Tag Archives: #painrelief

Multiple Sclerosis: Widespread Pain with Nociplastic Features (WPNF) Linked to Low Physical Activity

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Libak Abou PhD, MPT
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Michigan Medicine
Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Chronic pain is a common symptom experienced by persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) that affects their daily living functioning including physical activity. Growing evidence indicates that persons with MS may experience various types of chronic pain including widespread pain with nociplastic features (WPNF), nociceptive pain, and/or neuropathic pain. WPNF is a chronic and diffuse pain which can be challenging to localize or describe precisely. In person with multiple sclerosis, this type of pain arises from altered processing signals within the central nervous system. This is opposed to pain that arises from specific tissue damage, classified as nociceptive pain, or pain related to demyelination and axonal damage, classified as neuropathic pain.

Our main goal with this study was to investigate whether differences exists on the level of physical activity achieved by persons with MS based on the type of chronic pain they experience

Continue reading →

Gabapentinoids, Used for Epilepsy and Pain Relief, Associated with Exacerbation of Pulmonary Disease

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Christel Renoux,  MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept. of Neurology & Neurosurgery
McGill University
Centre For Clinical Epidemiology H-416.1
Jewish General Hospital – Lady Davis Research Institute
Montreal Canada and
Alvi Rahman MSc
Pharmacoepidemiologist | HEOR Consulting
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: . Gabapentinoids are anticonvulsant drugs that include the two drugs, gabapentin and pregabalin. They are indicated for the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain, with minor variations between countries (pregabalin is also indicated for generalized anxiety disorders in some countries). However, they are often prescribed off-label for any type of pain, sometimes with the perception that they may be a safer alternative to opioids. Yet, gabapentinoids also may have serious adverse effects owing to the depressant effect they have on the central nervous system, which can lead to sedation or respiratory depression.

Several public health agencies have warned of breathing problems related to gabapentinoids, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Canada, and the European Medicines Agency. Specifically, the FDA suggested that patients with respiratory risk factors, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be at higher risk. These warnings were based mainly on case reports, and there was a lack of large population-based studies on this topic, which led us to conduct this study assessing the association between gabapentinoid use and severe exacerbation of COPD (hospitalization).

Continue reading →

Cannabis for Chronic Pain Linked to Increased Risk of Arrhythmia

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Anders Holt
Department of Cardiology
Copenhagen University Hospital—Herlev and Gentofte
Gentofte Hospitalsve
Hellerup, Denmark
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
School of Population Health, University of Aucklan
Auckland, New Zealand

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

cannabis-marijuana

Response: The motivation for this study was the fact that medical cannabis is being made available as medical treatment for chronic pain in an increasing number of countries worldwide. Meanwhile, robust evidence on possible cardiovascular side-effects is very scarce. This could be worrisome since recreational cannabis previously have been associated with an elevated risk of arrhythmia and acute coronary syndromes.

Continue reading →

New Migraine Headaches Linked to Increased Motor Vehicle Crashes in Older Adults

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Carolyn DiGuiseppi, MD, MPH, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology
Colorado School of Public Health
University of Colorado Denver
Aurora, CO 80045

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Migraine headache is a leading cause of disability worldwide and affects many older adults in the US and globally.

Some of the symptoms of an acute migraine, like fatigue, impaired concentration, headache, or dizziness, could affect older adults’ ability to drive safely.  In fact, past research has suggested that people with migraine are at higher risk of having injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes (compared to people without this diagnosis). We wanted to learn whether the risk of crashes depends on whether people have had a migraine diagnosis for some time or have been recently diagnosed, and whether being treated with migraine medications affects the risk of crashes.

Continue reading →

Study Aims to Improve Responsiveness to Hypnosis, Better Able to Treat Pain and Other Conditions

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Afik Faerman, PhD
NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University
President-elect
Division 30 (Psychological Hypnosis)
American Psychological Association

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Hypnosis offers an effective drug-free approach to treat a variety of psychophysiological symptoms, particularly pain. Unfortunately, not everyone benefits equally from hypnosis. The ability to experience suggestions in hypnosis (hypnotizability) is distributed in a bell-shaped curve across the population, with only about 20% considered highly hypnotizable. We wanted to test if we could make the brains of people who were not highly hypnotizable act and function as if they were, hoping such a possibility would open the door for improving therapy.

Several brain structures were previously linked to responsiveness to hypnosis, and modulating them could, theoretically, increase hypnotizability. Based on previous work, we created an approach (termed SHIFT) using individual brain scans to find the best part of the brain to stimulate.

Continue reading →

Rutgers Study Evaluates Telehealth Delivered Mindfulness Therapy in OUD Patients with Chronic Pain

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Nina A. Cooperman, PsyD
Department of Psychiatry
Division of Addiction Psychiatry
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Piscataway, New Jersey

Dr Nina Cooperman, Photo by John O’Boyle

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a novel intervention, Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), on opioid use and chronic pain among individuals receiving methadone treatment (MT).

The main goal of this study was to conduct a clinical trial to assess online MORE, delivered remotely, through secure video or phone conferencing, with respect to a range of clinical outcomes.

This study will involve a 2-arm individually randomized controlled trial design that compares MORE and treatment as usual (TAU). 

