Commonly used treatments for chronic pain can do more harm than good
You and I already knew….. finally the Doctors are catching up!
This week the national institute for health and care excellence from the UK released their guidelines on chronic pain.
This organisation helps develops policies and treatment guidelines that are implemented in the UK and assist the National Health service (NHS) in developing their treatment guidelines.
They have revealed what we all knew. That many of the pain killers people take do not help with with their pain.
This is what they said ” that paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (these include aspirin and ibuprofen), benzodiazepines or opioids should not be offered. This is because, while there was little or no evidence that they made any difference to people’s quality of life, pain or psychological distress, there was evidence that they can cause harm, including possible addiction. ”
Many of you who are in pain and are prescribed pain pill after pain pill, changing from one to the next with little or no effect. Some of you even have the horrendous side effects that come with it.
One of my clients reacts so poorly to pills that if there is a side effect she will have it. Finally the Medicine is catching up.
They go on to say that “The draft guideline also says that antiepileptic drugs including gabapentinoids, local anaesthetics, ketamine, corticosteroids and antipsychotics should not be offered to people to manage chronic primary pain. Again, this was because there was little or no evidence that these treatments work but could have possible harms.”
Many of you with back pain who have been for pain blocks realize that they do not work. They may last a few weeks maybe even months, but when they wear off, you are back in the same place you were before you had them. Some have had them just to be worse off than if they did nothing.
What i like about this article is where they reveal how complicated chronic pain can be. “Chronic pain is often difficult to treat and can have a significant impact on individuals and their families and carers. Estimates suggest that chronic pain may affect between one-third and one-half of the population, although it is not known what proportion of people meeting the criteria for chronic pain either need or wish to have treatment. Almost half of people with chronic pain have a diagnosis of depression and two-thirds of people are unable to work because of it.”
That is why we focus on the whole you. not just the pain. We know how scary to have pain is. How not knowing what is wrong causes so much anxiety and stress. How being in pain every day can lead to your mood taking strain. Also how your daily stress can dramatically increase how bad your pain is.
We help people who’s pain is worsened by stress and their mood.
What we have been doing since the beginning is focusing on you. What part of your life do you want back from pain. What do you want us to do for you. At our practice it is about you and your goals. If you just want your pain less so you do not have to take pills everyday, that is what we will focus on.
What i feel many clinicians go wrong with pain is the focus is not on the client., Helping them get the lives they want. There must be some of you who have been in a specialist office and felt that they didn’t even listen to you or know what your concerns are.
Everyone in pain is different and want different things. Some just want to be able to walk without feeling like their back will cause them to fall. Others just want to be able to sit at a desk and work without suffering the whole night.
Like one client of mine just wanted to ride horses again.
I don’t see how a pill will help you accomplish that.
We want to help you by finding out what concerns you about your pain so we can address that.
If you are ready to get your life back from pain and get off those pills that have done nothing but make your life worse,
CLICK here to get your ebook on pain that we focus on
If you want to read the full article Click Here.
Jason
