It is said that a broken heart is harder to heal than a broken leg. The researchers have now found that a broken heart can contribute to lasting chronic pain. The research conducted by pain experts Mark Sullivan and Jane Ballantyne at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine is published in the Annals of Family Medicine
‘Long-term use of opioids for chronic pain can impair social and emotional function and also precipitate chronic illness and isolation. It also increases the risk of depression and addiction. The experts recommend the use of opioids only for a short duration.’
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The researchers have stated that emotional pain and chronic physical pain are bidirectional and painkillers can ultimately make things worse.Read More..
They based this new argument on the epidemiological and neuroscientific evidence that suggests emotional pain activates many of the same limbic brain centers as physical pain. This is especially true for the most common chronic pain syndromes- headaches, back pain, and fibromyalgia.
Even though opioids can make a patient feel better early on, but in the long term these drugs can cause all kinds havoc on the well-being of the patient.
Sullivan said, "Their social and emotional functioning is messed up under a wet blanket of opioids."
A new evidence suggests that the body’s reward system, which uses dopamine, may be of more importance than tissue in the transition from acute to chronic pain.
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The opioid medications damage the reward system and they can precipitate isolation and chronic illness. There is also a strong risk for depression.
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The researchers prescribed opioids only for short-term use.
The researchers state that long term use of opioid therapy that lasts months or years should be rare as it does not treat chronic pain but it can impairs human emotional and social function. It also leads to opioid addiction or dependence.
The experts recommend that patients on high-dose long-term opioids not having any improvement in pain and function can be switched to buprenorphine. The patients can also be enrolled in a multidisciplinary pain program using a case manager to monitor their care and well-being, similar to those for diabetes and depression care.
Source-Medindia