How Untreated Chronic Pain Can Increase Your Dementia Risk

dementiaNew research published this week found that untreated chronic pain can increase a person’s risk of cognitive decline and dementia, and that risk increases based on the number of areas in the body suffering from chronic pain.

The findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that chronic pain had an interesting effect on a person’s hippocampus, the area of the brain that is associated with learning and memory. Researchers compared the size of the hippocampus in patients with chronic pain to the size of the hippocampus in aging individuals without chronic pain. When comparing these models, researchers found that chronic pain may artificially age the hippocampus. When compared to a healthy 60-year-old patient, researchers found:

  • Patients with one chronic pain site had a hippocampus that had aged by an additional year.
  • Patients with two chronic pain sites had a hippocampus that had aged by roughly two additional years.
  • Patients with five or more chronic pain sites had a hippocampus that had aged by up to an additional eight years.

“In other words, the hippocampal (grey matter volume) in a 60-year-old individual with (chronic pain) at two body sites was similar to the volume of (pain free) controls aged 62-year-old,” wrote corresponding author Tu Yiheng and his colleagues.

So while you may only be 60 years old, if you are suffering from chronic pain in five or more locations in your body, your hippocampus may have experienced aging similar to that of a 68-year-old. Aging is a common underlying factor in dementia onset, and if your brain is artificially aged due to chronic pain, you may be more likely to experience dementia or cognitive decline.

Prevent Dementia By Treating Chronic Pain

While the findings may be a little concerning for patients dealing with chronic pain, fortunately we can try to reduce our dementia risk by really working to control and treat our chronic pain condition. This is certainly easier said than done, but if you develop a plan and work closely with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn, not only can you lead a more comfortable life free of chronic pain, but you can keep your brain healthy as you age.

Treating chronic pain is highly individualized, but may patients find that a combination of the following techniques can help them gain more control over their chronic pain condition:

  • Exercise
  • Posture Improvements
  • Dietary Changes
  • Physical Therapy
  • Stress Relief
  • Sleep Quality Improvements
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Deep Breathing Techniques

As you can see, all of the above techniques are active treatments that focus on improving one or more aspects of your health. Pain medications can certainly play a role in chronic pain management, but the above techniques are better at targeting the underlying pain cause and providing long-term relief.

Of course, working with a pain management specialist can help you find the right combination of treatments for your specific needs. If you want help identifying a pain treatment plan that’s right for you, or you just want to talk to a pain management provider about your symptoms, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Opioids – Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

painkillersIf you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know our views on opioids for pain management. Used correctly, opioids can be a wonderful compliment to a chronic pain management program, but their use can also cause some health issues even when carefully taken. According to a new study, not only can starting an opioid regimen be potentially hazardous to your health, so too can stopping opioid use. This doesn’t mean that you should plan to take opioids indefinitely, but it speaks to the importance of working with a pain management provider when starting and stopping an opioid regimen.

According to a recent study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, stopping a prescription opioid regimen can actually increase a person’s risk of overdose death. Opioid-related overdoses are a major concern here and in Canada where the study was conducted, and researchers wanted to learn more about the potential impact of discontinuing an opioid treatment plan. You might inherently believe that your risk of overdose falls to zero if you stop taking opioids, and in a perfect world, you’d be right. However, not everyone who stops taking opioids can do so easily, and therein lies the risk of eventual overdose.

Safely Stopping Opioid Use

For the study, researchers reviewed the medical records of more than 14,000 patients in British Columbia who had been on opioid therapy for at least 90 days. After reviewing the records, researchers found that discontinuing opioid therapy for chronic pain was associated with an increased overdose risk for people without an opioid use disorder (OUD). An inverse effect was seen in patients who tapered off of opioid use, as their overall risk of overdose decreased. Researchers concluded that abrupt opioid stoppage could be dangerous, and that patients should work with a provider to taper off of medications so as not to increase their risk of overdose as they seek to end an opioid regimen.

