Pain treatment a growing challenge
Terry Bremner knows pain. He could talk about it all day. He can relay stories told to him from fellow chronic pain sufferers. He can recite health care studies and give examples of treatments and drugs that might work to relieve one’s symptoms.
But he can’t take the pain away, which is why he continues to be an advocate for people like John Anderson of New Glasgow who lives with chronic pain every day.
“I can’t step back from this. I am going to be an advocate for the rest of my life. The knowledge that I learned over the years and situations I witnessed, it is going to help others.”
As president of the Chronic Pain Association of Canada, Bremner said Anderson’s story is one that is far too common in Canada now that new federal guidelines have been introduced that recommend chronic pain sufferers look at other options rather than opioids to relieve their symptoms.
Anderson told The News earlier this month that he is in constant pain because, after relying on opioids to relieve his chronic pain for at least 20 years, he is now unable to get the drugs because of guidelines that restrict physicians from prescribing large amounts.
Bremner said the new guidelines came into effect after reports of deaths from fentanyl in British. He said studies were done and it was determined that patients need to look at other forms of treatment or therapies rather than relying solely on opioids for relief.
However, he said, in his opinion, the people who set the guidelines failed to speak to chronic pain sufferers or doctors who were regularly prescribing medication to patients over a long period of time or the Chronic Pain Association of Canada, which has been existence since 1980s.
“You would think they would want to go to the source of who knew best,” he said.
Bremner said there are alternative treatments available to patients, but the challenge is getting to see a pain specialist in the province, where the average wait time is 26 to 28 months.
Studies have shown that the longer a person waits for the proper treatment, the less chance they will return to their normal life, he said.
For example, he had a car accident in 1995 and suffered from mild brain trauma, severe whiplash and soft tissue damage. He tried everything to treat the pain including massage, but then he started getting pain in his feet and legs only to find out he has developed fibromyalgia, which he has been told is a result of living with chronic pain from his injuries.
The accident occurred just 18 months after he had a full hip replacement and was feeling in the best health of his life, but with the accident his world changed forever.
“It impacted me physically, mentally and financially,” he said. “Depression and chronic pain go hand in hand.”
Bremner said society also has little compassion for people with chronic pain and this leads to more isolation and a lower quality of life for the sufferer.
“If I was in a wheelchair, in a cast, or brace or had crutches or bandages, they would say, wow, that guy must be in pain just because it is not visible. Chronic pain people need to wear a mask.”
He said stories on opioids also focus on the people abusing the drugs, not the people benefiting from them.
“To have someone in John’s situation, it wasn’t a matter of him abusing it, it was a matter of him using it. That is the difference between addiction and dependence.”
The provincial Liberals campaigned on developing a pain strategy before they were elected in 2013, he said, but nothing has happened despite his lobbying and offerings to bring his knowledge of chronic pain to the table.