As a physician treating pain conditions, I firmly believe, as the government has just confirmed, that excessive use of opioids seldom helps chronic pain patients and often make them worse. Some of my patients have balked at my edict that they titrate off all opioid pain medication before I treat them—but soon they discover the pain medications were not helping them anyway and they start to improve.
Here is the story of one patient who was able to avoid the opioid route and resume a higher quality life through multidisciplinary treatment with physical and occupational therapists and psychological support.
Susie was a successful, 40-year-old executive who worked as deputy director for a large, not-for-profit organization. She was happily married with two children, 8 and 6. In her mid-30s, Susie began to feel exhausted at times and attributed it to stress and overwork. The symptoms did not go away, however, and she soon began to wake up with pain—sometimes in her neck, other times in her lower back, elbows, or knees.
Suspecting “arthritis,” which ran in her family, Susie saw a doctor who gave her a clean bill of health and suggested that antianxiety medications might help.
