By: Georgia Panopoulas, PhD, LP - Pain Psychologist and Janet Brewer, M.Ed
A few days ago, I came across an interesting article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and a very timely article, in retrospect. The author of the article titled “Opioids: Epidemic is the symptom, not the disease,” argued that “one of the reasons we have an opioid epidemic is because we have a pain epidemic.”
There is no arguing that pain, both acute and chronic, is prevalent in the United States and around the globe. Although trends in the prevalence of pain disorders are generally lacking, one study found that for chronic, debilitating low back pain (LBP), prevalence increased from 3.9% in 1992 to 10.2% in 2006. Increases were seen across all adult ages, for females and males, and across race. Reasons for the observed increase in prevalence rates were unclear, however, researchers suspected that increasing rates of obesity, changes in psychosocial and physical work demands, increase prevalence of depression, and increases in symptom awareness and reporting contributed to these increases in prevalence rates.
Pain in the Bleeding Disorders Community
Would these findings stand true within the bleeding disorders community? Witkop et al. (2017) argued that as life expectancy of persons with hemophilia (PWH) increases, pain and specifically joint pain is a major problem affecting adult PWH. Their study (the Hemophilia Experiences, Results and Opportunities study; HERO) found 85% of participants experienced pain during the 6-month period prior to completing the survey. Twenty percent of PWH (77% with Hemophilia A, 23% with Hemophilia B, and 9% with inhibitors, median age of 34 years) reported experiencing acute pain only, 34% reported experiencing chronic pain, and 32% reported experiencing both acute and chronic pain. Ankles (37%), knees (24%), and elbows (19%) were identified as the most painful joint. By comparison, 11.2 % of the general population in the United States experiences chronic pain, with LBP being the most common, followed by headache or migraine, neck pain, and facial pain.
In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sponsored a public forum titled “Patient-Focused Drug Development for Hemophilia A, Hemophilia B, von Willebrand Disease, and Other Heritable Bleeding Disorders” in an effort to learn from those affected about their treatment options and treatment concerns. A major topic of concern was pain management (both acute and chronic).
Definition of Pain
For the purpose of this article, pain is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as: “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” IASP also added that pain is a subjective experience. Acute pain typically lasts less than 3 to 6 months. In PWH, acute pain is common during joint or muscle bleeds.
Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than 1 month beyond the normal healing period or that is associated with a pathological process (e.g., arthropathy) that causes continuous or recurrent pain over months or years.
Chronic Pain Syndrome (CPS) effects approximately 25% of people with chronic pain. CPS occurs when people have symptoms beyond pain alone, like depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, which interfere with daily functioning.
Why is pain so difficult to treat? The pain experience is subjective by nature. Contrary to 17th century thought that pain was either physical or psychic in origin, physical and mental aspects of pain as inseparable was the focus of medical research by the early part of the 19th century. By the 20th century, the Gate Control Theory of Pain emphasized the role of sensation, affect, and cognition “interacting with one another to provide perceptual information that ultimately influences the motor mechanisms characterizing pain,” (Olson, 2013). Further, as pain evolves from acute to chronic, it alters neural pathways, impacting mood and interfering with sleep.
Pain Management Requires a Variety of Approaches
As such, treatment requires an interdisciplinary approach focusing on physical, cognitive and emotional aspects of pain, in addition to focusing on pain and its impact on relationships. Opioids alone cannot successfully treat pain. In fact, successful treatment with opioids is considered to be 40-50% relief in pain (according to a scale of pain from 0-10, 0 representing “no pain,” and 10 representing “the worst pain imaginable”). Thus, successful treatment using opioids alone would result in a decrease of pain from 10/10 to 5-6/10. Opioids cannot eradicate the pain, much less “treat” the cognitive, emotional, and relational aspects of pain. Additionally, opioids are not without their negative side effects which include sedation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, physical dependence, tolerance and respiratory depression. Long term use can result in allodynia and hyperalgesia (thus pain increases over time). From a psychological perspective, opioids and marijuana are dissociative drugs, numbing physical and emotional distress, making it more difficult for individuals to stay connected with loved ones and to find purpose and meaning in life.
Managing Physical Aspects of Pain
Managing the physical aspects of pain may require use of factor (in the case of acute pain, or chronic pain with acute exacerbation, or flare), RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, gentle stretching, etc., in addition to certain medications. The goal is to manage the physiological arousal that often results from pain, but that only serves to feed right back into the pain experience. Pain is perceived by the brain as a potential threat or danger to the system. As such, pain activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the fight or flight response, resulting in increases in blood pressure, heart rate, fuel availability, adrenaline, oxygen circulation to the organs, blood clotting, pupil size, while decreasing fuel storage, digestion, and salivation. Rest, which is essential for healing, becomes more difficult. Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is essential to counteracting the effects of the SNS. Activation of the PNS can be accomplished through meditation, massage, deep breathing, being in nature, playing with children or animals, yoga, tai chi, mindful movement. Finding the balance between relaxation and reactivation can strengthen the relaxation response and serve as an immediate defense against the effects of pain.
