The alarming statistics on prescription opioid overdoses are well known to medical professionals, thanks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s widely cited finding that deaths from opioid analgesics have increased fourfold since 1999.1 Half of all fatal drug overdoses now involve opioids prescribed by a doctor. Meanwhile, a lack of rigorous research…
(Reuters Health)—Mindfulness-based stress reduction programs (MSBR) appear to improve low back pain only slightly, and only temporarily, a review of previous research suggests. These programs combine meditation while sitting and walking, yoga, focusing attention on different parts of the body and incorporation of mindfulness/awareness into everyday life. Earlier studies found MBSR to be helpful for…
NKTR-181, a mu-opioid agonist analgesic, has proved safe and effective for treating chronic low back pain vs. placebo in a recent clinical trial…
“I have pain all over my body” is a challenging response after you’ve asked a new patient what brings them in for their visit. You immediately suspect that this patient has fibromyalgia. The prevalence of fibromyalgia in the U.S. is 5 million people, and it is among the most common conditions in many rheumatology practices….
(Reuters Health)—The risk that surgery patients will become chronic opioid users may be similar after minor procedures or major operations, a U.S. study suggests. Three to six months after surgery, new chronic opioid use was about 5.9% with minor operations and 6.5% with major surgery, the study found. The rate was just 0.4% in people…
Brain imaging can distinguish fibromyalgia patients from healthy controls with high sensitivity and specificity, according to two papers published nearly simultaneously in Pain late last summer, by groups at the Universities of Colorado and Michigan, respectively. Somewhat surprisingly to the authors and others, in the Colorado study, which used both painful and nonpainful stimuli, the…
Opening up to patients about a medical condition is a personal choice for physicians. But for Richard Brasington, MD, who has chronic back pain and arthritis, it helps him communicate with and connect to some of his patients. In an interview, he provides insights into his experiences managing pain on the job…
Are too many patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia? The co-authors of one new study believe that close to 75% of patients who have received a clinical fibromyalgia diagnosis do not meet the 2010 Preliminary American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Criteria for Fibromyalgia.1 They say these patients are false-positive and may be taking treatments they don’t need….
With the chronic pain and other health issues that many rheumatology patients face every day, it’s natural for rheumatologists and their patients to wonder if cannabinoid treatments are of any help. At this point, there is insufficient evidence to recommend cannabinoid treatments to manage rheumatic diseases, according to a review article published in the May…
The FDA is currently accepting comments on a draft guideline for osteoporosis treatments, which calls for more research into the long-term effects of drugs on bone quality. Also, the FDA has rejected an application for approval of Apadaz in its current form…