Chronic pain remains the same or gets better after stopping opioid treatment

(Washington State University, July 2) Stopping the use of opioids does not make pain (that isn’t related to cancer) worse, according to research out of Washington State University.

In fact, they found that in some cases, stopping use of the opioid prescription can improve the pain.

“On average, pain did not become worse among patients in our study a year after discontinuing long-term opioid therapy,” said Sterling McPherson, associate professor and director for biostatistics and clinical trial design at the school.

“If anything, their pain improved slightly, particularly among patients with mild to moderate pain just after discontinuation. Clinicians might consider these findings when discussing the risks and benefits of long-term opioid therapy as compared to other, non-opioid treatments for chronic pain.” Read more.