Chronic Awareness: Understanding Chronic Illnesses & Supporting

Gabapentin Raises Risk of Opioid Overdose

Another study is raising questions about the safety of the anti-seizure drug gabapentin, especially when it’s taken with opioid pain medication. According to research published online in PLOS Medicine, combining gabapentin with opioid painkillers is associated with a significantly higher risk of dying from an opioid overdose than opioid use alone. “Clinicians should consider carefully whether to continue prescribing this combination of products and when deemed necessary, should closely monitor their patients and adjust opioid dose accordingly,” wrote…

by chronicillness•10/08/202308/22/2025•0

21 Little Things Partners Have Done for Their Loved Ones With Chronic Illness

Sometimes all it takes is a simple gesture from someone you love to help you feel a little bit better. We asked people who live with chronic illnesses to share one (seemingly) small thing their partner has done for them that touched their hearts. This is what they had to say: 1. “[My partner] reminds me daily I am wanted and needed and not just a burden.” — Ally Small 2. “I often feel bad that I can’t do…

by chronicillness•10/06/202308/22/2025•0

Jeff Sessions Says People Should ‘Tough It Out’ and Take Aspirin Instead of Opioids

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently shared his idea for solving the opioid crisis: aspirin, sleep, and less marijuana. Speaking at an event in Tampa on Tuesday to celebrate Ronald Regan’s birthday, Sessions said his goal for 2018 is to see a greater decline in the number of opioids prescribed (he said last year there was a 7 percent decline). “We think doctors are just prescribing too many. Sometimes you just need two Bufferin or…

by chronicillness•10/05/202308/22/2025•0

Exploring Ways To Treat Pain Without Addiction As U.S. Opioid Crisis Worsens

Addiction to opioids often begins in the doctor’s office. These drugs are typically the only option to manage pain after an operation or in patients with serious injuries. They’re also frequently prescribed to patients with chronic pain, and it’s these patients who are most at risk for opioid addiction. Ted Price is an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas. His work focuses on the molecular mechanisms that cause pain to persist…

by chronicillness•10/04/202308/22/2025•0

Chronic pain patients need services beyond just opioids: B.C. advocate

People who live with chronic pain need options beyond prescription opioids, and it’s up to the British Columbia government to provide more services such as physiotherapy, says the head of a group that supports patients and their families. “There has really been a lack of any appropriate response to chronic pain in our province and in our country,” said Maria Hudspith, executive director of Pain BC, the only non-profit society in Canada to bring together…

by chronicillness•10/02/202308/22/2025•0

FDA Warns About Dangers of Epidural Steroid Injections for Back Pain

The Food and Drug Administration has just issued what’s called a “Medwatch Alert” warning that Epidural steroid injections or “ESIs” for back and neck pain can be extremely dangerous. The alert says: “Injection of corticosteroids into the epidural space of the spine may result in rare but serious adverse events, including loss of vision, stroke, paralysis, and death.” Epidural steroid injections – and catastrophic injuries from them – were the subject of my debut investigation for The Dr.…

by chronicillness•09/30/202308/22/2025•0

Abuse on the rise of prescription medicine gabapentin, known as ‘Johnnys’

If you aren’t on this medication, chances are you know someone who is. It’s used to treat everything from pain to mood disorders and can be just what the doctor ordered for many. But now, there is mounting research uncovering misuse of and even a black market for this popular prescription. We’re talking about gabapentin. It’s approved for some types of seizures and nerve pain. Doctors also use it off-label to treat everything from insomnia…

by chronicillness•09/29/202308/22/2025•0

Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Side Effects & Withdrawal. Must Read You Just Cannot Ignore

We have received so many complaints about duloxetine side effects that we have lost count. Far more disturbing is the number of people who tell us how hard it is to discontinue this drug. Decades ago doctors might have told patients taking a drug like Cymbalta that if they experienced anxiety, irritability, or strange sensations after stopping the drug, it was probably their underlying psychological problem returning. Now we know it is withdrawal from the medicine.…

by chronicillness•09/28/202308/22/2025•0

Why Are My Joints So Stiff? What Can I Do?

You’re Getting Older As you age, your cartilage — the spongy material that protects the ends of your bones — begins to dry out and stiffen. Your body also makes less synovial fluid, the stuff that acts like oil to keep your joints moving smoothly. The result: Your joints may not move as freely as they used to. It sounds a little crazy, but the best thing you can do is keep on trucking. Synovial…

by chronicillness•09/27/202308/22/2025•0

Fibromyalgia Project Wins One of Three Purdue Pharma Research Grants for Chronic Pain and Pain Assessment

A research project focused on developing an objective measure of pain-related interference with cognitive performance in people with fibromyalgia is one of three awarded research grants recently by Purdue Pharma. An independent steering committee oversaw the competition and selection of the three recipients of Purdue’s research grants to study chronic pain and the assessment of pain. Robert R. Edwards, Ph.D., of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, will lead the project…

by chronicillness•09/26/202308/22/2025•0