A recent study has found that using opioids to treat chronic pain in females is often not helpful. The study found that less than 20 percent of females receive pain relief with the use of narcotic-type medications. The article was published in the July 2015 issue of the Journal of Woman’s Health, and it indicates that women often do not receive any significant chronic pain relief pain from the use of an opioid. About 50 percent of men receive adequate pain relief from opioids, but only a small percentage of women have a response.

Chronic pain is a complex problem. There are often multiple problems occurring that cause the pain, and it is rare that there is a simple solution. Pain is complex and a multitude of different techniques and methods are necessary to treat these types of problems. Not only are there multiple peripheral generators of pain signals, the interpretation by the brain of pain is often short-circuited.

Opioid Use and Women

The brain, when it receives multiple pain signals, develops what is called “central sensitization.” Both abnormal and multiple pain signals are interpreted as significant pain, and normal signals can be also perceived as pain. Central sensitization and many of the peripheral receptors are not responsive to opioid medications. When looking at the big picture, it’s not surprising that women don’t respond well to opioid therapy.

As noted above, chronic pain is a complex condition. Simple solutions like opioids often do not work to help with pain. New research is being done to better understand all aspects of pain, and we’ve made huge gains of the last few years. That said, pain care has not received a lot of research funding, but hopefully that will change. Research can lead to better solutions to prevent and treat pain, we just need to put in the time, money and effort.