Opinion: Who is really behind a proposed new definition of pain?
A new definition of pain is out for comment from the International Association for the Study of Pain, an influential global alliance of researchers.
When I heard about it, my hair stood on end. Some people think a new definition could lead to new therapies. But as a 23-year veteran of serious pain from a progressive disorder, I dread losing the old therapy: opioids.
Prescription opioids have lost favor since the national opioid crisis, when a growing number of people fell victim to an increasingly unrelated supply of these drugs. Prescribed drugs, illicit drugs — the distinction between the two, and their respective contributions to overdoses, hasn’t been widely grasped. And so there’s much ado about opioid replacements such as ineffective drugs, “mindfulness,” chiropractic, cognitive behavior therapy, “coping and acceptance,” acupuncture, virtual reality, and more.. New drugs likely to work on severe pain aren’t anywhere near the pipeline. And most of us already know what we’d pick for a broken bone or a kidney stone.
