According to our records you are prescribed medication called an Opioid. These are drugs marketed as painkillers such as Codeine; Tramadol; Morphine; Oxycodone and Fentanyl.
Up until now it has been accepted practice for your Doctors to prescribe these types of drugs for patients with long-term pain.
However, we now know that usually patients’ long-term pain is not relieved by these drugs and that these drugs can make your pain worse and less easy to manage. For these reasons we would like you to gradually reduce the amount of Opioid you take.
Reducing your Opioid can be challenging. There are some useful internet resources at the end of this letter. Our aim is to help you become less reliant on the tablets and to reduce the amount you are taking, with the possibility of stopping them completely in time. However, stopping this treatment suddenly can lead to unpleasant side effects, and therefore needs to be done in a very gradual and controlled way.
We plan to change your prescription over several months to reduce the dose you take. We will also be arranging a review with our Practice Pharmacist to go through this with you and support you in the process.
The staff at the practice are here to support you in reducing your Opioid. If you would like to discuss these changes with a doctor or surgery pharmacist prior to your next prescription, please do not hesitate to arrange a telephone appointment.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Wakeling and Partners
Telephone: 02920 561808
Here are some useful resources for you:
This website contains all the resources you may need to explain your pain and help support your reduction: www.flippinpain.co.uk
An opiate reduction success story:
NHS advice:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/ways-to-manage-chronic-pain/
This is a FREE download for Living with Chronic Pain: http://www.paincd.org.uk/
A video explaining chronic pain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwn9rC3rOI (Understanding pain)
A video to help explain how to reduce opiates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI1myFQPdCE (Brainman stops his opioids)
A website with lots of resources (videos, podcasts, self-help groups) to support patients:
https://www.paintoolkit.org/resources/patients
Information for patients:
https://fpm.ac.uk/opioids-aware/information-patients
Leaflet for patients on the risks of addiction:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opioid-medicines-and-the-risk-of-addiction
A website dedicated to supporting patients with depression, anxiety or stress with an online community you can become part of: