A chronic pain sufferer words to me on air were that the level of his non-ending, almost uncontrolled pain has him considering suicide daily.
Another chronic pain sufferer shared his family is breaking up because of his chronic never-ending pain and reluctance by his doctor to prescribe a daily dosage of opioid medication which doesn’t rid my caller of his pain, but allows him to “function.” Lowering the daily dosage of medication (his physician’s constant mantra) would, my caller shared, consign him to an intolerable life.
A doctor with a focus on pain shared the four experiences which lead chronic pain sufferers to choose to end their lives. They are: 1) Pain 2) Social Isolation 3) Depression 4) Suicide.
Another physician treating chronic pain speaks of hearing patients raise the suicide option daily.
I just finished reading the more than 80 pages of The 2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain and the objective clearly is to wean chronic pain patients off their opioid medication, or reduce the daily milligram intake.
There are questions I have about the Guideline including why medication which makes life tolerable should be compromised. Are chronic pain patients with a well-functioning level of daily opioid intake risks for aberrant behaviour and/or addiction?
One statistic from the Guideline reads “Overall, 1 of every 550 patients started on opioid therapy in Ontario died of opioid-related causes a median of 2.6 years from his or her first opioid presecription.” So 549 of 550 such patients is alive and likely thankful the medication which at least partially controls horrific pain levels is available? And of those 550 chronic pain patients how many would find his or her pain levels manageable through exposure to non-opioid therapy? That, or become a sad statistic hardly spoken about or reported on.
Listen to Sunday’s program. Hour 1.
Roy
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