Murfreesboro Post
MURFREESBORO WEATHER

There are drug-free ways to avoid opioid addiction




Kestner

Kestner

If you live in Tennessee, your risk of opioid dependence, addiction, side-effects and overdose are greater than in most states. 

In the past two weeks this column has addressed the fact that opioids are prescribed more frequently in Tennessee than most states. In 2015, Tennessee providers wrote nearly twice as many prescriptions for opioids than the national average.

Recent legislation has begun to change the prescribing patterns of Tennessee providers, but we are still ranked high in overuse of opioids.

Readers will recall from two weeks ago that opioids and narcotics are the same thing, and that these drugs affect your body in the same way opium drugs such as heroin do, but are often much more powerful and highly addictive.

Opioids work well for severe pain.  That is the reason they are often prescribed. For illnesses that result in pain or for recovery from injuries or surgery, opioids can control pain very effectively.

The flip side of their effectiveness is that opioids can sometimes have serious side effects.  It is not uncommon to experience constipation, decreased alertness, dizziness, nausea or vomiting. Perhaps the most dangerous side effect of opioids is the likelihood of physical dependence and risk of addiction.

Opioid addiction does not discriminate between the young and old, rich and poor, educated or uneducated or along racial, ethnic or gender lines.  Anyone that takes opioid prescriptions encounters a risk of addiction.  For these reasons, opioids should not be taken lightly. 

Doctors are aware of the enormous problems caused by opioids. They are conscientiously working to find ways to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions written. National physician groups have been working on this problem for a number of years.

Providers are faced with a challenging dilemma. On the one hand, they know the serious risks of prescribing opioids for a patient, yet a patient is there in front of them needing help for pain.

National physician groups have begun recommending that their member physicians seek alternatives to opioids for the past several years. The experts specifically recommend that physicians learn more about and recommend acupuncture for their patients with chronic pain. The American College of Physicians specifically recommend acupuncture and chiropractic as first options for treating pain.

There are several reasons that these experts recommend acupuncture. First, acupuncture can be highly effective in resolving chronic painful conditions. I have worked with patients with chronic pain for more than 30 years.  Our particular form of acupuncture has proven to be a very effective treatment.

Even the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has endorsed the use of acupuncture for chronic pain.

In my personal experience, acupuncture has been especially effective in helping patient with a wide range of chronic painful conditions. In fact, for many patients our acupuncture treatment has been successful in helping patients get completely off pain drugs altogether.

Locally, medical physicians have been referring their patients to our office for longer than 30 years to find drug-free help for painful conditions. These treatments are especially helpful for neck and back pain, headaches, including sinus, migraine and tension headaches, joint pain such as knee pain, as well as in shoulders, hips, and all other joints.

In our office we provide medical acupuncture along with other treatments. That means the procedures are based on contemporary scientific principles and are carried out in a strictly appropriate clinical setting.  Patients find the treatment to be very relaxing and pain-free.

Many people expect the needles to be painful, since most needles are. We use the highest grade Japanese manufactured stainless steel, sterile, disposable needles and use insertion procedures that have been developed to be so proficient that the treatments truly are painless. (Some acupuncture or dry-needling treatments are painful and uncomfortable, so it is important to point out the treatments we use are very comfortable.)

More physicians are actively looking for alternatives to drugs such as hydrocodone drugs including Lorcet, Lortab, Norco and Vicodin because patients are asking for other options. Because of this more physicians are turning to solutions such as acupuncture, chiropractic and other drug-free treatments.

As a result of the concerns for the risks of opioid (narcotic) drugs, it is often a good idea to ask for recommendations other than another opioid prescription.

Dr. Mark Kestner is a chiropractor in Murfreesboro. His office is at 1435 NW Broad St.

Leave a Reply