Chronic Pain Article on BBC website

I noticed this article this morning. It's an interesting read.

Here's one quote from it.

Benjamin Ellis, a consultant rheumatologist and senior policy advisor for the charity Versus Arthritis, agrees, and says that while opioids can help people manage some conditions like osteoarthritis, too often they are seen as a long-term answer.

"The health system is set up to support the prescribing of medication rather than supporting patients to access other treatments - physical activity, programmes to help people with their mental health, community support, peer support - they're not so readily available, and even where they are, they're not well connected with health services."

Comments

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764

    What I find rather sad about this is that way back, between 1982 to 2001, i was in hospital 3 times for intensive physio. They took you in for up to 3 weeks with weekends off and really gave us the works. It was hard graft but companionable. They sometimes changed the meds while you were where you could be monitored. I don't recall anyone being on opioids. The physios were great and we patients all encouraged each other with our exercises. What happened? Money, I guess though I do feel some patients want a quick fix to a complex problem and put pressure on GPs to deliver it. My intensive physio was never designed as a fix, just an aid to living with arthritis.

    Well done to that young woman who was stuck in bed all day, pain relief actually making it all worse, who got herself off all opioids and got a life back. So impressive.

    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Lilymary
    Lilymary Member Posts: 1,749
    edited 11. May 2022, 21:51

    There have been some interesting pieces on BBC news on TV and radio today about chronic pain as well , (pleased to see VA being consulted for a sound bite), with particular reference to weaning people off opioids. I have to say when my hip turned into the joint from hell in 2020, I couldn’t have got by just on paracetamol - handfuls of cocodamol (and naproxen) just about kept me moving till my THR, and I really needed to oramorph for a week or so after I came home. If anyone had suggested I should get by on OTC drugs I would have found an alternative use for my crutches! But some of the other points they raised for pain management I certainly found helpful in many respects (but not always), much of which is covered in this link. They need to be more widely recommended, by GPS, and patients need to be supported while they get the hang of it, not just given a leaflet.