BBC: Why are opioids still given for chronic pain?

[drusso]

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Why are opioids still given for chronic pain?

Opioids work only for some with long-term pain - so why are they still being given to patients?

www.bbc.com

"If you give it and it doesn't work, stop it. That's what you'd do with any other drug, so why don't we do that with opioids?"

 

[willabeast]

//"If you give it and it doesn't work, stop it. That's what you'd do with any other drug, so why don't we do that with opioids?"// EXACTLY!

 

[hyperalgesia]

They work when you first start them. I tell pts it's like the feeling you had on Christmas morning when you were a kid. People are trying to recapture the feeling they had when they first tried opioids. You can never have that again...

 

[lobelsteve]

If there is no demonstrable functional benefit then we do stop the medication. Isn’t that part of our jobs? It’s the hardest part telling the patient know but you get used to it and it gets easier and easier the more you do. Success via repetition.

 

[Ferrismonk]

"The procedure didn't help, I don't want any more of them."

"The percocet isn't helping, I need more of them."

 

[Laryngospasm]

 

[Crybaby]

I can't tell you how many people I have weaned off, no change in pain scores. When they are asking for more meds or to be restarted they just do not seem to care or believe. I wonder if other docs have this fight over lisinopril

 

[KHE]

I know that ethics prohibit the prescribing of placebos but I almost wonder if this might be an arena where exceptions should be made.

 

[Ducttape]

on this forum there is a thread about the possible therapeutic effects of placebo.


oops here it is: Placebo Effect may have scientific basis.