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JULY 2024

Know your options for pain management

Pain is a reality for many people. Whether chronic, such as back pain, or acute, such as after an injury, pain can disrupt nearly all aspects of your life. But if you’re struggling with misusing alcohol or drugs, getting relief can be complicated. People battling current or former substance misuse can be vulnerable to the addictive quality of prescription opioid painkillers such as oxycontin or oxycodone.  

Luckily, there are options available for pain management that have fewer risks and may work better than opioids. These include over-the-counter medication, physical therapy, acupuncture and many others covered wholly or in part by your Costco benefits.

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Addiction and pain control 

Dr. Peter Grinspoon, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, notes that patients are often nervous to tell their doctor about a past or current addiction because they’re afraid their pain won’t be treated. “There’s still a lot of stigma associated with substance use disorders, even among some medical providers,” he says. “But people who struggle with addiction deserve proper pain control.”¹ 

If you or a loved one has a history of addiction, the best course of action is to be upfront with your doctor. It’s your doctor’s responsibility to work with you to find ways to manage your pain safely. That includes exploring non-opioid medications and non-drug treatments.

Non-drug treatments for pain

Because of the side effects and risks of most medications, you may want to first try treatments that don’t rely on drugs. Some of these include:

Non-opioid pain medications  

The treatments above are often used in combination with medications that have less potential for addiction and can help with pain. You can fill your prescriptions at any Costco Pharmacy through Costco Health Solutions.* Some of these medications may include:

• Over-the-counter pain medications, including acetaminophen, such as Tylenol, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Advil, can often be used together for mild to moderate pain. 
• Methadone, a long-acting narcotic, provides pain relief and helps calm the craving for other opioids.
• Exparel, a non-addictive, one-time injection that relieves pain after dental surgery.
• Cox-2 inhibitors, a prescription form of NSAID, block a specific enzyme to help reduce inflammation.
• Prescription nerve pain medications can help calm nerve-related pain.
• Topical ointments, such as lidocaine, can minimize pain signals at the nerve endings in the skin.
• Interventional therapies, such as injections, can block nerve pain sensations from a specific area of the body.

If you do need to take opioids

In some cases, it may be hard to avoid opioids, for example, after a major surgery. If so, take these precautions:

If you or a loved one has a history of substance misuse, don’t suffer in silence or worry that pain relief will upend your recovery. You can manage pain safely. Use the resources below to explore some of your options.

*Not available in Puerto Rico. 

¹WebMD. Addiction: Know your options for pain management.

Sources:
Medline Plus. Non-drug pain management.
American Society of Anesthesiologists. Non-opioid treatment.
NIH Medline Plus Magazine. From opioids to mindfulness: a new approach to chronic pain.