UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said there was little evidence that common painkillers, including paracetamol and ibuprofen help patients with chronic pain, not caused by other medical condition or an injury.
Moreover, in Its draft guidance recommendation it suggests that there is evidence for harm due to the long-term use of the above medication.
Instead, for those of suffer from chronic pain, the comity recommended the use of acupuncture, psychological therapy or antidepressants instead.
Maybe soon in the Netherlands ?
Chronic pain is pain that lasts more than several months (variously defined as 3 to 6 months, but longer than “normal healing”). It’s a very common problem.
Within the guidelines, chronic primary pain is defined as a condition which can’t be accounted for by another diagnosis. This type of unexplained pain may affect as many as between 30-40% of people.
This is the first time that NICE guidelines address primary pain as a condition in itself. There was no evidence Paracetamol was effective in treating people for whom pain was their primary problem and the family of drugs that includes ibuprofen “made no difference to people’s quality of life, pain or psychological distress”.
Instead, course of acupuncture sessions, psychological therapy or antidepressants could be considered.
Most patients in pain do not want to take medication long-term, and GPs do not want this either, but sometimes medication has been the only thing that brings relief.
According to experts, this marked a stark move from pharmacological therapies to alternative therapies.
An important recommendation was noted while these new guidelines focus on alternative therapies and have the potential to be beneficial for patients – but they will need to be guaranteed appropriate access to them.
Thus, you as patients MUST choose an experienced and appropriate Acupuncturist.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53649189