Continue reading →

Cancer Doctors Prescribing Fewer Opioids Since Opioid Crisis

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Joshua Kra, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rutgers NJMS
Division of Hematology/Oncology
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey at University Hospital

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: We aimed to characterize pain management practices by medical oncologists to assess whether CDC guidelines from 2017 for nononcologic settings changed prescribing patterns for oncologists.

PainRelief.com: What are the main findings?

Response: There was a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions from medical oncologists starting in 2017, which coincided with the recognition of the opioid crisis as a national public health emergency and the publication of CDC guidelines for opiate prescribing in non-cancer settings. This would suggest these factors contributed to how oncologists changed their management of opioid prescriptions for cancer patients.

Pages: 1 2

Opioid Prescriptions by Surgeons for Post-Op Pain Relief Decline, but Progress Has Slowed

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD
Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center
Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School
Ann Arbor MI 48109

Dr. Kao-Ping Chua
Dr. Kao-Ping Chua

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Surgery is one of the most common reasons for opioid prescribing. Ensuring the appropriateness of opioid prescribing by surgeons is important, as prescriptions that exceed patient need result in leftover pills that can be a source for misuse or diversion. Although there have been numerous recent policy and clinical efforts to improve opioid prescribing by surgeons, recent national data on this prescribing are unavailable.

In this study, we analyzed a comprehensive prescription dispensing database that captures 92% of prescriptions from U.S. pharmacies. From 2016 to 2022, we found that the rate of surgical opioid prescriptions at the population level declined by 36%, while the average amount of opioids in these prescriptions declined by 46%. As a result of these two changes, the total amount of opioids dispensed to surgical patients declined by 66%.

However, there were two caveats:

First, the decline in surgical opioid prescribing was most rapid before 2020 and has slowed since then.

Second, the average surgical opioid prescription in December 2022 still contained the equivalent of about 44 pills containing 5 milligrams of hydrocodone, far higher than most patients need after surgery.

Pages: 1 2

Some Headaches May Really Stem From Neck Muscles

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Nico Sollmann, M.D., Ph.D.
Resident in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
University Hospital Ulm, and the
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology
University Hospital Rechts der Isar in Munich, Germany

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Neck pain is very common among patients with primary headache disorders, such as tension-type headache or migraine. However, neck pain is mostly neglected during diagnosis as well as for treatment concepts in patients with such headache disorders. 

Our study revealed alterations of the trapezius muscles in subjects with tension-type headache and subjects with tension-type headache plus migraine attacks by using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. We suggest that those changes (i.e., increase of T2 values of the trapezius muscles) may be related to subtle edematous changes within the musculature, which might stem from inflammation. .

PainRelief.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Given that we also found significant associations between those muscular changes and the number of days a subject suffered from headache over the 30 days prior to imaging as well as neck pain, our study may provide objective evidence for the interrelationship between the neck area and the brain in headache disorders

PainRelief.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Primary headache disorders may be linked to neck pain, and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging may help to visualize and objectify changes of neck musculature that might be related to subjectively perceived pain. Involvement of neck muscles in primary headache disorders may relate to subtle inflammatory alterations in muscle tissue.

PainRelief.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: The application of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging can objectively detect changes of the trapezius muscles in subjects suffering from headache disorders, thus providing a quantitative biomarker. Such a biomarker has not yet been available, and it could be used to phenotype patients, monitor the disease status, as well as treatment effects.

In a planned randomized controlled trial, we would like to combine quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (for diagnostics) with peripheral magnetic stimulation (for treatment) to provide a comprehensive framework combining a novel treatment approach with therapy monitoring. Such a trial could help to elucidate effects of peripheral magnetic stimulation by an objective method that is targeting the neck musculature in headache disorders, thus providing the possibility to potentially relieve muscular pain and headache.

No disclosures. The study has been published as an open-access article in the meantime for more detailed information. (https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-023-01626-w)

Citation:

  1. RSNA 2023 abstract: https://press.rsna.org/pressrelease/2023_resources/2475/abstract.pdf
  2. Sollmann N, Schandelmaier P, Weidlich D, Stelter J, Joseph GB, Börner C, Schramm S, Beer M, Zimmer C, Landgraf MN, Heinen F, Karampinos DC, Baum T, Bonfert MV. Headache frequency and neck pain are associated with trapezius muscle T2 in tension-type headache among young adults. J Headache Pain. 2023 Jul 12;24(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s10194-023-01626-w. PMID: 37438700; PMCID: PMC10337094.

https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-023-01626-w

The information on PainRelief.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.

Acupuncture and Massage May Be Part of Pain Management Plan in Patients with Advanced Cancer

Posted on by

PainRelief.com Interview with:
Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE
Chief, Integrative Medicine Service
Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Most of the pain intervention trials focused on cancer survivors who completed treatment or patients in hospice care, little is know how these treatments work in patients living with advanced cancer. With the improvement in cancer treatment, many people are now living with advanced cancer but suffer from pain from their cancer or treatment.

Since acupuncture and massage have been found effective to manage pain in other populations, we designed this study to compare the effectiveness of these two interventions for musculoskeletal pain among patients living with advanced cancer. We hoped these results will aid patients and their doctors to make informed decision in pain treatment.

Continue reading →