Pain and Addiction in Patients with Co-Occurring Medical Disorders

Abstract

Distinct from Chapter 24, on co-occurring psychiatric disorders, this chapter addresses common physical comorbidities that give rise to chronic pain and are notorious for associated substance use disorders. The concept of “pseudo-addiction” is explored as one of several contributors to common misperceptions of the analgesic needs of such patients. Examples of entities discussed are chronic low back pain, sleep apnea, chronic pancreatitis, cirrhosis, and HIV infection or AIDS-related pain. While not intrinsically painful, sleep apnea merits inclusion as it arises in conjunction with sedative-hypnotic, opioid, or nicotine use. Cirrhosis likewise creates obstacles to successful pain or addiction management resulting from altered metabolism of medications and enhanced susceptibility to potentially lethal syndromes (hepato-renal syndrome, gastric hemorrhage, etc.). The management of neuropathic pain in HIV infection (Chapter 15) is amplified here.