Thank you Obama. Because of you,my son is being seen for chronic pain.

[Akoto]

28. The way it was explained to me, and as I have experienced it ...

There are few procedure-type treatments for my diagnosis, so I was started on medication about as soon as I ended up at the University. The doctors address your question through two terms:

1. Dependent: You only take what you are prescribed, you do not crave more. You don't get a high from it, just pain relief. If you stop taking your meds, you'll have withdrawal symptoms, as you would with many other meds used in the long term.

2. Addict: An addict was described as someone who takes more than is prescribed, who craves the drug, who uses it for pleasure instead of or beyond pain needs.

Obviously, the vast majority of pain management patients are dependent, but are not addicts. A good doctor will watch for this behavior, and will gradually titrate doses so that optimal relief is achieved without an unnecessarily high dose.

If you are on indefinite pain management like I am, your body can eventually adapt to the medication, requiring titration to a higher dosage or a switch to a different med. Everyone is different, but I have only had to do this 3 or so times over the years, and I have actually gone back down on some meds.

Of course, this is all assuming Mother of Four's son needs medication. Modern pain management centers have all sort of options, i.e. physical therapy, injections, surgical procedures, implantable devices, etc.