Medication Treatment

• Why can't you call-in my pain medication to the pharmacy?

Certain pain medications are controlled substances and cannot be called in by law. We also want to evaluate patients on a regular basis to ensure that their medications are working appropriately and without side effects.

• Why do I have to come in once per month for my pain medication prescription?

According to Massachusetts's law, a 30-day prescription is the maximum amount that can be prescribed per prescription for many controlled substances. We also want to evaluate patients on a regular basis to ensure that their medications are working appropriately and without side effects.

• Why do you perform urine drug screening?

For patients who are on controlled substances, such as opioids, or for those who are being considered for such treatment, Pain and Wellness Center's providers require that urine drug testing be performed. Opioid medications have a potential for abuse and misuse, so urine drugs testing is performed on all patients to help reduce risk and enhance safety. Routine urine drug testing is recommended by the American Society of the Interventional Pain Physicians in their 2008 written guidelines entitled "Opioids in the management of chronic non-cancer pain."

• Why can't my healthcare providers find out what is causing my pain?

For many types of chronic pain, such as chronic low back pain, we cannot determine exactly why pain continues. At times, patients have undergone numerous diagnostic tests and are told that there is no known cause for their pain. This may be due to the inability of available testing to determine the cause or because there are many factors contributing to the pain so that one cause cannot be isolated. Despite this, we believe that you have pain and we are committed to finding treatment options.

• Why can't you eliminate my pain completely?

While we would like nothing better than to eliminate pain completely, this is sometimes not realistic with available treatment options. Our goal is to reduce pain by at least 30 to 50 percent and to improve your physical and social functioning.

• How long will the pain relief from my injection last?

Patients receive several different types of injections at the Pain and Wellness Center. Depending on which injection you've had, the amount of time for pain relief will vary. An injection with an anesthetic drug may last for several hours, while an injection containing cortisone may last for several days, or indefinitely. For example: injecting the facet joints with an anesthetic drug may provide pain reduction while the area injected is still numb. A cortisone injection into the epidural space, however, can give long-term relief of pain, as cortisone is an anti-inflammatory drug.

• After the injection, how long should it take to feel pain relief?

Depending on the type of injection you received, you may experience immediate relief (if the injection had only an anesthetic in it.) If cortisone was injected, it may take between 2 and 10 days before significant relief is experienced. For this reason, we schedule a 2 week follow up appointment after many procedures.