Author Archives: David Hanscom

To answer this question, outline the important areas of your life. For each of these areas, assess in writing: 1) your current situation and 2) the tools and resources you have to solve any problems. Health–both general health and chronic pain Family Friends Work/career Hobbies/Recreation It is important to be … Read More

To start the goal-setting process, first write down three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? How am I going to get there? Figuring out where you are is critical. Start by assessing your current skills and assets. In the context of chronic pain, this step … Read More

There is a lot of controversy in my mind regarding this category of drugs.  I have never seen them be very useful. Although the side effects are not severe, they just don’t seem to have much effect other than making you a little drowsy.  I am not adamantly against them, … Read More

Treating depression in the short term with medications is very effective.  However, drugs are not a substitute for stress management. Many patients are so beaten up by their pain, they cannot move forward without meds. Make sure you know whether the medication you are taking for depression is meant to … Read More

This category of medication works directly on the nervous system by decreasing the excitability of the nerves. As it calms down the nervous system, this kind of medication may help decrease anxiety and also have a positive effect on sleep. The main reason they were designed was to treat seizures; … Read More

Anti-anxiety: anxiolytics—Valium type medications Anxiolytics work very well. They provide quick and significant relief of severe anxiety. The bad news is that they are very addicting and hard to discontinue. The addiction is not a true addiction; it is more of a dependency. In other words, you become dependent on … Read More

Anti-inflammatories: Anti-inflammatory medications can decrease pain in two different ways. The first way is by directly relieving the pain. All of us have taken them for a headache, sore back, etc. They work well.  Studies have consistently shown that they are equivalent to lower potency narcotics such as Tylenol and … Read More

While I am not a great fan of taking narcotics on an ongoing basis, there is one situation where I think narcotics may be useful within the DOCC framework. The situation is when patients can’t function at the most basic activity level. In this case, taking narcotics for adequate pain … Read More

When you’re experiencing chronic back pain, your day-to-day routine is often completely upended. It may be difficult to even get out of bed and move around the house, never mind go to work. The first goal of the DOCC Project is to improve your ability to function, which is usually … Read More