Pain and consumer reports

This week I was excited to receive Consumer Reports magazine (June 2016 edition) until I looked at the cover and saw a familiar refrain about pain, or more specifically pain medications. I was hopeful that Consumer Reports might step up to help the public understand the issue with pain medications is not as one dimensional as many publications portray. If anything, this cover story perpetuates the stereotype. I expected better from Consumer Reports.

Nothing Inaccurate

Let me say at the outset that I did not find anything inaccurate in the Consumer Reports article. It seems fairly easy to understand, and if one has simple everyday pain, it makes common sense to follow its recommendations. What I am disappointed in that having done the simple look at pain, the author did not take the next step and address chronic pain. The kind of chronic pain that most of us deal with as we live with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Let me quote from the article:

“For most aches and injuries, the pain goes away with treatment and time. When it doesn’t, the situation can get tricky. Doctors may find themselves at a loss, and patients can get caught in a cycle of treatments or succumb to the promise of unproven remedies. Others may handle it with a long-term prescription”. (“Pain Relief Now,” 2016, p. 31). In my view, this is ducking the real issue.

The article spends a great deal of space telling us the remedies for common pain. All the usual suspects show up for joint pain.

Try gentle exercise, acupuncture, ibuprofen, naproxen, cold packs, topical solutions, steroid shots. It then tells us that if pain is really bad, we should go to the emergency room (“Pain Relief Now,” 2016, pp. 34 - 35).

And that is about the extent of advice about joint pain. There is a great deal of additional body pain areas discussed. I image advocates in these areas likely have about the same reaction as I do about joint pain. To me, none of the advice is bad in and of itself. I do most of those things when my joints hurt, and it is what my doctor has said for years.

The issue

But here is the issue as I see it. The article leaves one with a false sense of smugness. We are left with the belief that chronic pain is something that can be overcome or at the very least managed without using the dreaded and much maligned opioid medication. The difficulty is that those of us with RA know that we cannot manage the pain away. If we could, we would. I can guarantee none of us need or want this disease. We cannot stop it and yes exercising helps, but it will not go away.

While the writers never give terrible advice, the gist of the article is to tell us not to use opioid drugs, unless we cannot help it. Well duh? I mean look this is just another part of the ongoing litany of articles that point out the dangers of opioids without any real suggestions for stopping it. Why don’t they make useful recommendations for pain management for chronic pain? I will tell you why; there are no legitimate options. I hate it when writers continue to tell us not to use opioids when there are no legitimate options.

Maybe just maybe we need someone to write a better article. How about an article about why we don’t research the mechanisms of pain and find treatments that allow us to work, live and enjoy life. Bashing opioids is cheap entertainment for the mainstream media. We need less bashing and more resources to figure out a better approach, until then yes education is important, but let’s also include the truth. People with chronic pain benefit from the use of opioids. It is time also to tell that part of that story.

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Take away for May 12, 2016

• Consumer Reports may have given generally good advice for typical pain
• The magazine misses the boat about chronic pain
• Opioids are once again bashed
• Perhaps it is time to work on alternative medical treatments for chronic pain

Reference

Pain Relief Now. (2016, June, 2016). Consumer Reports, 81, 10.