While there were some limitations in the study, including whether or not associated overdoses occurred with prescription medications or those obtained illegally, the general message holds true in that it is extremely important that you work with a physician when working to stop an opioid treatment plan. We understand that you are aware of some of the potential issues associated with opioid use, and we commend you on wanting to curb or eliminate your reliance on these medications. However, there is a right way to go about cutting prescription medications out of your system. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race, and cutting opioids cold turkey could have some unintended withdrawal effects.

If your current medication plan isn’t getting you where you want to be, talk to a doctor about safely adjusting your medication program. We want to help you find the right solution, but finding the right treatment is only part of the battle. You also need to approach the treatment in the right manner, otherwise you may face some unexpected obstacles.

For more information, or for help with a chronic pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

More Patients Swapping Out Opioids For Medical Marijuana To Manage Pain

medical marijuana programNew research has found that nearly one-third of patients with chronic pain report using medical cannabis to manage their pain, with more than half of them decreasing their reliance on other pain medications, like opioids, in the process.

“That patients report substituting cannabis for pain medicines so much really underscores the need for research on the benefits and risks of using cannabis for chronic pain,” said lead author Mark C. Bicket, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Anesthesiology, and director, Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in an interview with Medscape Medical News.

Medical Cannabis Use

For the study, researchers surveyed 1,724 Americans over the age of 18 with chronic noncancer pain living in areas where medical cannabis was available. Participants were asked about their use of three different types of pain management:

  • Medical marijuana
  • Pharmacologic treatments like opioids, non-opioid analgesics and over-the-counter medications
  • Non-pharmacologic treatments like physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness

After looking at the survey results, researchers found that 25.9 percent of respondents reported using medical cannabis within the last year, and 23.2 percent reported using it within the past 30 days. More than half of patients who said they used medical cannabis said this also led to a decrease in prescription opioid use, prescription non-opioids and over-the-counter medications. “Almost no one” said that medical cannabis led to a higher use of these medications, said Dr. Bicket.

Medical cannabis use also impacted other treatments as well, for the good and the bad. 38.7 percent of people said that cannabis use led to decreased physical therapy sessions, 19.1 percent said it led to lower use of meditation, and 26 percent said it led to less CBT. Conversely, 5.9 percent of patients said cannabis use led to more physical therapy, 23.7 percent said it led to more meditation therapy, and 17.1 percent said it led to more CBT, so cannabis use clearly had a more widespread variance on other therapies than it did on pharmacological treatments, which saw a very obvious decreased correlation.

While Bicket was pleased with the findings, he noted that the current environment – where cannabis use is medically approved on some state levels but illegal on the federal level – makes it harder to accurately study the best ways to implement cannabis use for a patient population.

“We really don’t have a good sense of the relative risks and benefits that could come from cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain,” said Bicket. “As a physician, it’s difficult to have discussions with patients because I’m not able to understand the products they’re using based on this regulatory environment we have.”

Bicket seems to have the same gripes about the current medical marijuana climate that we have about chronic pain care in general. For one reason or another, we’re not able to easily study the best ways to treat chronic pain or harness the power of certain treatments like medical marijuana. Hopefully the landscape changes in the near future so that patients can have better access to the right treatments for their individual needs.

Will My Chronic Pain Get Worse Over Time?

post-traumatic painA chronic pain condition can make life uncomfortable, and oftentimes it leaves patients wondering if things will ever get better. A recent study out of Europe found that patients who had chronic pain in their forties were more likely to have chronic pain and other health issues later in life, which leads many to assume that chronic pain conditions will get worse over time.

But is that the truth? Are you really stuck with pain for the rest of your life, or is there something you can do about it? Below we explain why your chronic pain doesn’t have to get worse as time goes on.

Will My Pain Condition Improve?

As we’ve said numerous times on this blog, the following is just general advice. Chronic pain is both complex and highly individualized, so we can’t sit here and say that your condition will certainly get better or get worse depending on the treatment route you pursue. That being said, many patients don’t realize how much control they have when it comes to managing their chronic pain condition on a long-term basis. While chronic pain can oftentimes feel out of control, there are steps you can take each day to help you find more control over your condition down the road.

