Department of Neurosurgery
Health Check: Treating Chronic Pain Without Opioids
“PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — At the Comprehensive Spine Center at Rhode Island Hospital, treating chronic pain without opioids has become a concerted team effort.
“In the majority of cases we see here, and nationally, I think patients have been put on these medications,” said Dr. Alexios Carayannopoulos, medical director of the Comprehensive Spine Center at Rhode Island Hospital.
“They’ve escalated doses, which means that they’re not necessarily increasing their pain control. They’re just having more side effects and more problems from the opioids themselves,” Carayannopoulos said.
Ronald Ranes, of Maine, is one of those patients.
“I’ve been on methadone about 10 years plus or minus,” Ranes said.
It was prescribed for chronic pain. He continues to make the four-hour drive to see Carayannopoulos at Rhode Island Hospital because of what he and the center have done for him.”
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