By Janice Reynolds, Guest Columnist

Let us stop talking about opioids for a moment and talk rather about pain. 

One of the unfortunate results of the phobia over opioids is that it has encouraged the belief that pain is a single and separate entity.  This way of thinking is being spread by the media, politicians and those who should know better, but don’t.  Pain is not that simple.

Pain affects the entire person and, when left untreated or undertreated, contributes to other health problems and can even lead to death. Acute and chronic pain can both exist in a cancer setting, as well as non-cancerous conditions.  The body does not know the difference.

What is different are the many different types and causes of acute and chronic pain.  There is also some crossover and intermingling.  Several different types of pain may exist at the same time, and acute pain can co-exist with chronic (notably as breakthrough pain).

It is usually easy to identify the source of acute pain, but there is no real evidence as to what “causes” chronic pain. We know there has been a change in neurons, which are no longer reporting a correct message to the brain. This poorly understood change is often permanent and not repairable.

People also respond differently to pain medications and therapies (what works for one may not work for another) and this is likely genetically linked. So a “study” which claims a certain medication doesn’t work for chronic pain or makes it worse has no basis in reality. There is no pain syndrome called “chronic pain.”

What is rarely talked about is the harmful effects of untreated pain. These effects are evidenced based, and can lead to increased suffering and fatal complications. Just with the cardiac system alone, pain can increase the heart rate, increase cardiac output, and contribute to heart attacks. Pain also affects the respiratory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, immune, gastrointestinal and nervous systems. Pain impairs wound healing.  

When left untreated or treated poorly, pain can also cause mental health problems, such as depression, suicide, insomnia, attention deficit, confusion, memory loss, and cognitive decline.  Many times these outcomes are blamed on medication, but pain is a much bigger impairment. Deaths are seldom evaluated to ascertain if pain was a contributing cause.

Stress has long been recognized as bad for your health.  It can worsen many illnesses and cause some as well.  We know that stress makes pain worse, but look at the amount of stress a person with pain faces almost every day in our society: losing access to a successful treatment, reading lies in the media, losing a provider, being treated like a criminal or drug addict, and so on.  This is not stress you can heal with exercise or meditation. It is relentless.

Pain may be an illness by itself, such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, headaches, interstitial cystitis, certain genetic conditions and more.  Pain accompanies many diseases or is part of their treatment: cancer, EDS, sickle cell anemia, lupus, post stroke pain, Parkinson’s, diabetes, alkalizing spondylitis, and so many more.

Pain could be a sudden onset of symptoms, such as kidney stones, gall bladder, disseminated shingles, or even an atypical heart attack. It may be the presenting symptom of other problems such as multiple myeloma, cancer metastases, ovarian cysts, torsion of the ovaries, testicles or intestines, and the list goes on. 

How many patients have died because the ER doctor hears the word “pain” and shuns them, refusing to see or treat them?  Or had a patient arrested because they refuse to leave?

Refusing to see someone in pain or denying them access to opioids or any treatment which works for them is malpractice. It certainly goes against the idea of “do no harm. ‘

The DEA has become a terrorist organization and many providers are afraid of it. “Evidence based practice” has also become a very loose term. The CDC opioid guidelines are not evidenced based.

Accusing only pain management doctors and patient advocacy groups of being influenced by the pharmaceutical industry is unethical as well, as the CDC, DEA and the addiction treatment industry also receive funding from pharma -- including support from drug testing companies.

Prescribing medication which is potentially more harmful than opioids, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, is also unscrupulous.  People with a history of ulcers and older adults are being told to take ibuprofen, even though ibuprofen causes 15,000 to 20,000 deaths a year when taken as prescribed. Ibuprofen was never meant for severe pain. 

People are being told they must do non-pharmacological interventions such as acupuncture, massage or physical therapy, even though they can’t afford it, it’s not covered by their insurance, or the therapy simply does not work for them.  Doctors insisting on an epidural steroid injection (which is not FDA approved) when it has not worked for someone in the past is also immoral.

There is a strong body of evidence that opioids work, no matter what an opiophobic or addiction treatment doctor will claim.

We have long fought against cook book medicine.  People with pain, whether acute or chronic, need to be considered in the whole, protected from harm, and treated with what is effective and affordable for them.  It is the ethical thing to do.    

Janice Reynolds is a retired nurse who specialized in pain management, oncology, and palliative care. She has lectured across the country at medical conferences on different aspects of pain and pain management, and is co-author of several articles in peer reviewed journals. 

Janice has lived with persistent post craniotomy pain since 2009.  She is active with The Pain Community and writes several blogs for them. 

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.