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It’s time for a reckoning in pain medicine
KevinMD.com
17 November 2022
https://www.kevinmd.com/2022/11/its-time-for-a-reckoning-in-pain-medicine.html
More than a million Americans have died since the late 1990s from drug overdoses, with the vast majority dying from an opioid overdose. Substance abuse treatment providers report that 80 percent of illicit opioid users got addicted after being prescribed opioid painkillers.
Among alternative pain treatment options discussed, low dose naltrexone (LDN) has been found to relieve chronic, centralized pain in tiny amounts, sometimes as low as 0.1 mg. It appears to get the body to increase the production of endorphins, the body’s endogenous opioids.
The therapies discussed are not affordable for many patients because they are not covered by insurance. That is why it is time for a massive provider and patient education campaign and spirited advocacy efforts to ensure that these safe and effective treatments are accessible to any patient who can benefit from them. Then we can finally end the dual epidemics of opioid addiction and chronic pain.