Postal survey.
SETTING: Community.
PARTICIPANTS: Questions assessing current or past use of 26 different
pain treatments, the amount of relief each treatment provided, and the length of time that any
pain relief usually lasts.
RESULTS: The medications tried most often were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (tried by 71%) and
acetaminophen (tried by 70%); these medications were still being used by more than one half of the patients who had tried them.
Opioids produced the greatest degree of
pain relief on average (mean, 6.27 +/- 3.05 [SD] on a 0-10 scale, with 0 = no relief and 10 = complete relief) but were unlikely to be continued by those who tried them. Although 38% of respondents with
pain had tried
gabapentin, only 17% were still using it, and average
pain relief was only moderate (mean, 3.32 +/- 3.03 on the 0-10 relief scale). Seventy-three percent of the respondents had tried at least 1 of 7 alternative
pain treatments, and the most frequently tried were
massage, marijuana, and acupuncture. The most relief was provided by
massage (mean, 6.05 +/- 2.47] on the 0-10 relief scale) and marijuana (mean, 6.62 +/- 2.54 on the 0-10 relief scale). The relief from the various treatments, including most medications, tended to last only minutes or hours; however,
pain relief from alternative treatments such as
massage, acupuncture, and
hypnosis was reported to last for days in 25% to 33% of those who tried these treatments.
CONCLUSIONS: Many patients are not finding adequate
pain relief from commonly prescribed medications.
Alternative therapies should be considered as additional treatment options in this population.