Fueled by the opioid-abuse crisis, the medical community is on the cusp of major change in how it treats chronic pain, a first-ever Pima County opioid symposium was told Friday.
Chronic pain is the most common pre-existing condition leading to an opioid overdose, state data show.
And unresolved trauma, which is a major risk factor for substance-use disorders, is also a characteristic in some chronic-pain patients, Dr. Bennet Davis of the Integrative Pain Center of Arizona told those in attendance.
“Trauma changes brain function. These changes lead to symptoms that respond to opioids,” he said. “The drug makes them feel more calm. ... But there is a cost to unknowingly treating developmental trauma with opioids.”
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