When someone finally starts to realize they have a problem with their pain medication their initial decision to seek help is the most crucial point in the recovery process. Finding treatment providers who are willing to work with them, not on them, can make the difference between successful or non-successful treatment. It is crucial to find doctors, therapists, or counselors who are willing to view someone with chronic pain as a whole person, and not just their pain condition. The Addiction-Free Pain Management® (APM) System is designed to do just that; APM™ is a collaborative treatment process using a multidisciplinary team approach with the patient being the Captain of the team.

If you think you (or someone you love) may be having a problem with pain medication, you can start by asking yourself (or have the person you love ask themselves) the five questions below and answer them as completely and truthfully as possible.  This will help you to make a decision about what you really need for your recovery process. Share your answers with someone you trust, as well as someone who will be honest with you, so you can get an accurate reality check.

1. What is the best that will happen if I continue using my pain medication and/or managing my pain the way I have been doing?
2. What is the worst that will happen if I continue using my pain medication and/or managing my pain the way I have been doing?
3. What is the worst that will happen if I decide to start on this APM recovery journey?
4. What is the best that will happen if I decide to start on this APM recovery journey?
5. Am I willing to make a commitment to complete this APM process and develop a plan to overcome any resistance or obstacles?  Please explain why or why not!

Once you fully answer these five questions you will have the information you need to make an empowered decision and the beginning of an action plan to move you forward. I suggest that you not do this work alone for many reasons. The most important is that people in chronic pain, or who suffer from substance abuse/dependency/addiction, often isolate themselves and find it difficult to reach out. You deserve to have support when dealing with this problem. The recovery process requires a tremendous amount of hard work and self-honesty, as well as allowing other people on your team who are willing and able to support you in a healthy way.

In APM™ Module Four: A Guide for Managing Pain Medication in Recovery you will have an opportunity to explore how you can use pain medication using a recovery oriented approach. First you will look at some misunderstood terms, then you will be asked to list the benefits and disadvantages of using pain medication. Next you’ll write your pain history story and then be shown how to develop your own effective pain medication management plan. The final step is to review a Recovery/Relapse Indicator Checklist and complete a final call to action.

For a brief overview of some of the information in this module please check out my article Managing Pain Medication in Recovery that you can download for free on our Ariticles page. To purchase APM™ Module Four please Click Here.

For an additional resource regarding medication management please go to our Publications page and check out my Addiction-Free Pain Management® Module Two: Examining Your Potential Medication Management Problems. To purchase this module please Click Here.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com.  To listen to a recent radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please Click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.