Controlled medication/Chronic pain philosophy

Living Well Family Medicine believes that controlled medications (such as narcotics and benzodiazepines) are not beneficial for long-term treatment of medical conditions. Therefore, we do not prescribe controlled medications for chronic conditions.

Why We Do Not Prescribe Controlled Medications for Chronic Pain and Conditions

1. Controlled medications are designed to work very well for short-term control of acute medical problems.

2. There has never been a study that shows the long-term (more than 12 weeks) use of these medications is beneficial.

3. What recent studies do show, however, is that these medications cause a change in the way we feel pain and anxiety. Long-term use of controlled medications can increase a person’s sensitivity to pain and anxiety, producing worse results for managing pain/anxiety without improving a person’s actual symptoms. Worse, prolonged use of these medications may cause dependency and, eventually, addiction.

4. Our goal is to keep our community healthy and functional. Based on the evidence, chronic use of controlled medications does neither.

5. The only exception to our philosophy is the use of these medications for the treatment of terminal illness.

Our Hope:

Our goal for pain management is to focus less on getting people to zero pain, which is not a realistic goal for most people who live with pain. Instead, we teach people how to prioritize functional, healthy living by making pain a “side note” of life rather than the focus.