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Pain meds aren’t always available when you need them. In my new olumn for HealthCentral, I share relief strategies can help get you through a rough patch:

“LIKE IT OR not (and really, who would?) to have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is to know pain—even people in remission may have occasional flares or breakthrough pain. For me and many others, opioids have been a valuable tool in dealing with high levels of chronic RA pain, enabling us to keep going, sometimes even with a smile on our faces. But in a world that increasingly restricts even legitimate medical use of these types of medications due to fears of addiction, what can we do to manage pain so we can get back to our lives?

It starts with understanding that the current climate around opioids is difficult for you, but also for your doctor. They endure government scrutiny if they prescribe opioids and even face the threat of losing their license and going to jail. Doctors are people, too, with families and lives and risking everything is a lot to ask. Some doctors have completely stopped prescribing opioids, others—for instance pain management specialists—do it only under very strict parameters, such as including treatment agreements.

Taking opioids is complicated and getting more so every day. There has always been a significant level of misunderstandings about the difference between dependence on a drug and addiction, but the war on opioids has cranked up the messaging about the latter. So much so that it’s next to impossible to not be judged or shamed for taking a medication that may be a necessary part of treating your pain, from family and friends and even some doctors, too. Dealing with both this stigma, the pain, and the fear of losing more of your main-pain management tools can add a lot of challenges to your life.

For me, reducing the stress of all this involves three main strategies and I’d like to share them with you.”

Read my column about next-level pain management strategies on HealthCentral.