Wound Pain Relief
Chronic wounds can affect diabetics, people who are bed-ridden, and people with spinal cord injuries among others. These wounds can last for months, even years and cause excrutiating pain that keeps people from walking or driving. Now, a doctor in kansas came up with a simple idea that's producing amazing results.
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WITH HER FAITH BEHIND HER, SHIRLEY WILLIAMS HAS LEARNED TO APPRECIATE EVERY DAY.
Shirley Williams
"It had to bring me out of a coma and back into life."
TODAY SHE IS TURNING HER EXPERIENCES INTO A STORY -- EXPERIENCES SHE STRUGGLES TO TALK ABOUT.
Shirley Williams
"I found myself in bed and people waiting on me"
SHIRLEY DEVELOPED KIDNEY FAILURE. IT BROUGHT ON AGONIZING, CHRONIC WOUNDS.
Shirley Williams
Has chronic wounds
"You sit in one position and don't move. If you don't move, the pain will eventually ease up."
SHIRLEY TRIED ORAL MEDICATIONS AND CREAMS, BUT IT WAS A GEL THAT FINALLY BROUGHT RELIEF.
Teresa Long, M.D.
"It's sort of startling in its simplicity."
SIMPLE IN THAT IT'S JUST MORPHINE MIXED WITH A GEL.
Teresa Long, M.D.
Internist/Psychiatrist
KU Medical Center
Kansas City, KS
"The idea was, having looked at other research, that when wounds are inflamed and painful, that the body produces receptors for morphine and morphine-like compounds."
IN OTHER WORDS, CHRONIC WOUNDS ESSENTIALLY CREATE ARMS TO GRAB ONTO MORPHINE.
THIS MEANS THE NEED FOR LESS MEDICATION, BETTER RELIEF, AND FEWER SIDE EFFECTS.
Teresa Long, M.D.
"Pain was decreased from a level of 7 down to 0 to 2 or 3 in most of the patients that we saw."
FOR SHIRLEY IT MEANT BEING ABLE TO DO EVEN LITTLE THINGS.
Shirley Williams
"It's a blessing just to get up and walk into my kitchen."
IT LOOKS LIKE SHIRLEY'S NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT THE IMPROVEMENT.
COMPOUNDING PHARMACISTS CAN MAKE THE GEL. DOCTOR TERESA LONG IS CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE BEST AMOUNT OF DRUG AND THE BEST DELIVERY METHOD.
CHRONIC WOUNDS: According to Internist and Psychiatrist Teresa Long, M.D., of KU Medical Center, chronic wounds are often the result of poor circulation. This condition is often associated with diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. Other risk factors include being bed ridden or unable to move unassisted, like many spinal and brain injury patients.
A specific type of chronic wound is the pressure ulcer or bed sore. These wounds are caused by constant pressure to the skin and muscles. The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel says, "When a person cannot change position, pressure closes tiny blood vessels. Blood vessels nourish the skin and supply oxygen. When skin lacks nutrients and oxygen for too long, the tissue dies and a pressure ulcer forms." These sores have potential to be very painful, causing the patient to be unable to perform normally.
TREATMENT OPTIONS: Chronic wounds and the pain these wounds cause are often associated with intense pain and have potential to hinder a patient in many aspect of life. Conventionally, doctors administered oral medications to treat this pain, including over the counter drugs and prescription medications. However, when prescription drugs are necessary, these medications can have various side effects, which most patients prefer to avoid. Specifically, high doses of pain relievers can leave a patient lethargic.
A SIMPLE IDEA: Recently, doctors discovered a new treatment to ease the pain of chronic wounds. Compounding pharmacists under the guidance of Dr. Long and colleagues, combined a gel substance and low concentration of morphine, for application on chronic wounds. By using this gel to saturate the wound in morphine, in combination with the medications, doctors believe further pain reduction is possible without the side effects and systemic effects of oral medications. Dr. Long says part of the reason is that open, inflamed wounds, such as pressure ulcers and diabetic wounds, develop new receptors for morphine and morphine-like compounds.
So far, patients say the gel works. Early trials indicated pain decreases from a level seven to a zero, two, or three in most participants.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS? Doctors who have utilized the gel so far have yet to discover significant side effects. The only patients intolerant to the gel were those with morphine allergies. Currently, a study of morphine gel is in progress to determine potential side effects as well as if it will allow for less oral medication.
OTHER USES: Dr. Long anticipates being able to use simple morphine applications for treating throat inflammation caused by radiation for head and neck cancer and as a way to minimize pain associated with arthroscopic knee surgery.
KU Medical Center
Physician Referral Line
(913) 588-1227
Copyright © 2002 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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