Gabapentin overuse for pain relief are better treated with chiropractic care to improve why you hurt.

A recent paper featured on the website MDLynx said that Gabapentin has been used as the latest alternative for opioids and questions their usage for pain as a substitute for opioid usage.

Treating pain instead of rehabbing a painful problem is often the road to more chronic painful problems, drug addiction, side effects, painful procedures, and more. If this sounds like what we have done in the past and continue to do without learning that the bad decisions we make regarding our health have consequences, those consequences show up as we age.

Pain management is filled with people having procedures for reducing pain by doing invasive procedures to kill pain without improving function. Chiropractors treat mostly without medication and get great results, yet the systems seem to ignore this because treating pain with expensive procedures is more profitable.

Economics plays a part because if a doctor produces thousands a week vs a few thousand from the chiropractor, the facility will eventually offer that room to someone who generates greater profits. That’s business. Part of that business is now using Gabapentin to reduce pain with little evidence that this addictive medication works, while producing profits for drug companies and clinics. People who depend on medications for pain relief worsen over time as the medications do nothing to improve how you move or function; the reason most of us hurt. The last part of their lives often ends with chronic conditions, arthritis, and pain from improper functional care while these problems are developing. Worse, we have culturally normalized the idea that aging must be this way. I have seen this with my mom, who is in her late 90’s, where the only solution they now have is medication for pain control. There is a better way forward.

It is no secret that Gabapentin use is replacing opioid use. When you read this article, it is clear that the prescribing providers are not thinking of mechanics, function, or anything else when they give a prescription to reduce the pain only.

According to MDLynx, Gabapentin is classified as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, meaning it slows brain activity and can impair alertness, coordination, and breathing. Common side effects include dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue, and ataxia, which can affect balance and reaction time,” Dr. Henn says.

“In rare but serious cases, gabapentin has been associated with respiratory depression. The risk is highest when gabapentin is combined with other CNS depressants, such as opioids and benzodiazepines, and in patients with underlying respiratory disease or advanced age,” Dr. Henn adds.

We are a society with a drug for everything. We are not healthier as a result of it. Actually, we are told we need so many things medically, yet why, as a whole, are we so unhealthy? Health is a lifestyle of how we live. From food to exercise to taking care of the human frame, we are designed to survive and thrive. The musculoskeletal system drives movement, circulation, and even how the lymph system, which clears toxins from our bodies, functions. Medicating movement problems affects all other systems, and ultimately, how we function is controlled by our nervous system. The idea of medicating pain in the absence of understanding that poor mechanical function is why so many of us have damaged joints later in life, which is preventable.

Chiropractors are the most effective group for painful conditions yet so underutilized by their primary doctors in the USA who are dosing therapies, drugs, and other things to calm symptoms but not resolve problems. Doesn’t the public deserve better? Would better function reduce the risk and cost of joint replacements later on? In my opinion, it does, and I have seen it happen over and over after someone spends decades dealing with the symptoms that may have been best resolved by a chiropractor who is using simple methods to get the job done naturally.

Check out the MdLynx article below