Dear patient,
Ten Footsteps to Living Well with Pain
You have been given this information sheet because you have been taking painkillers for some time. We are particularly talking about painkillers in the opioid class like co-codamol (Zapain), co-dydramol, codeine, dihydrocodeine, or tramadol.
Recent medical evidence questions the benefits of drugs like this for long term pain. Strange as it might sound – we don’t think they are very good at killing pain at all when taken for more than a few months.
And there are some risks too. They can:
- Sometimes make pain worse
- Cause side effects to the intestines and stomach
- Make the body feel dependent on them so if you miss a dose you feel a bit jittery and anxious
- Increase the risk of falls
- There’s even a risk of overdose and death. There have been several deaths in the Morecambe Bay Area due to opioid painkillers.
Modern management of chronic long-term pain is geared away from drug therapy and more towards self-management where the patients take control of their lives and their pain with the use of physical therapies, emotional/ mindfulness type practice plus pacing strategies.
For these reasons, we suggest you try a ‘drug holiday’. This means you taper off and stop your painkillers over a month or so to see for sure whether they’re helping or not. It’s not unusual for pain to flare up a bit when doses are reduced and discontinued, but that’s to be expected. Once you’re off them for a month you’ll have a good idea as to whether they’re making a positive difference to your life. If they are, feel free to restart them – try to find the lowest dose that works.
If you’ve got any questions or wish to discuss non-drug therapies, feel free to make an appointment with a clinician in the practice.
Best wishes,
Lancaster Medical Practice