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Get Personal

 

Every day, 44 people in the U.S. die from overdose of prescription painkillers, and many more become addicted.

Get personal with a commitment to your Health and Wellness

 

Goal: to help you achieve optimal health, wellbeing and to thrive as a human being.

 

This section helps you with the following concerns:

 

In pain?

On pain medications?

Concerned about using Opioids?

Concerned about friend/family member?

In Pain?

 

Use My Personal Health manager

My Personal Health Manager is designed to help you achieve optimal health by  building on an understanding of what it takes to create Optimal Health (Salutogenesis)  and utilized the latest in digital technology and resources to support you in your health journey.

An infographic from the National Safety Council shows the effectiveness of various medications and other alternative options for pain relief.

 

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On Pain Medications?

 

Learn more about opioids. You’ll be better prepared to catch the signs of abuse — and prevent addiction and overdose in your community.

 

Protect yourself and your loved ones from prescription painkiller abuse and overdose death.

  •   Talk with your doctor about:

    • The risks of prescription painkillers and other ways to manage your pain.

    • Making a plan on when and how to stop, if a choice is made to use prescription painkillers.

  • Use prescription painkillers only as instructed by your doctor.

  • Store prescription painkillers in a safe place and out of reach of others.

  • Help prevent misuse and abuse by not selling or sharing prescription painkillers. Never use another person's prescription painkillers.

  • DIspose of unused Opioids Safely at authorized locations. (DEA)   

  • FDA

  • What to do with Leftover Medicines

 

 


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Concerned about using opiates?

 

Use My Personal Health manager

My Personal Health Manager is designed to help you achieve optimal health by  building on an understanding of what it takes to create Optimal Health (Salutogenesis)  and utilized the latest in digital technology and resources to support you in your health journey.

 

Get help for substance abuse problems at 1-800-662-HELP. 

Call Poison Help 1-800-222-1222 if you have questions about medicines.

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My Personal Checklist

Drug Sceening (Boston University) 

Do you use drugs or drink alcohol? Are these substances harming your health or increasing your risk for other problems?

This website can help you find out.

 

 

How Do You Know There is a Problem? (PdF)

 

At first, alcohol and drugs may seem to make things better. They may help you sleep, temporarily forget problems, or feel more relaxed. But these short-term benefits can turn sour fast. In the long run, using alcohol and drugs to cope with stress will create a whole new set of very serious problems, and will make the problems that led you to drink or use worse. Sometimes it might be hard for you to tell whether alcohol or drug use is itself becoming a problem. A good rule of thumb is that your alcohol or drug consumption might be causing problems when it interferes with your:

 

Work or school. • Mental well-being. • Family. • Relationships. • Spirituality. • Money. • Physical health. • Self respect. • Legal record.

Peer Support 

AddictionSurvivors.org is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing peer support communities for those with addiction disorders and their families and friends. These forums are funded in whole by individuals whose lives have been touched by addiction in one way or another.

Concerned about friend/family member?

 

Use My Personal Health manager

My Personal Health Manager is designed to help you achieve optimal health by  building on an understanding of what it takes to create Optimal Health (Salutogenesis)  and utilized the latest in digital technology and resources to support you in your health journey.

 

Partnership drug free kids

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Family Checkup: Positive Parenting Prevents Drug Abuse

 

The following five questions, developed by the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon, highlight parenting skills that are important in preventing the initiation and progression of drug use among youth.

 

  • Are you able to communicate calmly and clearly with your teenager regarding relationship problems?

  • Do you encourage positive behaviors in your teenager on a daily basis?

  • Are you able to negotiate emotional conflicts with your teenager and work toward a solution?

  • Are you able to calmly set limits when your teenager is defiant or disrespectful? Are you able to set limits on more serious problem behavior such as drug use, if or when it occurs?

  • Do you monitor your teenager to assure that he or she does not spend too much unsupervised time with peers?

 

Why See a Pain Medicine Specialist?

 

Pain treatment is complex and can cause more harm than good if it is not provided by a pain medicine specialist. Physician anesthesiologists complete four years of medical school, four years of training in anesthesiology and pain medicine, and an additional year of training to become experts in treating chronic pain. This expertise is essential since the spine and nerves that register pain are delicate and everyone’s anatomy and pain tolerance is different. In addition, pain medications are strong and can be harmful if not administered by a physician with appropriate training.

 

Surgery and Pain 

 

The society issued the following five tips on managing pain with opioids.

 

  • Talk with your physician: If your physician prescribes an opioid (common ones include fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone), be sure to have a detailed conversation about how to minimize the risks. Your doctor will ask if you have taken opioids before (and if so, how they affected you) or have a history of addiction as well as assess whether any conditions you have could increase the risk of side effects. Possible side effects range from mild (such as sleepiness or constipation) to more serious and life-threatening effects, such as shallow breathing, slowed heart rate and loss of consciousness, which can be signs of overdose. Ask your physician what signs to look for and how to minimize potential problems. The ASA has information about the signs of opioid overdose and what to do about it – learn more atasahq.org/OpioidODFacts.

  • Take as directed: Because opioids are easy to misuse, be sure to carefully follow directions for taking them. Ask your physician about interactions with other medications you are taking or with alcohol.

  • Plan ahead for surgery:

    Before surgery – If you are already taking opioids for chronic pain and are having surgery, be sure to talk to your surgeon, physician anesthesiologist and other physicians to determine how to manage pain before, during and after surgery. It’s important to understand that chronic opioid use increases the risk of complications from surgery and may add to the length of your hospital stay.

    After surgery – Even if you do not usually take opioids, you may be prescribed an opioid to cope with pain after surgery. If so, take the medication only as long as necessary for pain control – two weeks at most. If you find you are still in pain a few weeks after surgery, tell your pain medicine specialist so you can explore other options for pain control.

  • Ask about combination therapy: Only about half the people taking opioids say they feel they have control of their pain. A newer method of pain control, multi-modal therapy, uses a combination of medications or other methods. This may not only help improve your pain management, but decrease the opioid dose you need to control your pain.

  • Consider non-drug therapies: Biofeedback (in which patients learn to control involuntary functions, such as heart rate), meditation, massage, acupuncture, surgical procedures and interventional therapies (such as nerve blocks) can help with chronic pain. Talk to a pain medicine specialist to learn what options might work best for you.

Quality Of Life Scale A Measure Of Function For People With Pain

 

Pain is a highly personal experience. The degree to which pain interferes with the quality of a person’s life is also highly personal. The American Chronic Pain Association Quality of Life Scale looks at ability to function, rather than at pain alone. It can help people with pain and their health care team to evaluate and communicate the impact of pain on the basic activities of daily life. This information can provide a basis for more effective treatment and help to measure progress over time.

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