University Of Leeds Collaborative Study To Provide Novel Approaches For Treating Chronic Pain

Study in UK: University of Leeds researchers have participated in a study which offers many hopes to people facing chronic pain as it can provide novel approaches to treating chronic pain.

The University of Leeds researchers have participated in a collaborative study which shows that there is the possibility to treat chronic pain without using dangerous and addictive opioids.

Professor Nikita Gamper of the University of Leeds' School of Biomedical Sciences led the researchers and found that the body can make its own sleeping pills like benzodiazepines to ease out the pain.

Professor Gamper said, "We know a lot about how people experience pain, but there isn't much we can do about it. Opioids continue to be the gold standard despite all of the incredible findings and textbooks that have been written. No significant improvement over opioids has been made. If you have pain, you will probably be prescribed either opioids, which are really effective but hazardous, or ibuprofen, which is fine for mild pain but completely useless for severe pain or neuropathic pain.”

Dr. Ganesan Baranidharan, a pain management consultant in Leeds. He stated, "One of the main issues facing the health service is chronic pain. Physiotherapy, injections, and surgeries are some of the ways that we try to help people in clinics manage their pain. Another method is "self-management," which involves learning to live with pain. But long-term use of opioids and nerve medications can have serious side effects, like memory loss and zombie-like feelings, and some patients will have chronic pain that requires medication. In order to treat chronic pain, we need other options, even though some individuals respond quite effectively to small doses of opioids. Our patients will benefit more from our continued research and development of suitable medications to cure certain ailments.”

University Of Leeds Study On Chronic Pain: More Details

Scientists are trying to figure out how the findings can be used to benefit those who suffer from such chronic pain. They found that similar to medications known as benzodiazepines, or "benzos," there are some cells called spinal ganglia which emit a peptide to give similar relief.

“These peptides do not, however, put the entire nervous system to sleep because the process is restricted to the peripheral nervous system; as a result, they do not pose the same concerns as dangerous and addictive opioids,” says the university statement.

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