[CarVsTree]

I have a friend who is experiencing a lot of pain from Multiple Sclerosis. He is an addict in recovery who wants to avoid narcotics, but is having a lot of difficulty dealing with the pain. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Nurse Ratched]

Is it generalized pain, or concentrated in one specific area?

[Angelica]

Your friend needs a careful assessment by a doctor, preferably someone who specializes in pain management.

[jaimealmostRN]

I agree that he should be seeing someone specializing in pain mng't also, but has he tried something like Baclofen? It's a anspasiticity/muscle relaxant used in MS. Of course, the pain specialist should find out exactly which type of pain he's having 1st.

[Catlanta]

Originally Posted by suemom2kay

I have a friend who is experiencing a lot of pain from Multiple Sclerosis. He is an addict in recovery who wants to avoid narcotics, but is having a lot of difficulty dealing with the pain. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Besides the usual fine-tooth-comb physical dx, two things:

- "black belt" stress management since cortisol & stress hormones will exacerbate and perpetuate pain perception on a neurobiological level: "Managing Pain Before It Manages You" by Margaret Caudill MD PHD is an excellent adjunct but most involved patients really need to work with a trained cognitive-behavioral therapist (counselor, nurse-practitioner, psychologist, etc.); support for behavioral change is important, hard to do by yourself.

- a branch of hypnotherapy called "Rational Hypnotherapy" is the hypnosis version of cognitive-behavioral therapy; research shows that hypnotherapy may actually help blunt the pain motor signal in the brain, not just affect pain perception in the brain. The National Assoc of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists has a list of Certified Rational Hypnotherapists but not online yet; contact them at www.nacbt.org for more info.

Both of these therapies work beautifully with an abstinence-based, 12-step recovery program.

Hope this helps. MS pain is tough.

Best regards,
Catlanta

[elkpark]

I used to work with an addictionologist (MD) who worked on pain mgmt issues with lots of recovering addicts. There are also pain mgmt specialists who are familiar with working with people in recovery. It is a complex challenge, but can be managed, typically by using multiple modalities (as suggested by Catlanta). For your friend's situation, it would be worth seeking out someone who really knows what s/he is doing in this kind of case.