study

Chronic Pain and Its Impact On The Workforce

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

back pain workMany people have a vested interest in helping to solve the problem of chronic pain, and a new study suggests that you can add employers to the list.

According to a new study published in Integrated Benefits Institute, more than one-third of US workers take prescription pain medications. Interestingly, those workers who take prescription medications take significantly more sick days than those who don’t, and those who have problems with those medications take even more sick days. The study found:

  • Compared to those who don’t take prescription pills at all, painkiller users took an average of twice as many sick days.
  • Problematic painkiller users took more than three times the number of sick days on average as a healthy adult.
  • Prescription pain medications were associated with approximately 261 lost workdays per 1,000 workers per month.

For the study, researchers looked at the amount of time lost at work connected with prescription pain relievers when viewed in the contest of other substance use disorders in the American workforce.

“The high rates of prescription pain medicines among employees indicates a much larger issue for employers than lost productivity,” says IBI researcher Erin Peterson, MPH, the report’s first author. “The significant number of sick day absences by employees who use pain relievers without problems likely doesn’t represent the full impact. As most people abusing opioids started with prescribed medications, this is a very large number of people at risk for developing problematic behaviors associated with pain relievers.”

Chronic Pain and Lost Days of Work

If you suffer from chronic pain, regardless of whether or not you take opioids to help with discomfort, you know firsthand how difficult it can be to get out of bed on some mornings, let alone get through the work day. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to work with a pain specialist to get control of your issue or help to minimize the days when pain becomes overbearing. It’s not always going to be easy, but if you truly want to do whatever you can to get your pain under control, it’s worth it.

Dr. Cohn and his team have helped numerous workers get a handle on their pain and thrive in the workplace, and he can do the same for you. To set up an appointment so he can get to the bottom of your pain and chart a course for recovery, click here or give his office a call today. It’s never too late to take back control of your life from chronic pain.

Centipede Venom: The New Pain Medicine?

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

centipede venomThe search is on throughout the scientific community for new medications for every known disease.  Cancer and heart research are often the glamour areas, now a new pain medicine may be on the horizon.  Centipede venom has been found on an experimental basis to be a powerful pain killer in mice.  It is a toxin that acts on a protein that influences pain sensation.  Mice that are given an injection of the purified venom can withstand a significant increase in pain.

The Goal of Research

The goal of research is to find a chemical that helps with pain but does not have the side effects of current strong pain medications like opioids/narcotics.  Morphine and similar compounds have many side effects and are addictive with high potential for abuse and overdose.  The goal of new compounds is to minimize the bad parts and control pain better.  In mice, the new centipede venom appears to be very effective in pain control.

Unfortunately, this is just the first step to determine if centipede venom will be useful in humans.  Once a compound is found to be useful, the next step is to determine if it will be useful in mammals and then humans begins.  Chemicals that work in mice do not necessarily work in humans.

Further Questions & Testing

Then there are the questions of whether the drug causes other problems, and what dose is safe and effective and for how long.  Another issue is how the compound must be delivered to the body to be effective. One of the recent medications, snail venom (ziconotide) is only effective if given to the spinal fluid, which makes this drug very difficult to use.  Many compounds cannot be taken orally because the stomach is highly acidic and often will destroy drugs. For a pain medication that is useful, an easy delivery system is essential for every day use.

Research goes on daily to find new medications that help improve our lives.  As we live longer, pain is becoming a common problem that most people have to confront. Hopefully, science will find new and effective drugs to take care of pain.