Group meeting starting Feb. 6 to tackle chronic pain issues

By Gillian Slade on January 25, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

The first meeting for a group hoping to provide support and education for those with chronic pain will take place in Medicine Hat on Feb. 6.

The plan is to meet the first Tuesday of the month from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at River Valley Community Church, 1101 Queen St.

The group is part of a provincial group called HELP-AB (Helping to Ease Alberta’s Pain).

Although the venue is a church it is not a church group — they are simple using their space. Park in the east side parking lot and enter in the side door.

The first meeting will be an opportunity to hear people’s individual stories, provide support and education. A physician from Sante Surgi pain clinic will be present, said Sandie Davidson, co-ordinator for the local chapter of HELP-AB.

There is a great need for people with chronic pain to be heard and be validated, said Davidson, whose definition of chronic pain is 24/7 pain that has lasted longer than three to six months and is relentless.

“It is something that interrupts your day and affects your quality of life,” said Davidson.

The director for HELP-AB, Tracy Fossum, says the hysteria about opioids is doing damage to those with chronic pain. One of the issues is more and more doctors are choosing to no longer take on a patient with chronic pain.

“It’s a dangerous trend,” said Fossum.

Alternative treatments such as physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment and massage are not available in all communities, and sometimes the cost of these options are an issue too, said Fossum. When patients can’t find a doctor to treat their chronic pain, or can’t get the medication to control their pain, there is a sense of hopelessness.

Fossum says the “opioid hysteria” has also inaccurately given people the impression that fentanyl is the issue rather than pointing out it is “illicit” fentanyl that is killing people not fentanyl by prescription.

Society has made unfair judgments about people with chronic pain, and what we need is understanding, said Fossum.

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