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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Pain Clinics - How to Find the Right One

Before the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act became law in 1914, the federal government pretty much left Americans alone to medicate with alcohol, opium, and cocaine as they saw fit.

How would you like your back to benefit from the 1973 NASA discovery?


Some years ago when Peace Corps Volunteers served in South Korea (me among them), one could obtain all legal drugs without a prescription.

If you had a bad cough, you might remedy it with codeine cough medicine. A small bottle ran about $.80. Amphetamines were available for about 6 cents a hit. I never tried them, although they were nearby if I needed them.

All Korean drugstores were off-limits to U.S. Military Personnel. I guess soldiers are expected to suck it up and endure the pain.

No where in the U.S. Constitution do I find a right for the federal government to interfere in doctor-patient relationships. Yet they do. Like the licensing of physicians, this right - if it exists at all - should be exercised at the state level.

The Act provides:

"Chap 1. - An Act To provide for the registration of, with collectors of internal revenue, and to impose a special tax on all persons who produce, import, manufacture, compound, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, or give away opium or coca leaves, their salts, derivatives, or preparations, and for other purposes."

Even though technically legal for private use at that point in time, some medical doctors who prescribed opiates to addicts ended up arrested and imprisoned because addiction was not considered a "disease" a doctor could treat in "the course of his professional practice."

Compared to other countries, physicians inside the United states. are hesitant to prescribe opiates and other restricted pain medication - even when they know their patients would benefit.

Treatment for terminal cancer patients including liquid heroin has been available in England, but even that government is pushing for methadone instead.

As a result of a nanny state and a failed war on drugs, the best pain medications are routinely denied or completely prohibited to patients in the U.S.

In my mind, pain management is more medical art than medical science. The last thing we need is government bureaucrats deciding what treatment you can or cannot receive.

Pain clinics come in many forms:

- standalone pain centers staffed by MDs
- departments in hospitals and large medical facilities
- chiropractors
- acupuncturists
- physical therapists
- psychiatrists/psychologists

Alternatives:

- so-called "pill mills" where prescriptions are readily available
- yoga
- hypnosis
- medical marijuana

Chronic pain concentrated in one area may possibly be cared for more effectively via one kind of chronic pain center than another. Chiropractors, for instance, are a normal destination for individuals with constant back pain. But back pain is complicated, and may well require your family doctor, physical therapy, or even acupuncture.

Main types of pain involve:

- cancer
- arthritis
- sciatica
- back
- neck
- leg
- foot
- headache

Insurance companies complicate pain management and treatment. Failure of insurance companies to approve treatment for chronic pain drives many sufferers to specialized pain clinics where they must pay out-of-pocket.

If your medical professionsal is unwilling or unable to dispense the appropriate drugs and pain medication to treat your ailments, make an appointment at your community pain clinic for help. Just bear in mind, most insurance companies will not cover chronic pain management. You might be required to pay up front. Check the clinic website for insurance and payment guidelines before making an appointment.

The objective of this blog is to look at various forms of pain treatment and to help visitors locate the correct pain center in their local area.

The ultra efficient Life Without Back Pain in 24 Hours program teaches you exactly what to do to allow your body to heal your pain. It can truly be that simple for so many and we guarantee it.


For more on chronic pain management or pain clinics in your area, visit: http://nomorepainclinics.com

Charles Lamm is a retired attorney now working to assist those with chronic pain in finding the right medical treatment plans in their local areas.

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