Pain Treatment Options

“The pills don’t work”.

“I’m concerned about addiction.”

“The side effects make me sleepy and nauseous.”

Medication alone is not enough and WE have come to believe that WE have no other options. This is not to say that medications are not valuable but there are so many complementary therapies that are never explored between providers and their patients.

Even when patients initiate inquiry about using complementary treatments they’ve heard of, the response of the medical provider is often one of resistance, dismissal and ignorance. Medical schools rarely teach courses in ways to integrate complementary treatments into patient care. Patients are forced to seek out these treatments in secret. There is an absence of curiosity and education about the connections between body, mind, sensations and emotions.

Even treatments such as acupuncture, visualization, breathing techniques, hypnosis and EMDR, that have been vetted and tested and are used by the Department of Defense on the battlefield and in Veteran hospitals have not found their way into mainstream western medicine. What are WE waiting for?