Your pain deserves attention!

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About 60 million Brazilians live with some kind of chronic discomfort, but a multidisciplinary approach is lacking to provide relief to patients One in five North Americans, that is, more than 50 million people, live with some kind of pain chronic disease, according to the latest report by the Center for Diseases Control (CDC), which did not even count residents of long-term care facilities. Around here, according to the Brazilian Society for the Study of Pain, there are about 60 million dealing with the problem, the equivalent of 37% of the population. According to the Brazilian Society for the Study of Pain, there are around 60 million people dealing with the problem in the country Gerd Altmann for Pixabay This means feeling pain for at least three months in a row. Part of this contingent faces the so-called high-impact pain, which restricts and even makes daily activities unfeasible. According to experts, such a condition can lead to depression, substance abuse and even risk of suicide. To make matters worse: in aging, it is considered “normal” for the elderly to feel pain, compromising their quality of life. When talking about cancer, the picture is even more dramatic. From 60% to 80% of patients with the disease feel pain and 90% of cancer pain – identified as a worldwide medical emergency since 1996 – are treatable, but in practice this is not what happens. What prevents the issue from getting the attention it deserves? I learned a lot in the lecture given by physician Eloá Soffritti, a member of the pain clinic at Hospital Copa D´Or, at the VIII International Congress of Oncology D’Or. She detailed the theory of total pain, conceived by British doctor and nurse Cicely Saunders, which is not limited to physical discomfort. We have the psychological aspect; social impacts, such as job loss, financial concerns and concerns about the family’s future; and even a spiritual issue, which can translate into loss of faith and the search for the meaning of life. For the specialist, the treatment has to take into account all these dimensions: “They are inseparable and need to be addressed together. Unfortunately, pain control is still inadequate and has different causes: lack of skill of health professionals, limited access to interdisciplinary treatment and opiophobia”. Opiophobia? Yes, health professionals fear that the patient will become dependent on pain control drugs, but the use of a multidisciplinary approach with non-drug therapies is restricted to some centers of excellence. The controversy worsened with the opioid crisis in the US, but one should not lose sight of the fact that untreated pain worsens the disease, as brilliantly defended by nurse Katharine Kolcaba, creator of the Theory of Comfort, in the 1990s. the patient’s well-being comes first in a transversal way, that is, with the contribution of all health professionals who deal with the patient. The list is long: doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, social workers… The result is improved immunity, more chances of rehabilitation and adherence to the care plan. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) chose 2023 as the global year for integrative pain care, with an emphasis on self-care and non-drug therapies. So don’t settle for less.

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