Chronic pain.

• Chronic pain is NOT a normal part of “ageing”.

• Chronic pain is very common in older patients. 

• Older persons and chronic pain are usually underdiagnosed and undertreated.

• Elderly pain has enormous impacts on day-to-day function, mobility, falls risk and quality of life.

• Older persons and chronic pain, and pain all over body in elderly must have a proper accurate diagnosis before treatment of pain. Proper treatment may mean treatment of the underlying cancer, infection, fracture, arthritis, polymylagia rheumatica or whatever is causing the pain to get the best result for the patient.

• When the underlying condition causing the pain is diagnosed, then the dose of the pain medication may be a lot lower.

• There is increasing difficulty for Doctors to be able to prescribe pain killers for older patients.

• There are increasing Government and bureaucratic controls on narcotic analgesia with limits on what can be prescribed and for how long, resulting in reluctance to prescribe.

• Chronic pain in the elderly is associated with an increased incidence of adverse outcomes, including impairment of daily general function, falls, depression, impaired sleep and decreased appetite. 

• Appropriate pain control results in improved mobility, falls reduction and better quality of life.

• Older people have an increased risk of adverse drug reactions with pain killers which can also interact with other multiple pills that they are taking.

• Therefore the dose of pain killers should always start low and the patient should be regularly monitored for side effects.

For more information read Dr Peter Lipski’s book “Your Elderly Parents Failing Health. Is It Ageing Or A Treatable Condition”.