The President of the Essex County Medical Association agrees with the direction taken to recommend alternatives to opioids in pain management.
A 10-page guideline has been published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal encouraging physicians to avoid using the powerful narcotics as a first line of treatment.
Dr. Amit Bagga says there is a wide range of options for both drug and non-drug pain treatments that's available: "one has to be careful and say how can we deal with the pain without a medication are there non-medication ways physiotherapy or exercise dealing with a primary cause with perhaps a procedure or a one-time injection so there's quite a spectrum"
Dr. Bagga says the guidelines don't mean doctors should never use opioids because it is an appropriate treatment in some cases.
He says having so many choices is a benefit and a challenge for doctors because while it's noce for doctors to have choices, it can be confusing to match up the right treatment to personalize it for the patient.
Dr. Bagga agrees there are issues with opioids when it comes to addiction and to crime that is associated with the drugs.
He says medical marijuana is another alternative that is growing in acceptance.
The guidelines are for non-cancer patients who have experience chronic pain for 3 moths or more from causes like back problems, fibromyalgia or arthritis.