Medication Management

Medication Management

At West Michigan Pain we provide true excellence in all aspects of care for chronic pain sufferers. Our medication management program is focused on rational prescribing, evidence- based policies, and always with our patients’ safety and best interests in mind.

Our entire medication strategy is based on improvement of all aspects of your pain, including improvement in sleep and overall function and quality of life. We also focus on addressing other factors that can aggravate pain such as depression, anxiety, and often give advice on natural or nutritional supplements that can be used in conjunction with allopathic medications to improve your response and treatment further.

At WMP we try to minimize opioid use, but when utilized as part of our overall multidisciplinary strategy, we follow American Pain Society and American Academy of Pain guidelines. Part of this rational prescribing includes slow titrations, individualized care, risk assessment and outcome monitoring of Oswetry scores and other measures to assess response more thoroughly. We also monitor blood therapeutic levels in some cases to ensure optimum response and dosing. We also may order sleep studies.

We will work closely with your primary care physician to ensure an holistic approach to your pain. This might include correction of vitamin D deficiency, testosterone deficiency and lowering of high uric acid levels for example, or sometimes changing non -pain medications like statin drugs which could contribute to pain. In general, we will use various interventional procedures, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques in combination with non-narcotic medications in order to ensure minimum necessary drugs are prescribed or needed, and to keep opioids as our last resort.

We have an excellent relationship with a compounding pharmacy who prepares certain compounded gels which are individualized for specific patients and pain syndromes. We also use the latest drugs, when permitted by your insurance, which often are better tolerated and more effective.