Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jun 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Andres Betts

PAIN PATIENTS NOT ABUSERS

Re: "The subtle and damaging power of pain killers" [Local, June 5]: 
The dark side of opiate pain medications has received a great deal of 
attention in the news, social media and the professional medical 
literature. The risk of opiate addiction is real and has taken the 
lives of many youth in Orange County and throughout America, 
including many talented celebrities.

While this aspect of opiates is a major concern for physicians who 
prescribe these powerful painkillers, the great benefit these 
medications offer to patients who suffer from acute and chronic pain 
conditions has been essentially ignored in the discussion.

Who would deny pain medications to a patient with a leg fracture or 
other acute painful condition? However, sometimes the pain does not 
go away after an injury or surgery, many medical conditions result in 
chronic pain that severely limits mobility or the ability to 
participate in activities patients would like to enjoy.

There are many non-narcotic modalities to treat pain, such as 
physical therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic care, along with the 
use of interventional techniques to inject nerves, tendons, ligaments 
or areas of the spine with powerful anti-inflammatory steroids that 
are effective in relieving pain.

Despite these interventional treatments, opiate pain medications are 
still required for many patients with severe pain syndromes to 
achieve significant improvement in their quality of life. Chronic 
pain patients are so grateful for these medications, without which 
some would be bedridden.

So we must be sensitive to not lump chronic-pain patients who use 
powerful painkillers properly prescribed by physicians, together with 
individuals who have an addiction disorder and obtain these opiates, 
usually without a prescription, who often do not even have pain. We 
can be certain that no individual who overdosed on heroin obtained 
the heroin by prescription. These are two completely different 
populations, and we are unfairly implying that every patient taking 
prescribed pain medications is an addict.

As tragic as these overdose situations are to family, friends and 
society, we must be cautious not to interfere with the doctor-patient 
relationship by an over-reach of government reaction, where 
chronic-pain patients are denied access to physician-prescribed and 
properly monitored opiate therapy.

Andres Betts, M.D.

San Clemente

pain specialist
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom