This
blog is based on the New England Journal of Medicine article.
by Jane C. Ballantyne, M.D., and Mark D. Sullivan, M.D., Ph.D.
I left a comment at the NE Journal of Medicine website, and I responded to Pat Anson’s editorial at the Pain News Network.
©
by Jen Jasper in Broken Body,
Wounded Spirit: Winter Devotions
Ballantyne and Sullivan: “Opioids are a case in point: they have good short-term efficacy, but there is little evidence supporting their long-term benefit.”
To say
there is “little evidence supporting the long-term benefit of opioids for
managing pain” is simply not true. There are plenty of us who are able to
function better because our pain is managed with opioids. You simply do not
hear about them because good news is no news. Maybe you meant to say there are
few studies. For which I reply, “Where is the EVIDENCE that long-term opioid
treatment doesn’t work for managing for chronic pain?”
Ballantyne and Sullivan: “But is a reduction in pain intensity the right goal for the treatment
of chronic pain?”
I
doubt few chronic pain patients, if any, expect their pain to be completely alleviated regardless of the treatment pathway. But they do expect reduction in intensity. Patients
with this goal are far wiser than you are.
Whether
pain is acute or chronic, it is a symptom. Assessment for location, onset, duration, character,
AND intensity of any symptom is considered the standard of care for good
reason. I hope I don’t have to explain why.
People
experience chronic pain for two reasons, the underlying cause is untreatable,
and/or misfiring in the brain causes pain to persist that otherwise wouldn't. Our brain extrapolates information and responds to chronic pain differently, but it is still pain. So, I ask Dr. Ballantyne and Dr. Sullivan, “Do
you seriously believe assessing pain intensity is not important?” If you truly disagree with your peers on this, you are breaching the standard of care. You might want to think about this too editors and publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine. Is the message of bias against a certain patient population the one you want to send?
Ballantyne and Sullivan: “Patients
who report the greatest intensity of chronic pain are often overwhelmed, are
burdened by coexisting substance use or other mental health conditions, and
need the type of comprehensive psychosocial support offered by multimodal
treatment approaches.”
Often?
I disagree. As part of a citizen’s leadership group of chronic painpatients, I see these people, I am one of these people, and you are way off
base. When you make such statements, YOU become part of the problem.
I agree
that people who live with chronic pain can feel overwhelmed. I am feeling
overwhelmed reading this article. Why don’t you ask the pain doctors who
include this aspect of their care for their opinion? Sure, we experience situational
depression and anxiety, just LIKE YOU DO! But you are describing people with
addiction, very real, but needing a different treatment, also woefully
unavailable. Why should I even have to ask, “What does addiction have to do with
pain intensity?”
Ballantyne and Sullivan: “Multimodal therapy encompasses behavioral, physical, and integrated medical approaches.”
It
does take a multimodal approach to manage chronic pain. The pain patient
certainly knows that better than you do. We have resorted to, and been the
victim of, charlatans that claim they have a cure. I have found meditation to be helpful with coping, but that doesn’t
cure the conditions that cause my pain. Ask how many of us keep several ice packs on hand for fear we won’t have enough. Ask us how many times we have been
blistered by a heating pad because that was still less pain. Ask us how many
use ointments, OTC products, TENS units or are willing to have electricity
delivered to our spinal cord, just so we can have a REDUCTION IN OUR PAIN
INTENSITY!
And, shouldn’t
opioids be included as integrative care if they reduce pain so patients can
participate in complimentary therapies? Oh that’s right, you don’t think a
reduction in pain intensity is an important measurement.
While we’re
at it, “When was the last time your physician asked about your spiritual
awareness, or your circumstances at home?” And, just on the chance that they
did (because they are in tune with treating the body as a whole) were they able
to provide you with resources? If they could provide access to alternative
treatments, are they affordable for everyone?
On
December 2, 2015 my friend Jan Chambers, President of the National Fibromyalgia& Chronic Pain Association and collaborative leader in the PAINS Project, of which I am a participant, had this to say.
NPS misstatement by PROP's
President Ballantyne
Drs.
Ballantyne and Sullivan incorrectly state that the U.S.established a National
Pain Strategy (NPS) to address the enormous burden of chronic pain to 100+
million American adults. In fact, the NPS draft was completed by summer of 2014
but has not re-emerged from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services since
then (18+ months) despite requests by many patients, citizens, professional
medical groups, and patient advocacy organizations. Chronic pain patients are
worse off now because many doctors refuse to treat them; one result of
unintended consequences from recent opioid abuse deterrent policies. Lack of a
NPS and research funding hurts everyone. With no access to care or new,
effective treatments, people with chronic pain are literally cast aside by
society and treated inhumanely. The authors would like us to believe that NPS
initiatives are in place, reducing suffering and brain-seizing pain, when they
ask the ludicrous question, “But is a reduction in pain intensity the right
goal for the treatment of chronic pain?” I guess that life-altering and
debilitating chronic pain must not be such a burden after all.
If
you are a doubter, be grateful, you have not experienced such pain, because one
day you may. I have witnessed the change in perception in my own circle of
family and friends. If you need a narcotic, it isn’t so bad after all.
“The only pain
that is tolerable is somebody else’s.”
~David Sherry, MD, pediatric
rheumatologist
Put
your thinking hat back on. Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the
solution. Embrace this adversity as an opportunity for change before you
seriously harm someone, including yourself.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
"Adversity is only an obstacle if we fail to see
opportunity."
Celeste Cooper, RN
Learn
more about what you can do to help your body function to its potential in the
books you can find here on Celeste's
blog.
All
answers and blogs are based on the author's opinions and writing and are not
meant to replace medical advice.
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