Nobody Should Suffer Pain

Sometimes the illness brings strong, long-lasting pain that makes you lose sleep and turn your life into suffering. If the pain lasts more than three months, it is called chronic pain.

- The importance of treating pain stems from the fact that pain is the most common reason for seeing a doctor. Chronic pain, which affects about 20 percent of the world's population, occurs in a number of conditions such as rheumatic and neurological diseases, diabetes, AIDS, malignant diseases and more. Most often, chronic pain lasts longer than 6 months, and causes not only physical suffering and damage to the physical health of the patient, but also negatively impacts the mental health and quality of life of the patient – explains Dr. Danijela Stanišić Srdić, clinical pharmacology specialist and Rx sales director at Hemofarm.

People here are used to suffering pain for a long time and chronic pain is still insufficiently treated in our country, although we are actively working on keeping up with modern trends in pain therapy, and clinics and offices for pain therapy have been established throughout Serbia.

- The multidisciplinary Pain Management Office of the UCCS is certainly a bright example, in which a team of top experts works in accordance with the European concept of treatment and where patients with severe, chronic pain find relief. The office is equipped with devices for the most complex intervention procedures, and with new generations of drugs that bring better efficiency in treatment, there is no reason for any patient to suffer pain nowadays – says our collocutor.

In which conditions is pain therapy necessary?

- Whenever there is severe pain present. Pain can be acute or chronic. Acute pain occurs in case of trauma or after surgical procedures. On the other hand, causes of chronic pain can vary. Pain can occur due to spasm of skeletal muscles such as neck or back pain, and we also distinguish between neuropathic pain, pain as an important companion of chronic, inflammatory and degenerative conditions as in the case of osteoarthritis. The treatment of cancer pain requires special attention. Modern pharmacotherapy of pain involves the use of drugs that are characterized by a high degree of efficacy, with an acceptable safety profile – Dr. Stanišić Srdić points out.

One of the most common types of chronic pain is neuropathic pain, which affects about 10 percent of the global population. What causes it?

- There are many pathophysiological mechanisms for its occurrence. Neuropathic pain can be caused by infections such as Herpes Zoster infection, then ischemia in patients with diabetes when painful diabetic polyneuropathy occurs. This pain can also be caused by trauma, damage to the spinal cord, surgery, neurotoxins, radiation, chemotherapy. Patients describe it as severe pain manifesting as burning, tingling, pins and needles – our collocutor explains.

Is neuropathic pain treated with more success these days?

- New generations of medicines significantly facilitate the treatment of neuropathic pain, acting causally and symptomatically. One of the new drugs for the treatment of moderate to severe acute and chronic pain is Tapentadol, which brings a new mechanism of action. Compared to other opioid analgesics, it has fewer gastrointestinal and CNS side effects, therefore, its safety profile is high. Like other medicines, patients must not take Tapentadol on their own, but only according to doctor’s instructions and advice. Nowadays, patients must not suffer pain. They have the right to spend their days in peace, without suffering - emphasizes Dr. Danijela Stanišić Srdić, clinical pharmacology specialist from Hemofarm.