Balance February 18 - 37

N AV I G AT I O N S L U G

individual. It's been suggested that women
Possibly the most disturbing aspect of
spend longer waiting in A&E as doctors often
the epidemic is the increasing use of strong,
label their pain as 'emotional'. They're also
potentially lethal opioid painkillers including
given fewer painkillers.
codeine and morphine. Prescriptions for them
To be fair, doctors are aware of the problem,
in the UK have doubled in the last decade as has
and have tried to measure it using tools
the number of people attending hospital with
opioid poisoning - 11,660 last year, up from
such as the McGill pain questionnaire and the
4,891 in 2005. Organisations as diverse as the
more recent Pain Quality Assessment Scale.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society and DrugWise
For the latter, patients are given categories
have expressed concern at
of pain (shooting, electrical,
their increasing use.
sharp, cold etc), and asked
In the US, a wildfire
which their own agony is.
opiate addiction over the
They then score it out of 10.
last 20 years, has been
But ultimately the scale
exacerbated by poorly
is still relative. As the writer
regulated private medical
John Walsh puts it: 'How
OF THE UK
clinics called 'pill mills'.
does a patient imagine the
POPULATION
The trend is led by
worst pain ever and give
ARE ESTIMATED
Fentanyl, a drug designed
it a number? Some men
TO BE
for late stage cancer, which
may find it hard to imagine
EXPERIENCING
is 50 times stronger than
anything more agonising
CHRONIC PAIN
heroin. It is currently
than toothache or a tennis
linked to more than 20,000
injury. Woman who have
deaths a year in the US
experienced childbirth may,
from its misuse.
after that experience, rate
So where do we go with
everything else a 3 or a 4.'
this? Authors of studies
are good at producing the
ONE IN TWO
big numbers but light on
Possibly the best attempt
conclusive treatments.
to estimate the scale
There is some evidence
of the problem came from
COST TO THE
around the efficacy of
a meta-analysis published
UK ECONOMY
complementary therapies
last summer in the British
such as acupuncture, and
Medical Journal. The authors
OF BACK PAIN
considered 19 studies on the
researchers in the USA
THROUGH LOST
subject covering 140,000
are looking into the
WORKING DAYS
adults. After extrapolating
mental side of pain
the results, the authors
with treatments such as
estimated 28 million people
cognitive behavioural
in the UK were living with
therapy and mindfulness.
some sort of chronic pain.
But it feels a little like
'Pain is really undertinkering at the margins.
represented in terms of the
public awareness of it,' Alan
BACK IN BUSINESS
Fayaz, one of the study's
Perhaps the point is to
PRESCRIPTIONS
authors, has said. 'Nobody
get the big numbers out
WERE WRITTEN
ever talks about chronic pain,
there, both to show that
FOR OPIOID
it is like a silent epidemic.'
more NHS services and
PAINKILLERS
And it gets worse as you get
studies need to be focused
IN THE UK
older. Among those aged 18on the area, and also to
LAST YEAR
25, around 14% are sufferers;
illustrate the economic
in the over 75s it is 62%.
cost of pain. In the US,
'Bearing in mind we are,
the $500billion worth
in general, an ageing population, that's of
of working days lost every year has been the
concern because you would then expect,
catalyst for big business to invest in research.
Maybe the mystery of falling productivity
if you repeated this study in about 10 years,
that dogs the post-crash UK economy begins
the prevalence of chronic pain would be
with that twinge in your back. B
higher,' said Fayaz.

%

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES, ADAM VOORHES/GALLERY STOCK

BILLION

MILLION

February 2018 BA LA N CE

FIND
YOUR
BALANCE
Make sure you're fending
off the reaper and
maximising your chances
of a long, happy life
1. GET YOUR PEARLY
WHITES SPARKLING
Regular brushing gets rid
of a bacteria responsible
for periodontitis which is
linked to pancreatic
cancer and mortality, so
brush at least twice a day.
2. SHUN YOUR
SWEET TOOTH
Sugar is a big player for
increasing your risk of
getting both breast cancer
and metastasis to your
lungs. Limit your intake to
no more than 20g per day,
as advised by the WHO.
3. WRITE PRE-BED
'TO-DO' LISTS
A lack of sleep is linked to
heart disease, strokes and
diabetes, but there could
be a simple solution in the
form of nightly tick boxes.
Writing a list of things you
need to do the following
day helps people fall
asleep significantly faster.
4. QUIT OR TECH UP
YOUR FILTHY HABIT
You know smoking kills,
but it's been up in the air
if the Vape option is any
better. Although quitting
smoking is still by far the
best option, research
shows e-cigarettes are
significantly less harmful
then smoking and useful
for giving up altogether.
5. TAKE VITAMIN D
A warm weather holiday is
first prize for gathering
precious vitamin D from
the sun, but if you can't
escape the grips of winter
then supplementing is a
worthy alternative that will
reduce arterial stiffness
linked to heart disease. It
also fights multiple
sclerosis, depression and
boosts weight loss.

37



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance February 18

Balance February 18 - 1
Balance February 18 - 2
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