The patient who suffers with Chronic Intractable Pain, it is the type of patient who needs a special consideration. This is usually a patient who has suffered with pain longer than three months, and who is truly in need of pain relief and help. This is a patient who usually exhibits all the signs of narcotics seeking behavior.
The term narcotic seeking behavior is usually given to a patient who exhibits signs and symptoms of the want to or need for pain medication, and becomes extremely agitated when the medication is not given. But the patient with Chronic intractable pain, is one who is truly in pain. A drug seeking behavior is not uncommon. The patient is in pain, and is seeking relief.
The majority of doctors who see this type of behavior, automatically label them as a patient who is a hypochondriac, or who has a bad drug habit. On the contrary, this is a patient who is truly in need of medication, and with today's society, it is very hard to find relief for Chronic intractable pain.
Like most patients early on, the patient is missed diagnosed or diagnosed and miss treated. The reason I say miss treated , is because some doctors, like you to have what they call a pain contract. This is a contract between a patient and doctor which stipulates how much pain medication the patient is to receive over a period of time. This however it is not true pain management.
The only way to treat this patient is to titrate the patients narcotics, via long acting narcotics such as Oxycontin or MSIR (Morphine sulfate continuous releases), to a place where the patient is no longer in pain. The patient will also require a short acting narcotic for the intermediate state of when the long acting narcotics is at its low and before it begins to release its second dosage.
The problem with many doctors is that they are not adequately trained in how to treat patients with chronic intractable pain. This is a huge problem in today's medical society. The American Medical Association is presently undergoing changes in the teaching of new doctors on just how to treat chronic intractable pain. The breed of medical doctors who now occupy our society are, what we call pain illiterate. This means they are either to scared of treating a patient pain and possibly creating a condition in which the patient becomes addicted, or the foremost reasons why doctors today in California, do not treat patients appropriately is because they are afraid of losing their license.
In the state of California, this is no longer an issue with patients who have been diagnosed with chronic intractable pain. The state has mandated the use of narcotic pain killers, through Senate bill 402 or (SB402) which protects doctors from prescribing strong narcotic pain killers to patients with chronic intractable pain. They no longer have to fear reprisals or disciplinary actions for treating such patients. The law now states that doctors are free to prescribe narcotics to patients who have chronic intractable pain ,with what ever, and how much is needed of the their standard or triplicate pain medications for the relief of their pain.
Also the patient has the right to reject surgery over taking pain medications for relief. Per say, a patient in which surgery would be required to relieve pain, does have the option either to have the surgery or continue taking pain medications without any reprisals on the doctor.
This Law is currently active in California & only a few other states @ this time.
This Document Dictated By:
Mark Norwood. Head Nurse & CEO: MED-HELP.COM
