Holding Back the Years - features Dr Rangan Chatterjee the same Dr as 'Dr in the House' covering Fibromyalgia and asks if we are a nation addicted to painkillers?
Click to watch.......
bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b...
Before watching
My initial thoughts on this debate centres around more research for Fibromyalgia and also looking into allowing those in chronic pain to use other methods ie prescribe medical cannabis, LDN alongside other therapies & coping mechanisms.
I agree Opioids are probably not good long-term for Fibromyalgia due to risks, efficacy seems to change needed stronger doses and also that Fibro is reported to have less opioid receptors. However, that being said we will only avoid a Opioid Crisis in the UK if the people in chronic pain are allowed to try other methods of pain relief rather than reports of GPs trying to reduce Opioids/High Risk Drugs without any further treatments for pain. A GP has a duty of care to ensure the patient is a pain free as possible!
After watching
I agree with him when he says 'we cannot take pain relief away from people in pain' then he says but what do we do in it's place. He then discusses Hypnotherapy, again where some people find benefit this is not universal. Plus again, it feeds into the psychosomatic rhetoric that it is 'all in our mind' where it is physical and this therapy should be used with other coping mechanisms.
My concerns are that people watching will not be saying ' I watched a lady have hypnotherapy and it helped her, so you should do it' - feeding into the misunderstandings around Fibromyalgia and that pain is the only symptom.
Awareness of Fibromyalgia is great to see but I do wonder what others take from it without our knowledge and how this than affects the Fibromyalgia community as a whole!
Why not share your thoughts on this with the community 
AFMCG
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