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Medications

Learn About Medications

Using a medication to treat pain can be helpful. But over time, we may become tolerant to the drug and need an increasing amount to feel the positive effects. Some medications, such as tranquilizers, may help to relieve stress, but relying on a substance as a tool to ease tension can affect our health and relationships. And while using a medication as instructed or prescribed can help us manage our health, taking more than the recommended dosage can harm our health.

The Chronic Pain of Pain Management

How the new opioid prescribing guidelines risk patient care

Kathryn Sutton

Reprinted from "Opioids" issue of Visions Journal, 2018, 13 (3), p. 26

Since the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) announced changes to the opioid prescribing standards on June 1, 2016, health care providers and people living with pain have raised concerns about how the new policy may have a damaging impact on the treatment of chronic pain in this province.

Medications

Medications are drugs manufactured to help people deal with a range of health issues. Some medications are psychoactive (mind altering) while others are not. We use medications to relieve symptoms of medical conditions, to combat both short-term and chronic illness, and to manage our daily lives. While medications may be beneficial, they can also be harmful.

Featured

Treatments: What Works?

It seems like everyone has an opinion when it comes to treatments for mental health or substance use problems. To add to the confusion, it isn’t always obvious who is basing their opinions on real evidence and who is not. And while we often hear people talk about evidence-based treatments, it’s also clear that complementary and alternative medicine approaches are helpful for some.

Recovery

When we talk about mental illnesses and substance use problems, it’s easy to talk in clinical terms: that person has this symptom, or that person uses a certain drug. But recovery is so much bigger than a checklist.

Medications

Medications can be used to treat health problems, but they can also be used in ways they weren’t intended. If you’d like to learn more about medications used to treat mental illnesses, see Managing mental health.

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