Do chronic pain patients live longer without being treated for pain?

Question

the new medication restrictions imposed by the government on insurance companys imposed on doctors imposed on pharmacists imposed on patients.what are the long term results of restricted medications?

Answer 1

The answer to the first question is no

What exactly IS your second question?

Answer 2

That's a really interesting question. I haven't heard of any studies even approaching this question. As a random guess, I would have to say that pts being treated for pain would live longer than patients not being treated. Off-hand, I know that people who rate themselves subjectively as being "happy" with their lives tend to live longer than people who are unsatisfied. One could generalize that people with untreated pain would tend to me more depressed and unsatisfied, thus shortening their life-span.

Also, it was believed that since babies can't remember before age 3 or 4, it was ok to perform surgeries on them without anesthesia, but then it was discovered that these babies had a significantly higher mortality rate than babies that were sedated. Now neonatal surgery is performed with anesthesia, no matter how young the child is.

Another interesting question to tackle would be how well the pain is controlled, and if that has a variable effect on life-span.

At the very least, adequate pain control is a quality of life issue, and no one should have to suffer pain daily. I'm sure if you put the politicians in the life of one of these patients for a day, they'd reverse the restrictions immediately.

Answer 3

In order to answer this question using the scientific method, you would need to do a study of people with chronic pain willing to accept pain killers or placebo, and see which group lives longer. Of course this will never be done- who would volunteer?
As a physician I can offer the opinion that people with a lot of pain live shorter and much less happy lives. Antiinflammatory medication reduces pain-causing inflammation and also retards inflammation elsewhere in the body (including the blood vessels, where inflammation promotes atherosclerosis). Antiinflammatory medication also reduces the blood's tendency to clot, another cause of heart attacks and strokes. People with pain get less exercise (another risk factor for cardiovascular disease).
Antiinflammatory drugs are not without risks (kidney failure from excessive use, GI irritation and bleeding) but these things can be detected and treated.
On balance, the risks to longevity favor treating pain.

Answer 4

for one it totally depends on what they're given and how long they're on it. narcotics can and do reduce the length of time you'll spend on this plant ;p. lets say there's a cancer patient who's prescribe oxycontin 40s. first off, its an extremely strong narcotic painkiller. and it dose a lot more then just screw up your stomach lineing and liver over time. you don't need medical studies to prove it. people die every day from overdose. yes, they take far more then recomended when that happens... but technically it dose the same thing to the patient. just much slower. well without the cardiac arrest part from oxycodone...would also depend on what they have. take a cancer patient for instance again ;p. oxycontins aren't the only thing they're commonly prescribed. there's morphine. the bodys already weak from the cancer. liver failing or will. any narcotics would speed that up greatly. as for the restrictions.. i don't even know what they are ^^. last i checked they just threw oxys and morphine to them. they do indeed work. very well. but it costs more then the time it takes to swallow the pill over time ;p.

Answer 5

Speaking from experience only, I can say that hospice patients seem to live longer than would be expected by their disease processes. Apparently the pain medication is of some benefit in quality of life as well as 'quantity.'

No double blind randomized studies have been done in this area that I could find.

Answer 6

pain, and a lot of it. don`t go there man. No-one should have to suffer, let people in pain get the medicine they need.

And people who say otherwise, should really have a go for some months, with pain 24/7, I guess the as.....s would change their opinion quite fast.

Peace and love from Norway

Answer 7

I assure you it would seem longer to them. Actually because of the oversight of the government on prescribing narcotics, many people do not get enough pain medication.

Answer 8

yeah they do..usually if you are being treated for pain you are on morphine or oxycontin (sometimes high doses of tramadol) these drugs stop pain but they also slowly shut your body down if you are on them long enough and eventually you will die (especially if you are older)

its an alternative to a slow painful death..you could almost call it euthenasia but its hard to argue that its inhumane if you have experienced people suffering through death first hand

Answer 9

yes, pain killers just numb the pain at the same time it messes your kidney and liver up, including your stomach lineing, so i guess they do live longer.

Answer 10

Life-cycle is the same.