Having ongoing problems with pain often involves being on medication, and most of us are not thrilled with being on daily medication. Nothing is completely risk free, but most medications used for pain are relatively safe, although problems with side effects, intolerance and allergies are always a concern. Beyond the risks of opioids, most other medications can be managed in a straightforward manner.  If the treatments are helpful, then it is easier to determine its value in management. The problem we all have is when one is not sure if a medication is working.

The use of medications to control pain is often difficult. A lot of time, pain problems require multiple approaches to control symptoms. The effectiveness of a medication may be subtle, allowing a higher level of activity prior to having pain. Sometimes the effectiveness is noted when doses of medication are missed. Often the cocktail of medications are used to avoid the need for opioids. Once on medications, most of us wonder if they are actually working. Furthermore, all medications seem to be overly expensive.

Safely Stopping Medications

Stopping medications and simplifying treatment is often a good thing. To be successful in removing medications, one needs to be doing other things to keep the body healthy. The range of must-do activities begins with a good exercise program that includes stretching, strengthening and conditioning. One must be treating the whole body and that includes improving your diet, sleep and mental health. Living a healthy lifestyle improves the health of the body, and often can successfully replace the need for medication. Without improved lifestyle, it is less likely that one would be successful at eliminating medications.

Once a person is ready to start removing medications, the next challenge is choosing the medications to eliminate from treatment. Sometimes it is clear that a medication has little effect since missed doses have not changed pain levels. Tapering off certain medications is necessary to prevent difficulties, so discuss stopping it with your practitioner. If it is not clear where to start, often eliminating the most addictive and those drugs with the worst side effects are a good choice. The next target is ones that are least affordable. Lastly, slowly remove the rest of the medications. It is better to go slowly since one is probably going to do better with a slow change and be more successful with drug elimination.

Simplifying medication regimens and eliminating drugs that are not effective from a management program is a good thing. The healthier the lifestyle, the easier it should be to reduce medication usage. Pain is a difficult problem to manage, but a comprehensive exercise program, a healthy diet with fresh food (versus fatty fast food and lots of carbohydrates), relaxation, good mental health and good sleep all improve pain management.  Pain effects the whole body and treatment should include the whole person.