Painful lives: Chronic pain experience among people who use illicit drugs in Montreal (Canada)

Living with opioids: A qualitative study with patients with chronic low back pain

“…However, in our study, the participants experienced this stigmatization by relatives and friends who expressed many concerns and prejudices about opioids. The negative consequences of 'double' or 'layered' stigmatized conditions-'CP sufferer' and 'drug addict'-have also been described by Dassieu et al, 31 who suggest that being doubly stigmatized reinforces people's isolation as well as their experience of loss of dignity. Interestingly, in our study, the participants referred to sharing their experience of CP and opioid treatments with 'pain friends', among whom treatment with opioids was common.…”

“…However, these studies have been carried out in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the trend of opioid use has been accompanied by an increase in reported opioid abuse and opioid-related death 29 which is a different situation compared to Spain. [30][31][32][33] Considering the potential worries and difficulties associated with the use of opioids, it is very important that patients communicate and relate to health-care providers their experience with opioids in an open and effective manner. However, although the number of individuals living with CP and taking opioids is increasing, to the best of our knowledge, no study has been performed to explore the experiences of patients taking opioid medications in Spain.…”

“…Recent literature 18,26‐28 has explored the experience of adults using prescription opioids to manage CNCP, concluding that there were many negative aspects to using opioids daily, in most cases these were outweighed by the positive effects, and most of the negative aspects were socioculturally induced rather than caused by the drug itself. However, these studies have been carried out in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the trend of opioid use has been accompanied by an increase in reported opioid abuse and opioid‐related death 29 which is a different situation compared to Spain 30‐33 …”

Towards health equity for people experiencing chronic pain and social marginalization

“…Stigmatizing certain substances and people who consume them causes harm and barriers to care. Substance use and chronic pain are linked and understanding, respecting, and responding to these links are integral to both providing care that is respectful and to building trust (67). Respectful engagement avoids stigmatizing language and mistrust of people with pain as "drug seeking" while openly supporting individual's own harm reduction practices by providing harm reduction supplies and ensuring signage conveys respect rather than zero tolerance (intolerance) (58).…”

Towards Health Equity for People Experiencing Chronic Pain and Social Marginalization

“…Stigmatizing certain substances and people who consume them causes harm and barriers to care. Substance use and chronic pain are linked and understanding, respecting and responding to these links are integral to providing care that is respectful and to building trust (53). Respectful engagement avoids stigmatizing language and mistrust of people with pain as "drug seeking" while openly supporting individual's own harm reduction practices by providing harm reduction supplies and ensuring signage conveys respect rather than zero tolerance (intolerance) (44).…”