How nonopioid pain management has become a 'silver bullet' of medicine - Jersey's Best

by Nancy Parello | For Jersey's Best Thu., Jan. 12, 2023

Posted connected January 12, 2023 by Hunter Hulbert - Health

Dylan Glaser is yet escaped from the fog of symptom that plagued him for years, enabling him to reclaim his beingness — without ever taking a azygous opioid.  

The 24-year-old Jackson nonmigratory was calved with congenital spinal stenosis, but didn’t cognize it until helium was rear-ended successful a car mishap connected the Garden State Parkway astatine property 19. 

“After the accident, I was virtually successful symptom each azygous time of my life,’’ Glaser recalled. “I ne'er got a interruption from it. It was terrible. But I ne'er wanted to spell down the roadworthy of medications, similar opioids.’’ 

After a fewer years of trying carnal therapy and different treatments, helium met Dr. Robert Jongco, a board-certified anesthesiologist astatine Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who offered a nonopioid solution — spinal cord stimulation.  

Similar to exertion utilized successful pacemakers, this process places devices successful the spine that fundamentally artifact symptom signals from reaching the brain. Eight weeks aft having the procedure, Glaser was doing planks, swimming, moving and playing baseball. 

“I felt great,’’ helium said. “When you’re successful pain, you’re surviving successful this truly foggy world. Now that I’m feeling better, it’s similar my encephalon is back. I’m virtually conscionable a blessed person.’’ 

Glaser is 1 of a increasing fig of patients managing symptom without resorting to highly addictive opioids, which fueled an addiction epidemic that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, galore of them young adults.  

One effect to the overdose situation has been to importantly curtail opioid prescriptions. According to the Centers for Disease Control, successful 2020, the dispensing complaint fell to its lowest level successful 15 years. In New Jersey, the 2020 complaint was 31.8 retail prescriptions per 100 people, importantly little than the nationalist mean of 43.3 and astir fractional the fig of prescriptions successful 2012. 

“There has been an accent to alteration the model from symptom absorption to interventional symptom management,’’ Jongco explained. “We are looking for ways to not conscionable dainty symptom but besides dainty the underlying cause.’’ 

Taking a customized attack to managing symptom yields overmuch amended results, without the hazard of addiction, added Dr. Christine DeFranco, exigency medicine physician, Holy Name Pain Management Center astatine Holy Name Medical Center. 

“We person a batch of tools successful our container that we tin usage to safely and efficaciously negociate pain,’’ DeFranco said. “Pain doesn’t person to mean opioids.’’ 

The modalities tally the gamut, from blimpish treatments, similar carnal therapy and acupuncture, to nervus blocks that usage injections to artifact symptom from circumstantial nerves, and radiofrequency ablation, which sends waves done a precisely placed needle to vigor an country of the nerve, preventing symptom signals from reaching the brain. These methods are being utilized to dainty everything from symptom successful crab and surgical patients to migraines, herniated discs and different orthopaedic conditions. 

Nonopioid medications are besides playing a relation successful the displacement successful symptom management. One cause that is dilatory gaining traction is low-dose naltrexone, which is, ironically, utilized to reverse overdoses. The cause has produced astonishing results successful patients, alleviating chronic symptom caused by each types of conditions, including HIV, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, according to Dr. Kristen Cardamone, interventional physiatrist astatine Summit Medical Group.  

“With my chronic symptom population, this is the closest happening to a metallic bullet,’’ she said. “By utilizing one-tenth of the mean dose of what we usage for an overdose, we tin trim inflammation and assistance the nervus path. It triggers an summation of your ain earthy endorphins. It’s amazing. While not covered by insurance, it is highly cheap.’’ 

Cardamone laments that much doctors are not offering this enactment to patients.  

“Most radical are precise pleased and wonderment wherefore they weren’t introduced to this earlier,’’ she said. “A batch of docs conscionable don’t cognize astir this.’’  

And past there’s weed. 

“We person enactment implicit 1,500 patients connected immoderate signifier of cannabis,’’ said Dr. James Salwitz, aesculapian oncologist astatine Astera Cancer Care, which has offices crossed New Jersey. “It’s a halfway portion of our attraction modality.  

“This is the safest compound that ever existed,’’ helium added. “There are concerns astir dense usage erstwhile people’s brains are forming, but I person ne'er seen a azygous lawsuit of marijuana overdose.’’ 

At Holy Name, warring symptom with nonopioid methods is simply a systemic displacement that permeates each country of medicine. 

“Seeing this epidemic has helped to thrust the aesculapian assemblage to marque definite the medicines we take are the champion medications to negociate a circumstantial condition,’’ DeFranco said. “Where opioids were erstwhile utilized crossed the board, we are present focusing connected what is astir due — with large results.’’ 

Nancy Parello writes often for NJ Advance Media/Jersey’s Best. A erstwhile statehouse reporter, she antecedently worked for the Associated Press and The Record.

This nonfiction primitively appeared successful the Winter 2022 contented of Jersey’s Best. Subscribe here for in-depth entree to everything that makes the Garden State great.