In an excellent opinion piece written for the Globe and Mail by Kate Smolina, Director of the BC Observatory for Population & Public Health at the BC Centre for Disease Control, and Dr. Kim Rutherford, a family physician and worker at Vancouver Coastal Health in the city’s Downtown Eastside, the authors argue that the practice of prescribing opioids for chronic pain is dangerous, and that alternative treatments are desperately needed in Canada.
Chronic pain lawyers are familiar with and generally support this argument; as North America grapples with an unprecedented wave of addiction, and as evidence mounts that opioids offer little long-term relief, alternative treatments may be a lifeline to avoiding a continent-wide crisis.
Chronic pain is a profoundly misunderstood form of disability. A 2011 study found that nearly 20 per cent of all Canadians experienced chronic pain, and that it is “a multifaceted disorder associated with considerable disability, burden to the patient, the health care system and society overall.”
Stigma
Unlike serious spinal or brain injuries, chronic pain doesn’t necessarily present itself visibly to the outside world.
“Everything about you is impacted by unrelenting and undermanaged pain,” Lynn Cooper, a chronic pain sufferer and head of the Canadian Pain Coalition, told the Globe and Mail. “There’s always a stigma that’s attached to it that you’re a complainer, a drug-seeker or a malingerer, and if you just tried harder and got over yourself you’d be fine.”
This stigma can sometimes make it difficult for chronic pain lawyers to access sufficient benefits for their clients, as well, meaning treatments other than prescribed medication are often unattainable.
Limited treatment options
Dr. Fiona Campbell, president-elect of the Canadian Pain Society, told the Globe and Mail that she sorts pain management into three categories: pharmacological, which includes prescription medication, including opioids; physical, which includes massage and physiotherapy; and psychological, including therapy and mindfulness. Only pharmacological treatments are available through publicly funded health insurance.
“I fell quite strongly that these [alternative] services should be provided by provincial health-insurance plans because they work, they’re healthy, they promote resilience and they’re preventative,” Campbell told the Globe. “I don’t see a downside.”
The problem with opioids
Unlike the other forms of pain treatment, opioids are neither resilient nor preventative. They can relieve pain in the short term, but require higher doses to achieve the same effect over time, which leads to an increased likelihood of falls, car accidents, and overdoses.
“The main thing is to get the message across that opioids are not good treatment for long-term pain, that they don’t have good long-term outcomes. Full stop. They’re not safe,” said Dr. Jane Ballantyne, a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington, and an early crusader in the fight against opioids.
What can be done?
In their op-ed, Smolina and Rutherford propose the foundations of a plan to battle growing reliance on opioids. Their strategy includes support and therapy for current users; improving funded access to alternative treatments options, including “topical agents, neuropathic medications, steroid injections, nerve blocks, physiotherapy and active rehabilitation services”; and initiating a public education campaign to increase awareness of opioids’ dangers.
How can chronic pain lawyers help?
If you or someone you love has developed chronic pain as a result of an accident, you have the right to medical and rehabilitative treatment options that don’t put you at risk of developing a dangerous narcotic dependence. Contact the chronic pain lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers today for a free, no-obligation consultation.