美国国家公共电台 NPR Meditation Reduced The Opioid Dose She Needs To Ease Chronic Pain By 75%

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Millions of Americans live with chronic¹ pain. Increasingly, the guidance from medical groups and doctors is to experiment with treatments other than opioids - alternative therapies. Now a new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine finds that mind-body interventions³ can be helpful to reduce pain.

NPR's Allison Aubrey has been looking into all of this. Hi, Allison.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE⁴: Hi, there.

KING: All right. So what is a mind-body intervention², and what did this study find?

AUBREY: Well, this new study has found evidence that treatments other than prescription⁵ medications can be beneficial for pain. It was a review of 60 studies involving 6,000 participants. They evaluated a whole bunch of mind-body interventions - everything from hypnosis to guided imagery. And they found that meditation⁶ as well as therapy - a type known as cognitive⁷ behavioral therapy - were among the most helpful. Overall, people reported reduced levels of pain, and many were able to reduce the dose of their pain medication.

KING: What kind of pain are we talking about?

AUBREY: Well, it could be acute pain following surgery or cancer pain, chronic pain from back pain. And in some cases, we're talking people who've been in pain for decades. That's the story of a woman I met recently. Her name is Pamela Bobb. I want to introduce you to her. She's in her mid-50s. She lives in Tennessee. And I caught up with her in one of her favorite places - her kitchen.

PAMELA BOBB: I swear you can smell each of those spices. They smell so good.

AUBREY: She's now super conscious of what she eats. This stir-fry is full of fresh greens, herbs, spices that have anti-inflammatory properties.

BOBB: I like to add a little bit of ginger⁸ and fresh mint and rosemary and - mmm, the ginger - so aromatic⁹.

AUBREY: This diet is one of her strategies to cope with pain. And you know, when you hang out with her, she's so much at ease you would never guess what she's endured.

BOBB: Oh, just - I mean, I had been suffering terribly for years.

KING: Allison, why is Pamela in pain? What's wrong?

AUBREY: Well, she was born with a malformation in her pelvis that led to pain as an adult and required multiple operations over the span of, like, two decades.

BOBB: I've had 14 surgeries, and I really didn't have any relief.

AUBREY: And with each of these procedures, she was left with more scar tissue and nerve damage.

BOBB: I felt desperate. And I would say I actually felt like a victim. I didn't feel like I had any control over it.

AUBREY: It got to the point she couldn't do basic things. She couldn't cook or take care of her family.

BOBB: I was completely debilitated¹⁰. Sometimes I couldn't even talk. It was just - it was that intense. And when you get to that point - when you can't see beyond the pain, you're just surviving.

AUBREY: She was put on a high dose of opioid medications. But then a few years ago, she thought there had to be another way. And she found help at a clinic that specializes in complementary and alternative medicine. Her doctor is Wayne Jonas, who is a big proponent¹¹ of the integrated mind-body approach.

WAYNE JONAS: We offer a variety of things. We offer physical therapy and occupational therapy. We offer behavioral medicine. We offer acupuncture¹², yoga and mind-body practices.

AUBREY: Now, Jonas says none of these things on its own is a cure-all. But the idea is that there are lots of tools in the toolkit. He says the thing about being in pain is that all of your body's normal defenses are down.

JONAS: When you're in pain - when you're in severe pain like this, it bumps up a variety of dysfunctions.

AUBREY: It can increase your cortisol levels - so more stress hormones¹³ circulating around the body - and it increases inflammatory processes, too.

JONAS: And that starts in a continual negative feedback loop, which then produces more pain.

AUBREY: Jonas says to get a handle on this, techniques that can get you into a state of deep relaxation¹⁴ - so yoga, mindfulness, meditation - can help to reduce the dysfunction.

JONAS: If you engage in a deep sort of mindfulness component¹⁵ and relaxation component, it will counter those stress responses. And it's not just managing the stress, it's actually improving your brain's capacity to function.

AUBREY: Now, the trick is here - it takes work. People need to be trained and supported. It requires more time and effort than swallowing a pill. Now, Pamela Bobb has stuck with this. She's tried a bunch of these alternative mind-body strategies. She now starts every morning with a meditation practice.

BOBB: It's about 4:45 in the morning, and I've just awakened¹⁶. I'm allowing my body to feel as relaxed as it possibly can.

AUBREY: Bobb says she feels so much better.

BOBB: It's empowering and - to have come all this way now and to know that this does lie within me. So much of it does

AUBREY: She accepts that she may never be completely pain-free. But now, she says, she feels she has control over it.

KING: Allison, it sounds like she's doing a lot better. Has she managed to get off of opioids then?

AUBREY: Well, she's reduced the amount of opioids she's taking by 75%. That's obviously a lot. But here's the complicated thing, Noel. She will be on this small maintenance dose indefinitely...

KING: OK.

AUBREY: ...Maybe her whole life. And it's a hard thing to say in the midst of this opioid epidemic¹⁷ - right? - I mean, with so many deaths and so much addiction¹⁸. But her doctors say for her the benefits of this small dose outweigh¹⁹ the potential harms. She does not have an opioid use disorder²⁰. She's using them according to prescription. And she says they take the edge off. I mean, basically, she's convinced that these new coping strategies from the mind-body interventions together with the medication is the combination that works for her.

KING: OK. So some people, we should say, just may need to stay on opioids.

AUBREY: Yes. In fact, last month, the Department of Health and Human Services released a new guideline saying this. They say not everyone needs to be taken off prescription opioids. They presented a whole bunch of evidence showing that in the haste to get people off quickly, there's potential harm. And the new guidance is that doctors should aim to taper²¹ slowly and carefully, sort of treat each patient as an individual. And they say that Pamela Bobb's story is really a success story.

KING: NPR's Allison Aubrey. Thanks so much, Allison.

AUBREY: Thank you, Noel.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

3 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

6 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

7 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

8 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

9 aromatic   

adj.芳香的，有香味的

参考例句：

• It has an agreeable aromatic smell.它有一种好闻的香味。
• It is light,fruity aromatic and a perfect choice for ending a meal.它是口感轻淡，圆润，芳香的，用于结束一顿饭完美的选择。

10 debilitated   

adj.疲惫不堪的，操劳过度的v.使（人或人的身体）非常虚弱( debilitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Prolonged strike action debilitated the industry. 长时间的罢工削弱了这个行业的活力。
• This is especially important when dealing with the geriatric or debilitated patient. 这对老年和虚弱病人尤其重要。 来自互联网

11 proponent   

n.建议者；支持者；adj.建议的

参考例句：

• Stapp became a strong early proponent of automobile seat belts.斯塔普是力主在汽车上采用座椅安全带的早期倡导者。
• Halsey was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.哈尔西被认为是进步教育价值观的主要支持者。

12 acupuncture   

n.针灸，针刺法，针疗法

参考例句：

• Written records show that acupuncture dates back to the Song Dynasty.文字记载表明，宋朝就已经有了针灸。
• It's known that acupuncture originated in China.众所周知，针灸起源于中国。

13 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

14 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

15 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

16 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

18 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

19 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

20 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

21 taper   

n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小

参考例句：

• You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
• Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。