PPM: Our Approach

Unlike our approach to pain management at Pacifica, common medical pain management treatment for chronic pain includes frequent doctor visits on an out-patient basis. During this time patients are prescribed a variety of pain management interventions including many drugs. Frequently injections of local anesthetics into various painful areas where nerves gather are also undertaken. If the pain does not improve then perhaps implantable pumps for delivering narcotics or implanted electrical stimulators are attempted. Finally, surgical “corrections” to release nerves or disable sensation carrying nerves may be tried. Unfortunately, these efforts can have significant and dangerous side-effects such as addiction, painful scar-tissue formation, infection, worsening of pain, helplessness, depression, and muscle wasting to name a few. With this approach life sometimes does not return to normal.

When all this fails and pain persists and perhaps worsens a pain syndrome will often develop. A “syndrome” is defined as a constellation of symptoms that together indicate the presence of disease or abnormal condition. With chronic pain, the danger of wrong treatment is that it could result in the progression and worsening of the pain syndrome.

At Pacifica our approach does not involve dangerous interventions. For over 24 years Pacifica and St. Helena Hospital have worked together to provide specialized and intensive treatment of complex pain syndromes in a medically supervised in-patient and non-medical out-patient residential setting. Our program has many therapists working together to develop an individualized program of care for each patient.

Pain is a normal part of life. When it persists and becomes unmanageable and leads to a chronic pain syndrome, special treatment in an organized pain management program is sometimes necessary. Pacifica and St. Helena Hospital work together to provide specialized evaluation and pain program treatment of difficult, complex pain syndromes which have not responded to conventional and aggressive medical pain management treatment. Since it is unlikely that medical science can “cure” most chronic pain problems, our treatments are aimed at providing pain sufferers with safe and effective, non-narcotic treatments that may facilitate the body's normal healing process. This can include detoxification, correct medications, skills, techniques, education, functions, and abilities while undergoing medical stabilization in a safe and secluded environment.

We emphasize competencies in knowing and applying specific pain reduction techniques. This can include adaptation, detoxification, confrontation, acceptance, understanding, pain reduction, stress control, strengthening, pattern development and non-narcotic medication. Our programs are effective because patients are away from their usual environment allowing a total focus on getting healthy.

While curing or entirely eliminating pain would be wonderful, with effective management it is not necessary to eliminate pain to be restored to health and better functioning without the need for narcotics.

Our approach entails complete, round-the-clock management in both our 14 day and 26 day programs which take place in a serene and supervised environment. Our emphasis is on improving patient competencies in knowing an applying specific pain reduction, distraction and confrontation techniques in addition to appropriate medications, and physical rehabilitation. Our focus is on adaptation to pain rather than escape from pain. The role of the doctor, hospital, and medications is slowly replaced by sound judgment, confidence, and balance in using new and old techniques to manage the pain experience effectively and with less disability. Patients nearly always feel better with this approach and typically report less pain.

We encourage patients to work toward discovering small positive effects and use them frequently rather than looking for one complete answer or “magic bullet” that stops pain altogether. The quest for complete pain cure is both costly and can be dangerous.

As time passes in the program, our patient’s pain moderates and they slowly regain elements of their health and prepare for their return to their home environment. Our family and occupational therapist and others assist in the transition home and our year of follow-up begins. At the completion of either of intensive programs patients are typically much improved but often they remain “fragile” and require continuity with their patient group and the Pacifica treatment team.

Each patient has regular and often daily visits with psychologists, exercise physiologists, aquatic therapists, family therapists, stress management and biofeedback therapists, chemical dependency counselors, massage therapists, and other specialists as needed. Specific medical and physical therapy visits take place weekly at St. Helena Hospital offices, off campus.

At Pacifica, we consider chronic pain syndromes most effectively treated with self management methods. Using acute treatments such as narcotics, repeatedly over long periods of time can risk creating more problems (i.e. addiction) than they solve.

Our approach to treating intractable and severe chronic pain syndromes involves methods from rehabilitation. These include education, skill acquisition, tollerance, pacing, strangth development, detoxification, ballance in activities, to name a few. Any continuation of non-narcotic medications is determined by our staff physician which is then carried out by staff. Our whole approach, however is to avoid prescription medications altogether by using safer powerful, non-drug techniques.