The opioid crisis has exacerbated the stigmatization of patients suffering from chronic pain, a disease that is still very poorly understood and poorly perceived, denounces the Quebec Chronic Pain Association (AQDC).
“The opioid crisis and the very radical actions that have been undertaken, as well as the advertising campaigns that have been carried out around the opioid crisis, have been stigmatizing for people who live with pain,” says Hélène Beaudry. , administrator of the AQDC and executive director of the Quebec Pain Research Network (RQRD).
“The first reaction to the opioid crisis was to say that we have to stop prescribing this, stop making this available. But 20% of the population lives with chronic pain,” she adds.
In a statement on opioids and pain management released in 2022, Health Canada also notes this problem. “The opioid overdose crisis and the actions taken to mitigate the harms associated with these substances have led to unintended consequences for many people living with pain. Some Canadians have experienced difficulty accessing the opioids prescribed to them to treat their pain, while others have experienced a rapid reduction in their opioid dose or even a complete cessation of treatment,” writes the government agency. .
“Increased stigma, anxiety and fear surrounding the use of opioids for the treatment of pain have compounded these challenges and created additional barriers to accessing the services needed for their pain. medical condition,” adds Health Canada.
Since the change in Canadian guidelines in 2017, opioids are no longer the first option for patients suffering from chronic pain. But they are part of a broad spectrum that includes different types of medications combined with exercise. “In chronic pain, the perfect medication does not exist: it is a combination of medications that will make it work,” explains the president of the AQDC, Pierre Genest. He himself made an incredible number of “trials and errors” before arriving at the “ideal recipe” to make pain acceptable. This recipe notably includes opioids. “There is the whole question of addiction and the fact that people can become addicted, which is not my case, but there are also other forms of issues. »
Every year, he says, he has to explain to his insurance company why he’s taking the drug, with all the paperwork that entails. “We’ve done so many trials, if I send a list of all the medications I’ve taken, it’s crazy. So, I have zero interest in saying: we’re going to stop taking this one and we’re going to try to find something else. It’s taken so many years, we don’t want to get caught up in this. »
A “poorly known” disease
Beyond opioids, the stigmatization of people who suffer from chronic pain can be explained by many other factors, explain Pierre Genest and Hélène Beaudry, from the AQDC. The fact that it is a very poorly understood disease and that the pain fluctuates depending on the hours and days certainly contributes to this. “We often hear that people think that it is exaggerated or that it is completely between the two ears,” laments Mr. Genest.
“Pain is not sexy », adds Mme Beaudry, who makes a link in particular with mental health, which has long been left in the shadows, until we saw the emergence of awareness campaigns, such as Bell Let’s Talk, which made it possible to bring down the taboos.
“Pain is so stigmatizing,” she says. At the AQDC, we have been looking for a spokesperson for 20 years, and there is no public figure who wants to be labeled with chronic pain because they [les gens] are afraid of losing contracts. »
To try to raise awareness of the disease and offer support to those who suffer from it, the AQDC is organizing a march on May 18 in Montreal, Lévis and Sherbrooke. “The goal is really to feel that we are all in the same boat,” explains M.me Beaudry. Until we have a “Bell cause for the cause” of the pain, we’re going to do that. »