A new study published today reveals how pain and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) are connected in the brain.
Opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain have long been linked by scientists, but the underlying brain processes are still poorly understood.
Researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine and the University of Michigan Medical School conducted a first-of-its-kind study to investigate one possible mechanism, central sensitization, in OUD patients.
In the brain and spinal cord, aberrant pain processing is referred to as central sensitization.
People who have central sensitization struggle to switch off pain signals after they enter their brains because their spinal cords are unusually adept at transmitting pain signals to the brain.
This implies that those with more central sensitization experience pain more intensely than others.
According to main author Dr. O. Trent Hall, “our study is the first to give patients with OUD a scale that measures central sensitization.”
This new work, according to the author, offers the first evidence of central sensitization underpinning the connection between chronic pain and OUD and demonstrates a new approach for simply evaluating central sensitization among people with OUD.
The findings of the study were published in the journal PAIN.
At Columbus, Ohio’s Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s addiction treatment facility, researchers enrolled 141 study volunteers.
Researchers used an electronic survey to deliver the American College of Rheumatology 2011 Fibromyalgia Survey Criteria as part of the investigation.
Additionally, participants provided feedback on topics pertaining to the quality of life, pain interference, pain beliefs, and expectations for pain and addiction therapy.
OUD can cause chronic pain, and those who have both OUD and chronic pain struggle to stop using opioids more than those who simply have OUD. So it’s vital to figure out how pain and OUD are linked in the brain.
Researchers assessed eight aspects of life to determine the quality of life, including general health, body discomfort, physical functioning, mental health, social functioning, vitality, and role restrictions brought on by physical and emotional issues.
According to Hall, they discovered that patients with OUD had lower quality of life when their central sensitization was higher.
“Additionally, patients higher in central sensitization were more likely to report pain as a major reason for why their opioid addiction first began, as well as for putting off addiction treatment, continuing and increasing their use of opioids, and fear of pain causing OUD relapse in the future,” adds senior author Dr. Daniel J. Clauw.
According to this study, central sensitization may be a significant underlying aspect that makes treating OUD and chronic pain more challenging.
This demonstrates how other physicians and researchers can assess central sensitization in OUD, perhaps leading to new treatments for those suffering from chronic pain and OUD.
Hall has treated many patients who have suffered greatly from both disorders and has experience treating both addiction and pain. He is aware of the restricted number of therapeutic choices available.
He says: “It’s important to me to search for new ways to help.”
“But,” he adds, “we can’t create better treatments for chronic pain and OUD without first understanding how the two relate. I did this study because I believed it might offer a new window into what is happening in the brains of patients needing help with pain and addiction.”
Hall then intends to observe people with central sensitization and OUD over time to see if they respond to therapies differently or experience different outcomes.
He also intends to investigate if current treatments for central sensitization are effective for patients suffering from chronic pain and OUD.
Image Credit: Getty
You were reading: Chronic Pain Has A Unique Mechanism In People With OUD