So we’ll start by saying that chronic pain is typically a health issue that will continue to worsen as you get older if you do nothing to treat the problem. While sometimes rest or activity avoidance can help you overcome small issues like a muscle strain or a headache, you’re not going to be able to do nothing and watch your chronic pain condition disappear. Chronic pain suggests that there is an underlying issue, and if you keep doing the same things that led to your condition in the first place, things won’t get better, and oftentimes they will only get worse.

That said, the opposite is also typically true, and that’s wonderful news for chronic pain sufferers. Targeted active treatments can oftentimes alleviate symptoms, calm inflammation, slow natural degeneration and improve your overall physical function. It’s not always easy, and you’re not always going to enjoy doing your physical therapy exercises or watching what foods and drinks you put in your body, but it’s these little daily wins that will make you stronger in the long run.

Another way to greatly improve your likelihood of overcoming your chronic pain condition is to connect with a specialist who can give you the individualized attention and advice that you’d benefit from. Chronic pain can be a very isolating health condition, and that can lead a person to withdraw from their friends, family and even their healthcare professionals. You need to know that you are not a burden and there are plenty of people out there who want to see you overcome your chronic pain issue. We rely on professionals for a number of different aspects of life, whether that’s to change a faulty piston on our vehicle or to install a new garage door, so don’t feel like you need to take on your complex medical challenges by yourself. Connect with a specialist and let them put their expertise to work for you.

And finally, many patients find it helpful if they acknowledge the fact that recovery is going to take some work. You’re not going to be able to take a magic pill or lay in bed for two weeks and all of a sudden you’re feel better. You’re going to have to put in the work with active interventions, like daily exercise, regular physical therapy, posture improvements, weight loss and more. As we mentioned above, it won’t always be fun, but working towards these goals is way more fun than living each day with chronic pain.

Know that your pain doesn’t have to remain consistent or worsen as you get older. You have a say in your chronic pain story, and we’re here to help in any way we can. For more information, or to get started on your journey to become free from chronic pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Walking Can Significantly Reduce Chronic Knee Pain Risk

knee painJoint issues are a common source of pain for millions of Americans, and oftentimes it’s the knee joints where this degeneration and discomfort is most obvious. Knee pain can make every step a burden, which is why preventing knee joint deterioration is key. According to a new study, you may be able to do just that by taking a few more steps each day.

According to a new study by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, walking may be a powerful way to prevent and treat osteoarthritis of the knee. For the study, researchers tracked more than 1,200 individuals aged 50 or older with knee osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis. Participants self-reported their walking habits and frequency, which helped researchers classify 73 percent of the group as walkers and 27 percent as non-walkers.

Walking And The Impact On Your Knees

After looking closer at the medical data between the two groups, researchers found that those who walked for exercise had a 40 percent decrease in the likelihood of experiencing frequent knee pain. X-rays were also used to assess for the progression and severity of osteoarthritis in the knees, and these images showed that walkers were less likely to experience medial joint space narrowing, which is one way to measure arthritis progression. Researchers concluded that going for regular walks could help to both control knee pain and slow to further osteoarthritis degeneration.

“These findings are particularly useful for people who have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis but don’t have pain every day in their knees,” said first author of the paper Dr. Grace Hsiao-Wei Lo. “This study supports the possibility that walking for exercise can help to prevent the onset of daily knee pain. It might also slow down the worsening of damage inside the joint from osteoarthritis.”

Walking is such a simple act that can be performed almost anywhere, and it’s not overly stressful on the body. While it may not be able to cure you of your arthritis, it can help to maintain function in your knee, aid in pain control and slow continued arthritis progression, all of which are important for your quality of life.

So if you’re dealing with chronic knee pain, know that you don’t need to pursue an intense workout at the gym to help combat your symptoms and make your knee healthier for tomorrow. Simply lace up your walking shoes and walk for 30-45 minutes a day! And if you’re still looking for help overcoming a chronic pain issue, make sure you reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team. For more information, or for help with a different pain management issue, give our team a call today at (952) 738-4580.