CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — A local doctor is trying to educate his patients about an alternative form of treatment that can be effective when it comes to managing debilitating pain.
Before Carolyn Smith walked into Dr. Charles Gordon’s pain management clinic in Clifton Park, she suffered from ongoing pain as a result of nerve damage. It affected her day-to-day life, and for nearly 14 years, she was on prescription opioids.
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“It basically took the edge off the pain so that I could continue functioning,” Smith said.
Her advanced degenerative disc disease forced her into an early retirement at age 60. Like many patients with chronic pain, Smith was told to manage the pain with prescription pills.
“Your body gets habituated to it. Going off that stuff is really hard,” she explained.
Dr. Gordon, the medical director of New York Pain Management in Clifton Park, explained, “When you are on the opiate, that becomes your new normal. What we do is try and keep people away from medication. Any medication as best we can using procedural-type therapy.”