Chronic pain is a pain that generally has been around for more than 3 months. Or it can be thought of as a pain that lasts longer than the usual healing time.

I in 5 people in Scotland experience chronic pain and it is often associated with “polypharmacy”.

Polypharmacy is when a person is prescribed multiple medications at the same time, which of course can lead to an increased chance of side effects or interactions.

Scientific research shows that long term use of opioid painkillers do not work well for chronic pain, and in fact can lead to harm, dependency and abuse.

Everyone’s experience with pain is different. To explore your pain and how it affects you, the following questionnaire will be helpful in pain reviews with your GP.

• Brief Pain Inventory (PDF | Online Version)
• S-LANSS Pain Score Tool (PDF | Online Version)
• Headache Assessment (PDF | Online Version) and Diary (PDF | Word)

To improve your pain, it is helpful to understand more about why you are experiencing chronic pain, how your pain affects you and what is important to you. Next you can explore how to improve your quality of life.

Please use the links below:

• My Live Well With Pain | Living Well Despite Your Pain | Home
• Home – Flippin’ Pain (flippinpain.co.uk)
• NHS Lothian Pain Service
• Pain Sense App– PainSense is an app developed to promote the self-management of persistent pain. It includes a range of features such as tension alerts, relaxation resources, medication tracking and the use of games to support engagement, goal-setting and adherence.
• NHS Inform
• Pain Association Scotland

Or the following booklets:

• Ten Footsteps: Your journey to Living well with Pain (livewellwithpain.co.uk)
• Your-Journey-with-Pain-booklet.pdf (livewellwithpain.co.uk)
• Goal Setting Patient Information Sheet
• Pacing – a really useful skill for people with pain (livewellwithpain.co.uk)
• How to Sleep Well with Pain (livewellwithpain.co.uk)
• The Pain Cycle (livewellwithpain.co.uk)

Other management options your GP might consider, which will require referral, are:

• Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Chronic Pain
• Physiotherapy
• Fit for Health Physical Activity Program with Edinburgh Leisure
• The NHS Lothian Pain Clinic

Further information on painkillers:

• Not Just Painkillers
• Opioid Painkiller – NHS Lothian Information Leaflet for Patients
• Opioid Side Effects

Exercises to help with muscle, joint and bone pains:

• NHS Inform Exercises to relieve pain