Posted on 06/29/2023 9:25:39 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Opioid pain-relieving medicines are not more effective than a placebo in relieving acute back and neck pain and may even cause harm, according to a world-first trial.
Over 577 million people worldwide experience low back and neck pain at any one time.
The OPAL trial recruited close to 350 participants from 157 primary care and emergency department sites. Participants with acute-meaning sudden and generally short-term-back or neck pain were randomly allocated to a six-week course of a commonly prescribed opioid or a placebo.
Both groups also received standard care including advice to avoid bed rest and stay active. Participants were followed for 52 weeks.
Study results:
At six weeks, those who received opioids did not have better pain relief than those given the placebo.
Quality of life and pain outcomes at long-term follow-up were better in the placebo group.
Patients who received opioids were at a small but significantly higher risk of opioid misuse 12-months after their short course of medication.
The research team says that according to current back and neck pain guidelines opioids can be considered as a last resort if all other pharmacological options have failed, however, this study is evidence that opioids should not be recommended at all.
"We have clearly shown there is no benefit to prescribing an opioid for pain management in people with acute back or neck pain, and in fact, it could cause harm in the long-term even with only a short course of treatment," said lead investigator Professor Christine Lin.
"Opioids should not be recommended for acute back and neck pain. Not even when other drug treatments are not able to be prescribed or have not been effective for a patient."
The study complements previous research into opioid use for chronic (long-term) low back pain which found a small treatment benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Now our streets are going to be filled with passed out Placebo Addicts.
That made me smile.
If people aren’t given opioids for pain, they’ll go find it (fentanyl). And I’m talking about everyday people here. Opioids will simply go totally black market rogue. We’re halfway there now.
Because it is total BS.
Perhaps with the dose level they allow now ... or perhaps the patients were not properly taught how to utilize the meds.
There is no way that the proper use of opiates did not result in a better life quality for real pain patients.
So ...... I call BS.
I call BS
Soon you’ll be lucky to get aspirin.
My only lifetime experience with significant pain (other than my first two marriages - could I have a rim shot?) was about 4 months of severe back pain from a poor decision to lift some paving stones in a bad position. I burst a disc at L4/5 and the pain was beyond imagination. I wanted to avoid surgery - so I spent several months hoping it would go away on its own. Then I scheduled the surgery, but it was about 45 days out and the pain was a major problem that obstructed my entire life. The Neurological surgeon prescribed Gabapentin, and that was remarkably effective. I had the surgery just before COVID obstructed all elective surgeries for a while. Solved the problem perfectly. But for the time I was waiting for it - the pain was unreal. Ask your MD about Gabapentin, it seems to have broad application, worked for me. Probably a 98% reduction in pain.
The opioid epidemic means they want to massively cut back legitimate use. People in pain will be denied.
“Studies” like this will be used to justify the new policy.
The Lancet lost all credibility during covid.
Sounds like the way they solve ‘gun crime’.
But 9ther than the fact that leftards are control freaks as well as sadists, what do they get out of this?
yep, big no for me on gabapentin - eye issues from it. Also totally ineffective for me during the 10-12 days I was on it until my eyesight was so blurry I thought I was going blind.
The root of the problem needs to be found and dealt with efficaciously (can be extremely difficult and requires one to advocate for themselves, sometimes vociferously). During that time of intense pain, something intense is needed for pain management so one can ambulate and attempt physical therapy if warranted.
Personally, I can only take opioids for a few days, then they make my gut hurt so bad it is worse than taking nothing.
LOL
Horse hockey!
Is not really a pain med.... it acts on the brain to prevent seizures and relieve pain for certain conditions in the nervous system.
it is an anticonvulsant medicine used for epilepsy ...it can help with anxiety, alcohol withdrawal
So depending on the type of pain... gabapentin can help but
it's also used for treating depression and anxiety,because it calms neurons in the brain.
For muscular skeletal damage it really gives minimal relief.
“my gut hurt so bad it is worse”
This is an example of not being taught to use the meds correctly. I would wonder if your MD is a trained pain specialist.
Rightly so. No one postulates that an opioid is going to change the six week pain rating for anything acute. They could have run the same study for a broken arm or a heart attack. “Researchers found that the level of chest pain 6 weeks after a heart attack was the same between a placebo group and a morphine group used for acute chest pain. The difference being that the first 48 hours was hell on earth for the placebo group, while the morphine group actually wanted to continue living.”
How moronic. Essentially a straw man study design.
Doctor: wow, That’s a nasty broken arm you have there.
Patient: Doc, can you give me anything for pain?
Doctor: Studies show that in 6 weeks whether I give you pain medicine now or a placebo, you arm is going to feel the about the same, so here, suck on some rocks.
THAT SCALE IS THE STUPIDEST THING EVER CREATED !!!
These jackasses never use Me for any of these “studies” and if they did they would delete My input/answers.
Stupid F&@$KS THAT DON’T KNOW THEIR A$$€$ FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND !!!
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