b'manage even the most dicult long-term cases. Side eects of withdrawal of these medsOccasionally, chiropractic or acupuncture are are similar to that of opioid withdrawal, suchbenecial. Massage may help. Alternating cold as cramps, nausea, sweating, agitation,and heat over an area of pain are often and muscle pain. Occasionally, we are givenforgotten in lieu of taking a pill that might something else on a temporary basis to helpmanage the pain more quickly. us wean o a drug. We need to know goingThe members of our healthcare team are into the process that the new drug is not aoften too busy to keep track of us once they replacement, but a tool.have prescribed a new medication, so many Whencomingoofanymedication,Iwill write a prescription for a very limited strongly recommend you let your healthcarenumber of pills to see if they have a positive team know of your plan and desire to do so,eect on you. They may be hesitant to rell and welcome their input on how best andthat prescription out of concern that you may most safely to do this. Good hydration isdepend on the medication, to the exclusion of critical when doing medication tapers, to helpsome of the other measures to manage that prevent or lessen side eects and withdrawalpain mentioned in the previous paragraph. symptoms.This is not them getting you started on a good You are not a bad person because you relymedthen yankingitoutfromunder you. onamedicationforcomfort.If youseeaThis is them caring enough not to put you on need for change after reading these words,a path leading to dependency. Always try to ask for help and move onward, by all means.initiate a conversation about how long a medshould be taken, and if it is okay to skip adose or extend time between doses to see ifyou can get the most benet from the medsyou have.Breaking the DependencyI have had doctors tell me over the yearsthat I would be on a symptom managementmedication for life. Fortunately, I have learnedthat is not always true. I was on a benzodiazepineto manage symptoms for more than 20 years.It took me ve years to get from a high doseto a recommended dose by slowly tapering itdown, but it was a bear to get beyond that lowdose so I took a break from actively trying.AsIreadmoreandlearnedmoreaboutthelong-term side eects of benzodiazepines, Irenewed my eorts to get o them and wasnally successful.37 msfocusmagazine.org'