Self-management skills we don ’ t often discuss

I’m back from my summer break (I’m in Aotearoa/New Zealand – we shut down over Christmas/New Year just like the US and UK do over July/August!), and I want to begin with a cracker of a topic: medication management! Now I am not a prescriber. I don’t hold any ability to write prescriptions of any kind, not even exercise ;-). Yet most of the people I’ve seen in clinical practice have started their journey living with pain by being prescribed medications. All medications have side effects, true effects (well… maybe), adverse effects, and the human factor: taking them in the way that optimises the pharmacodynamics of the drug. It’s this last part that can sometimes be omitted by prescribers. Or at least, that’s my take after listening to hundreds of people over my clinical career. What do I mean? Well, all drugs have a kind of ‘release profile’ as the active ingredients are metabolised (broken down) in the body. Most drugs will be released gradually into the system, peak after a certain time, and then gradually reduce in concentration until there’s no active ingredients (metabolites) left. There’s a difference between what we feel (the effects we experience) and how long the metabolites remain present – people using cannabis, for example, will know that the effects of euphoria/calm/sedation/relaxation wear off reasonably quickly, but the metabolites hang around in the fatty tissues for months (...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Chronic pain Coping strategies Research Science in practice pain management self-management Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs