The truth about pain management: the difference between a pain patient and an addicted patient

Pain is undertreated in all parts of the world. Multiple barriers exist that prevent valid treatment of the pain patient. This paper will provide definitions of pain, addiction, physical dependence, tolerance, and pseudoaddiction that health professionals need to understand in order to treat pain. It will address how to differentiate between a pain patient and an addict when evaluating the patient for treatment. The physiological benefits of using long- versus short-acting opioids will be presented. With proper education of the medical community, patients should receive humane and compassionate treatment of their chronic pain syndromes.     

Chronic pain, substance abuse and addiction

Health care professionals face numerous challenges in assessing and treating chronic pain patients with a substance abuse history. Societal perspectives on morality and criminality, imprecise addiction terminology, litigation fears, and genuine concern for a patient's relapse into or escalation of substance abuse result in unrelieved and under-relieved pain in precisely the population that--as increasing evidence indicates--is generally intolerant of pain. Before adequate pain relief can occur in chronic pain patients with current or past substance abuse issues, it is imperative that the clinician recognize addiction as a disease with known symptoms and treatments. Further, the clinician must realize the difference between true addiction and similar conditions, so the patient's condition can be monitored and regulated properly. Although clinicians are often reluctant to medicate with opioids, it is always best to err on the side of adequate pain relief. Withholding opioids from chronic pain patients in order to avoid the onset or relapse of addiction is contrary to the growing body of evidence and results only in unnecessary pain for the patient. Chronic pain in patients with a history of addictive disease can be treated successfully with opiate analgesia; it just requires caution and careful monitoring of medication use. If addiction is treated as a known risk when providing opioid analgesia to a recovering addict, its development can be minimized while pain relief is provided.     

Opioid side effects, addiction, and anti-inflammatory medications

Patients in pain often fear medications prescribed or recommend to them by their clinicians. Fear of side effects can contribute greatly to medication non-adherence (noncompliance). Patients often have fears that exceed the potential problems with which their medications are associated. Questions and answers relating to the side effects and the risk of addiction associated with opioids are presented.     

Opioid Side Effects,Addiction, and Anti-Inflammatory Medications

Patients in pain often fear medications prescribed or recommend to them by their clinicians. Fear of side effects can contribute greatly to medication non-adherence (noncompliance). Patients often have fears that exceed the potential problems with which their medications are associated. Questions and answers relating to the side effects and the risk of addiction associated with opioids are presented.     

Opioids in the treatment of chronic pain: legal framework and therapeutic indications and limitations

The most important message that physicians must communicate to persons with chronic pain is that, currently, no medication exists that will take away more than 30% of the pain they experience. Chronic pain is a chronic disease and, like diabetes or hypertension, requires chronic concessions and lifestyle modifications. In controlled trials of short duration and small sample size with highly selected patients, patients sustaining moderate-to-severe pain still experience moderate pain even on opioid medication. Adverse drug effects are predictable and common, and, in fact, long-term compliance with opioids is low owing to side effects. Screening for substance abuse by history taking, observing behavior, obtaining old medical records,and using UDS in patients before initiating opioid therapy is important to identify patients with comorbid addictive disease who require coincident or antecedent treatment. Familiarity with federal and state controlled substance legislation and state health care provider and pain treatment acts is a mundane but essential educational endeavor for all physicians prescribing opioids. If physicians educate their patients with chronic pain about the limited efficacy of the medications, patients' expectations for drug treatment can be more realistic.     

Physicians' attitude and practices in sickle cell disease pain management

Many physicians believe that patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) are more likely to become addicted to pain medication than are other patient populations. This study hypothesizes that physicians' attitudes towards addiction in patients with SCD affects pain management practices. The Physician Attitudes Survey was sent to 286 physicians at seven National Institutes of Health-funded university-based comprehensive sickle cell centres. The survey assessed demographic information; and physician's attitudes toward and knowledge of pain, pain treatment, and drug addiction and abuse. Significant Pearson product-moment correlations were found between attitudes towards pain and beliefs regarding addiction to prescribed opioids. Physicians reported varied pain management strategies, however, many believe that attitudes toward addiction and to patients in pain crises may result in undertreatment of pain. These results indicate that physicians might benefit from additional education regarding sickle cell disease, addiction to pain medication, the pharmacology of opioids, and the assessment and treatment of pain.     

