free treatment of pain which involves the treatment of autonomic nervous system. Autonomic system is the most fundamental system in our bodies and works as the control system. This system is responsible for controlling important body functions such as blood circulation, body temperatures, breathing, heart rate etc.

How does it work?

Neural therapy works by using procain injections to restore and heal stressed out and injured nerves, so as to ensure they work normally and in so doing, they sent the proper nerve impulses to the tissues and body organs that they innervate.

NAD TREATMENT

Pain management It refers to Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide which is a metabolic co-enzyme which continuously varies between NAD and NADH compounds in the body. Our bodies have two classes of enzymes, digestive and metabolic enzymes. Since healing requires structuring, repair, and modeling of every cell, metabolic enzymes become important since they do all those. Replenishment of these enzymes is important since they normally have a work load. NAD plays an important role in production of ATP, which is the energy molecule in the body and has over 100 metabolic functions in our human chemistry.

Is NAD therapy safe?

Yes. NAD therapy is a safe, natural supplement of cellular energy and also a generator of the same. It may also help to: act as a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger Phagocytes use NADPH as a source of energy to destroy pathogens. It also increases mental clarity and alertness when applied to a given patient.

PAIN NEUTRALIZATION TECHNIQUE (PNT)

This is one of the pain relieve therapies which has proven to work effectively. It is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive technique for pain neutralization.

How does it work?

This technique works through gentle manipulation of tissue by altering the nerve based reflexes which a known to perpetuate trigger points and muscle pain. It is a very friendly method since it doesn’t use pressure like some of the other methods for treating trigger points and it instead uses finger massage of the points.

MAGNESIUM TREATMENT FOR PAIN RELIEF

Magnesium is one of the known treatments of pain, which have proven effective and addiction free. Magnesium is known to relax muscles and hence it uses this principle to relief pain.

A remarkable principle in the mechanism of magnesium treatment is that of excessive stimulation of a brain chemical known as ‘NMDA.’

One of the advantages of magnesium as a treatment substance is that it is readily available since it can be found in supplement form at most of health food stores.

Addiction-Free Pain Management

Tag Archives: Pain management