The Institute of Medicine estimates around a 100 million Americans suffer with chronic pain, and it’s estimated that about 10% of our population has or has had a substance use disorder. Both chronic pain and substance use disorders are major public health challenges, and treating concurrent pain and substance addiction is especially challenging. Common prescribing practices intended to provide relief of acute and chronic pain can trigger relapse in people with substance use disorders and have also fueled an epidemic of opiod misuse, addiction and overdose death.

People with pain deserve relief, and the good news is there are many strategies for both acute and chronic pain management that are safe and effective for people at risk of or in recovery from substance use disorders. This presentation will discuss various methods of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic pain management and their relative risks and benefits, and describe creative approaches to effective pain relief for people in recovery from substance use disorders.

More information at: http://www.dawnfarm.org/event/safe-effective-management-pain-addiction-dawn-farm-education-series/