Opioids: beliefs and myths

Commonly held beliefs and myths about opioids within Europe are described. These include sedation, cognitive impairment, addiction, pseudoaddiction, tolerance, efficacy, cancer pain, and end-of-life care. Key learning points for refuting untrue beliefs are presented.     

Perspectives on the opioid crisis from pain medicine clinicians

Patients experiencing a terminal drug related event reflect a sentinel event. If this pharmacotherapy is a widely used agent, it may be viewed as a catastrophic problem. If patients are dying from illegal drug use when the medical establishment fails them by withdrawing or minimizing their medically prescribed medication, then the burden rests with their health care providers, legislation, and insurance carriers to actively participate in a collegial fashion to achieve parity. Causing a decay in functionality in previously functional patients, may occur with appropriately prescribed opioid medications addressing non-cancer pain when withdrawing or diminishing either with or without patient consent. The members of the medical profession have diminished their prescribing of opioids for their patients out of apparent fear of reprisal, state or federal government sanctions, and other concerned groups. Diminishing former dosages or deleting the opioid medication, preferably in concert with the patient, often results in inequitable patient care. Enforcing sanctioned decreases or ceasing to prescribe from their former required/established opioid medications precipitate patient discord. In absence of opioid misuse, abuse, diversion or addiction based upon medical “guidelines” and with a poor foundation of Evidence Based Medicine the CDC guidelines, it may be masked as a true guideline reflecting a decrement of clinical judgment, wisdom, and compassion. This article also discusses the role of pharmacy chains, insurance carriers, and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) contribution to this multidimensional problem. There may be a potential solution, identified in this paper, if all the associated political, medical and insurance groups work cohesively to improve patient care. This article and the CDC guidelines are not focused at hospice, palliative, end of life care pain management.     

Opioid tolerance and dependence — do they matter?

The use of opioids has long been accepted as the standard of care in patients with cancer and acute pain. Opioids can further be used effectively in specific subgroups of patients with chronic nonmalignant pain states. While the development of tolerance and physical dependence are known effects of opioids in cancer and noncancer pain populations, these patients can not be regarded as addicted. However, long-term therapy with short-acting opioids predisposes to tolerance and addiction. Recent research has confirmed the important role of psychopathologic and psychosocial conditions as predictors of failed opioid effectiveness in a significant number of noncancer pain subgroups. The clinical picture of failed therapy may be complicated by noncompliance, concealed consumption of psychotropic substances, and diversion of prescribed opioids for various purposes as, e.g., selling for profit, or sharing excess opioids with others. This article discusses the effects of opioid therapy, including tolerance, physical dependence, drug-aberrant behavior, drug history, psychopathology, and somatization.     

Pain management in sickle cell disease

The unpredictable, recurrent, intense, and frequently persistent nature of pain associated with sickle cell disease poses a difficult challenge in terms of management. A wide variability exists in the way painful episodes are managed. Variations in practice reflect different views about the suitability of opioids, the efficacy of parenteral administration, and the risk of dependence on opioids. Consequently, the acute and chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease often is undertreated or inappropriately managed. Although medical staff fear that patients might abuse pain medication and become psychologically dependent, patients are more concerned about the side effects associated with analgesics. Some patients may persuade staff to give them more analgesics, engage in clock-watching, and request specific medications or dosages; these patients often are perceived as manipulative or demanding. However, these patients are knowledgeable about their medications and doses that have worked in the past. Requests for specific medications and dosages should not be interpreted as indications of drug-seeking behavior, but clinicians should communicate with these patients, make accurate assessments, and provide adequate doses of opioid analgesics. The American Pain Society recognized that the undertreatment of pain and inappropriate management of pain in sickle cell disease seem to be common. A Clinical Practice Guideline was developed to provide evidence-based recommendations that could potentially improve pain management. The purpose of this report is to describe the pharmacologic strategies used to manage pain associated with sickle cell disease, examine issues and challenges related to pain management as well as concerns and fears related to addiction, and explain the administration of opioids as recommended by the American Pain Society.     

