Homeopathy For Pain & De-addiction

Anyone that takes prescription opioids for pain can become addicted to them, as the body quickly builds up a tolerance. Homeopathy can offer so much, and more, and also safety, to patients who are struggling with pain — whether acute or chronic.

- Dr Amy Rothenberg

Pain is the most common complaint seen in medical practice. As a consequence, there has been a galloping increase in the prescription use of opioid pain relievers, such as oxycodone [e.g., OxyContin®] and hydrocodone [e.g., Vicodin®]. Nearly a quarter of a billion of such prescriptions were written, for instance, in 2013 alone — enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills.

This has led to unintended consequences, such as increased addiction and drug abuse. An estimated one in four patients receiving long-term treatment with opioid painkillers, to cull one example, struggles with addiction. In other words, we all know someone dealing with this addiction.

Along with this unprecedented epidemic of opioid use comes a flood of accidental overdose deaths. Since 1999, deaths from prescription opioids have quadrapled; every day, 78 Americans die from an opioid overdose. The death of Prince is yet another sad example.

NATURAL MEDICINE CAN HELP

What can homeopathy offer in the face of such dire statistics and high stakes? I believe homeopathy and other natural medicine approaches have a key role to play. And, I am not alone. For example, former US Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker, MD, PhD, characterised the military’s engagement of complementary and integrative medicine in efforts to relieve pain and limit opioid addiction as imperative — because individuals returning from combat deployment use opioids at a rate almost four times as high as civilians.