Battle Pain And Addiction In The Washington Metro Area

Fidelity Health and Wellness Center offers a wide range of healthcare services to our team in the Washington Metro area. If you are dealing with chronic pain or fighting addiction, our team can help you on these stressful paths to a happier, healthier future. Learn more below.

Managing Chronic Pain With A Multi-modality Approach To Help You Achieve Maximum Wellness Potential

Chronic pain extends beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness that can go on for months or years. The pain can be constant or not, but can affect daily life at all levels. People sometimes wonder if the “pain is all in my head” – at times, it is difficult to pin down a specific physical cause for the pain, but that doesn’t lessen the suffering. When we experience any pain, it is in both our bodies and minds – we cannot separate the physical and psychological effects they have on us. Pain can also affect our relationships, finances, and employment, which leads to increased anxiety and depression. It is common to experience grief for our old lifestyle and miss how our bodies used to be.

Learn More About Chronic Pain And Addiction

What Is Chronic Illness?

Chronic illness is a persistent medical condition that people have to manage daily. Examples of chronic illnesses include diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, cancer, or HIV/AIDS.
Sometimes living with chronic illness and pain can be very difficult. It seems like no one understands what you have to go through. Managing pain, fatigue, medical appointments, special diets, and medications can be overwhelming for both patients and families.
Tips On Managing Chronic Pain

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http://www.medicinenet.com/chronic_pain_causes_solutions_pictures_slideshow/article.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/pain_quiz/quiz.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/pain_surprising_reasons_pictures_slideshow/article.htm
Managing Addictions
Chronic Pain and Opiate Addiction
Certain medications used to treat chronic pain can lead to physical and psychological dependence. This means that withdrawal symptoms may develop when stopping use of the drug and tolerance may develop over time, causing the person to require higher doses of the drug to experience pain relief.
Pain killer addiction is another concern for individuals taking medication for chronic pain. Drug addiction is of particular concern when an individual has been prescribed a drug in the opioid family. In America, there is a growing number of patients with opiate dependence and all the untoward effects that go along with that.
People with a personal or family history of drug addiction or addictive personality disorder may be at greater risk for developing a painkiller addiction. You may have developed a prescription drug addiction if:
- You feel unable to control your medication use
- You have begun to take painkillers more frequently and in higher doses than prescribed
- You have begun taking painkillers to ease depression, anxiety, and other issues besides pain
- You are taking medication prescribed for another person
- You see more than one doctor so you can get larger amounts of medication than one doctor would be willing to prescribe
Fidelity Health’s chronic pain treatment program uses the fewest medications possible and when appropriate, prescribe non-addictive medications with the fewest side effects. We utilize a treatment protocol that reduces dependence on opiate medication with ultimately a taper off opiates for most patients. We target and treat the causes of pain and address any co-occurring addictive behaviors.