Pain Management Clinics - How to Find the Right One
Once upon a time (pre-1914), Americans were able to obtain any drug or remedies they chose without permission from any other person or government agency. You were responsible for the substances that you ingested into your body - opiates, cocaine, or the most recent patent medicine. Somewhere along the line we must have grow to be too slow to act on our doctor's guidance in our own best interests.
Many years ago when Peace Corps Volunteers served in South Korea (me among them), you could purchase any legal drug without a prescription.
Had a cough you couldn't extinguish? Codeine was available at the corner pharmacy for under a dollar. Speed was obtainable for approximately 6 cents a hit. I never bought them, although they were available if I wanted them.
Members of the U.S. Army stationed in Korea were prohibited from going inside a Korean drugstore. Strictly off-limits. (As if that ever stopped even one soldier from getting any drug they needed - legal or banned.)
Politicians have long sense given up on following the Constitution. At least they knew before 1914 that the Constitution did not permit the federal government to ban plants and natural pharmaceuticals. The first big law - the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act - is a TAX statute.
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."
Still technically lawful for personal use at that point in time, some doctors who prescribed opiates to addicts ended up being arrested and imprisoned since addiction was not considered a "disease" a physician could treat in "the course of his professional practice."
For fear of losing their licenses to prescribe drugs - the foundation of most modern medical practices - many doctors will not prescribe the best pain killers, even when they know it's the best choice for the patient.
Terminal cancer patients are routinely treated with liquid opiates in England and can live their last days free of excruciating pain. Not so for their U.S. cousins, unless they want liquified black tar heroin on the back streets of Houston.
Unfortunately, in a effort to arrest and jail drug users, the US denies the world's best pain medications to citizens in need of pain relief.
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 treatment clinics come in several forms:
- standalone pain centers staffed by MDs
- departments in hospitals and large medical facilities
- chiropractors
- acupuncturists
- physical therapists
- psychiatrists/psychologists
Alternatives:
- clinics that readily prescribe pain killers - "pill mills"
- yoga
- hypnosis
- medical marijuana
Pain targeted in one area might be addressed more successfully via one type of chronic pain center than another. Chiropractors, for example, are a customary stop for people with constant back pain. But back pain is complicated, and may possibly involve your family doctor, physical therapy, or even acupuncture.
Key categories of pain include:
- 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.
Most alternative pain centers will expect the patient to pay out of pocket. If your regular doctor cannot or will not develop a correct treatment plan, it may well be well worth it.
"No More Pain" Clinics is a new blog developed to consider alternative remedies available for persistent pain.
Tags: chronic pain relief,pain relief centers,pain relief clinics,sciatica,sciatic nerve pain relief,back pain
For more on sciatica pain relief or local pain management centers, visit: "No More Pain" Clinics.
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. - http://nomorepainclinics.com
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