Pain is something we are almost "hard wired" to try to avoid, and the more intense the pain, the more focused becomes our efforts to get rid of it and so naturally, when people are hurting a lot, they want to find some way of relieving it.

But DOC...I NEED PAIN KILLERS !

Pain is something we are almost "hard wired" to try to avoid, and the more intense the pain, the more focused becomes our efforts to get rid of it and so naturally, when people are hurting a lot, they want to find some way of relieving it.

But, pain has a legitimate function in the body, and if you act just to block it, and try to ignore it, then you rob the body's pain receptors of their essential function. Pain exists as an alert mechanism to let you know that there is something wrong, and usually, it indicates that damage has occurred to the tissues.

As a doctor since 1989, I see patients daily, and if there is a single commonality to their complaints that brings them to the doctor's office, it is pain.

But, as a doctor, when doctors just want pain killers, I have to tell them that just the absence of pain does not mean the underlying problem that causes the pain is gone, and in some respects, when people load up on pain killers, and thus block the important alert signals of the body, sometimes they overdo it and can cause additional injuries.

PAIN KILLERS NEVER FIX ANYTHING.

Whether your pain comes from sprained and strained muscles, or is more serious such as a nerve root or the spinal cord being compressed by a displaced disc, the proper thing to do is to address the underlying problems.

For example, if you have a car wreck and your muscles are in spasm, and the joints are not moving as they should, you will probably experience neck pain, and , until the muscles in spasm are addressed, and until proper movement and function of the cervical joints are restored, the pain will continue, and lie there, just under the pain killers, waiting for the Vicodin / Hydrodocone to wear off.

Patients often get frustrated as to why their DO or MD will not give them stronger meds or continue their prescription.  One must understand that for most patients, the doctor is NOT going to keep you on pain meds for life. Firstly, most pain meds have the potential for causing liver damage if taken too long.

Secondly, doctors who prescribe narcotic pain relievers are closely monitored by the state licensing boards such as the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, and if the Board believes a doctor seems to be doing a lot of narcotic pain reliever prescribing, they may get a visit from a " compliance officer" from the Board, demanding to see their charts and records, and to defend WHY they are writing the scripts, and when they intend to get these patients off of them.

So , in general, you will notice doctors who write pain reliever prescriptions, are much more reluctant to write you a Vicodin script and if they do, will not give you as many pills as they used to.

So, the bottom line is this. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be out of pain. It is natural. But, just getting script for heavy duty pain killers is NOT a treatment for the problem, just a temporary relief for the symptoms.

~Dr. John Raymond Baker, DC