The opioid crisis reached its peak in the United States in 2017, where addiction and overprescription have led to 218,000 deaths from prescription overdoses between the years of 1999 and 2017. The side effects of opioids can affect the day-to-day activities of people managing long-term or chronic pain, yet society as a whole has yet to fully evaluate the relationship between opioids and addiction.
In this edition of Airing Pain, producer Paul Evans talks to two leading pain specialists. First off, Paul Evans meets with Dr Srinivasa Raja, who discusses opioids effects on the body’s opioid receptors and how the human body processes pain. Dr Cathy Stannard then talks about the increase of opioid prescriptions in the UK and how the opioid crisis in the United Kingdom developed.
In the second half of the programme, Paul speaks with Louise Trewern, a chronic pain patient and patient advocate, about opioids’ detrimental effect on her quality of life and how she was able to transition towards more effective methods of chronic pain management.
Finally, Paul sits down with Dr Jim Huddy, a GP in Cornwall, who explains how the medical community is re-evaluating the relationship between opioids and chronic pain.
Listen at painconcern.org.uk/airing-p..., or download from Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to Airing Pain to never miss an episode.
lidocaine
chronic pain and depression 
Facet joint
neuropathic pain from paralysed arm (trauma)
