Crisis within a crisis ∞
A weekly nugget or two of pain science news and ideas for patients and pros, usually 400–1000 words. The blog is the “director’s commentary” on the core content of PainScience.com: a library of major articles and books about common painful problems and popular treatments. See the blog archives or updates for the whole site.
Jacob Sullum for Reason.com, on how the opioid crisis is not only killing addicts but also “leaving pain patients in agony”:
Contrary to the impression left by most press coverage of the issue, opioid-related deaths do not usually involve drug-naive patients who accidentally get hooked while being treated for pain.
On the other hand, in fresh science news, the evidence is mounting that opioids are no better than non-opioids for easing common types of chronic pain (see Krebs). More about that in an update to my opioids article.
Nothing is obvious or simple. Nothing. Ever.