Cognition and Pain
Managing the cognitive aspects of pain may at first seem trivial, unimportant. Can pain management be as simple as mind over mood? Of course not. And in fact, we discussed previously that it’s not mind over mood, but mind and mood. Our pain is based on our perceptions, our perceptions are based on what we know, and what we know is interpreted based on what we have experienced in the past. Not knowing if our pain is a result of a bleed can be very disconcerting. Do we treat? Do we ignore the pain and push through? Are we thinking realistically about the situation or are we engaging in distorted, unrealistic, or irrational thoughts like:
*(Adapted from Margaret Caudiull’s Managing Pain Before It Manages You)
If you recognize any of these thought patterns, you are not alone. But once you recognize them, try to change them, not by thinking positively (for positive thinking can be as distorted as our negative thinking), but by thinking realistically/ rationally/with the evidence.
Emotional Well-being
The importance of managing emotional aspects of pain cannot be overstated. The prevalence rates of depression and anxiety in PWH are indeed higher than what we would expect in the general population and higher and/ or comparable to rates of emotional distress in persons with other chronic pain conditions (e.g., lower back pain, headache/migraine, neck pain, facial pain). Sadness, anger, fear are real and justifiable emotional responses to chronic illness and chronic pain, but can be managed. First identify what you are feeling. I like having a cheat sheet of “feeling words.”
Ultimately, however, our feelings fall into one of four categories: mad, glad, sad, and scared. What are you feeling? What do you attribute the feelings to? Something that just happened or something that happened in the past? Can you do anything about the situation that is contributing to how you feel? If not, can you allow yourself to feel without trying to change the feeling (i.e., mindfulness)? Can you allow yourself to feel anger, sadness, grief and loss, forgiveness toward yourself and others, and to accept these feelings as they are, real and valid? Or do we too quickly assign judgment to these feelings?
Keep in mind that feelings of grief, sadness, loss apply to both the parent/caregiver and the person with pain.
Guilt can be a source of great pain for mothers given that hemophilia is a x-linked chromosomal disorder. “It is my fault my son suffers because I gave it to him”. Or, as the person in pain, “I am a burden to my wife/children because I can’t do the things I once did which falls on them.”
Pain and Relationships
As much as we would like to think that pain only impacts the person with pain, we know otherwise. Pain impacts those we love deeply. Family and friends want to help, they want to “fix it.” They can’t. They become frustrated and, at times, it seems as if they are frustrated with the person who has pain. Their response to the person with pain can be perceived as “punishing.” Or maybe overly “helpful.” The research suggests that these responses are common, but not helpful especially when attempting to manage chronic pain. So, what are family members to do? “Distracting” responses can be most helpful. What does that mean? Offer understanding, validation. But more than that, I encourage family and friends to ask, “What do we need to do to get through this.” The “we” refers to the person in pain along with the family member or friend. This, of course, is a work in progress and requires communication, willingness to try new things, and reflection. When it all gets overwhelming, there is the propensity to shut down and pull away. Parents watching their children withdraw is painful. Trying to help seems to make it worse because the child may not want to talk about it. Ultimately, we may seek counseling and/or use mood enhancing medications to get us through. As much as we’d like to put the bleed, or the flare, or the crisis behind us, it would serve us better if we talked about how we got through, what helped, what didn’t, and what we might want to do different next time, because there will always be a next time.
The Power to Heal
In 2016, I attended the NHF Inhibitor Summits. Dr. Tyler Buckner and I presented several sessions on pain management (an overview of strategies for managing acute and chronic pain). Dr. Buckner presented information about various classes of medications including but not limited to opioids and medical cannabis. The utility of these medications, as indicated previously, was variable at best.But the participants, those living with inhibitors, shared their favorite pain coping strategies with the group and, once again, I left the Summits truly believing that I learned more from the Summit participants than they learned from me. The following is a list of pain coping strategies identified by participants (including PWH, parents/ caregivers, siblings, significant others):
Assistive Devices
Poke program*check out on our website in reference section
Smart phone apps, i.e. - Healing Buddies Comfort Kit
http://www.healingbuddiescomfort.org/
Virtual reality (see related articles in what’s new on page 42)
Buzzy (see related articles in what’s new on page 46)
Distraction-Passive and Active
Blow bubbles
Listen to or create music
Play games
Read/Listen to Stories
Watch movies
Utilize social media
Emotional Strategies
Calming Techniques
Change your thoughts-
positive self-talk and reinforcementCoping
Counseling
Grief and loss acceptance
Humor
Pain Education
Set realistic goals/expectation
Movement
Balance, coordination, ball therapy
Change position
Dance
Exercise/Gentle stretching
Mini Breaks
Tai Chi
Walk/pace/rocking
Yoga
Mindfulness
Attention Management
Breathing
Guided imagery
Meditation
Progress muscle relaxation/body scan
Self-hypnosis
Set realistic expectations of self/others
Physical Comfort Measures
Acupuncture
Acupressure
Beverages
Biofeedback
Contrast baths-Epsom salts
Cuddle
Dim lighting, noise reduction
Essential oils, salves, rubs/ aromatherapy
Food
Hot/Cold packs/pads
Loose, soft clothing
Massage
RICE
Sleep
TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
Management-anti-inflammatory, gluten, soy, soda, sugar free diet
This list is far from exhaustive! But these strategies are tried and true. Will we eradicate the pain? Can we eradicate the pain? Should we eradicate the pain? Remember, pain is not all in our head, but that’s where pain messages are processed and where we can begin to alter neural pathways and change the suffering.