The management of opioid-related sedation

There are many side effects of opioids used for cancer and non-cancer pain, which can limit their use and vastly undermine the quality of life for patients. Sedation is a frequent and serious side effect of opioid analgesics, sometimes reported as fatigue or tiredness from patients. There are a number of specific therapies to control or manage these adverse effects, making it feasible to dose opioids to adequate analgesia with tolerable side effects. The balance between effect and side effects is the goal of chronic opioid pharmacotherapy. In particular, sedation commonly can be problematic in a patient who is taking opioids, to the extent that one may want to discontinue the medication and suffer with the pain rather than experience debilitating fatigue or sedation. When sedation clinically becomes excessive, measures should be taken to make it possible to continue treatment with analgesics with acceptable sedation management. There are many techniques to oppose sedation including simple antidotes, such as rest, exercise, and timing of opioid medications, and more complex solutions, such as opioid rotation and the use of psychostimulants or other classes of medications to counteract sedation. The treatment of opioidinduced sedation can be very effective and should be part of a skill set that the clinician can easily employ to enhance the quality of life of patients.     

In Process Citation

Different therapeutic modalities are available for the treatment of rheumatic pain. The most important one, besides physiotherapy, is medication with analgesics and adjuvant drugs. Analgesics are given orally and by a stepwise approach in keeping with the principles of cancer pain therapy. In the first step nonopioid analgesics are prescribed, especially non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) if pain is caused by inflammation. Other nonopioid analgesics, which can be used as alternatives for patients with non-inflammatory pain, are metamizol and paracetamol. Weak or even strong opioids must be administered to patients with rheumatic diseases when pain relief is insufficient or side-effects occur during medication with non-opioids. Long-term treatment of rheumatic pain even with strong opioids such as oral morphine involves only a small risk of severe side-effects such as respiratory depression or the development of tolerance and drug abuse. Patients often suffer from constipation, nausea and vomiting, but these side-effects can be treated with laxatives and antiemetic drugs. There is no reason to differentiate between opioid medication in a cancer patient with pain and in a patient with "non-malignant" rheumatic pain. Centrally acting muscle relaxants may be helpful as adjuvant medication in patients with myalgia for example, and tricyclic antidepressants can also be beneficial, especially in neuropathic pain and for patients with psychiatric distress associated with pain.     

Medikamentöse Schmerztherapie bei rheumatischen Erkrankungen

Different therapeutic modalities are available for the treatment of rheumatic pain. The most important one, besides physiotherapy, is medication with analgesics and adjuvant drugs. Analgesics are given orally and by a stepwise approach in keeping with the principles of cancer pain therapy. In the first step nonopioid analgesics are prescribed, especially non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) if pain is caused by inflammation. Other nonopioid analgesics, which can be used as alternatives for patients with non-inflammatory pain, are metamizol and paracetamol. Weak or even strong opioids must be administered to patients with rheumatic diseases when pain relief is insufficient or side-effects occur during medication with non-opioids. Long-term treatment of rheumatic pain even with strong opioids such as oral morphine involves only a small risk of severe side-effects such as respiratory depression or the development of tolerance and drug abuse. Patients often suffer from constipation, nausea and vomiting, but these side-effects can be treated with laxatives and antiemetic drugs. There is no reason to differentiate between opioid medication in a cancer patient with pain and in a patient with “non-malignant” rheumatic pain. Centrally acting muscle relaxants may be helpful as adjuvant medication in patients with myalgia for example, and tricyclic antidepressants can also be beneficial, especially in neuropathic pain and for patients with psychiatric distress associated with pain.