May 1, 2019/ U.S. Pain Foundation Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reacted to the unintended harm to people living with chronic pain as a result of policy measures intended to ameliorate the opioid crisis. On April 9, the FDA issued a Safety Announcement citing “serious harm,” including “withdrawal symptoms, uncontrolled pain, psychological distress and suicide” as a result of sudden discontinuation or rapid dose decreases in opioid pain medication. The FDA will now require changes to the prescribing information for health care professionals that will provide guidance on how to safely reduce or taper patients off opioid medications. The agency states that there is no standard opioid tapering schedule; rather, a schedule must be tailored to each patient’s unique situation considering a variety of factors, including the type of pain the patient has. The FDA is also warning patients not to suddenly stop taking their opioid medication, as this can result in serious problems. Even when patients gradually reduce these medications, they may still experience withdrawal symptoms such as chills and muscle aches. If these are excessive, patients are encouraged to contact their health care provider. Feeling the pressure from the FDA action, a letter from more than 300 health care practitioners, and increasing news coverage of harms to people with pain, three CDC Guideline authors, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, said the Guidelines have been misapplied and applied inflexibly in […]

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