Subscribers to the chronic pain and in distress

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On the telephone line, self-help, the quebec Association for chronic pain, the calls are longer and more allusions to suicide becoming more common.

The confinement of the last few months has weighed heavily on people with chronic pain, who show more signs of distress. The president of their association sounds the alarm.

“These are people who have the habit of living isolated at home, but here, it is the worst of the worst “, explains Céline Charbonneau, president of the quebec Association of chronic pain.

20 %

This is the part of the quebec population who suffers from chronic pain. The rate is the same across canada.

On the telephone line, self-help, the association, the calls are longer and more allusions to suicide becoming more common. “In normal times, the call lasted 15 or 20 minutes. The people called to chat and all. But then, since the COVID-19, the people who call are in great distress. […] Many think of suicide. Now, all the conversations in excess of an hour. “

Chronic pain affects people who have a physical suffering acute for more than three months. It may be fibromyalgia, back pain, severe and constant, arthritis advanced or consequences of an accident at work. It is estimated that 20 % of the quebec population suffer from this condition particularly difficult to treat.

The disarray in growing patients is also evident at meetings of self-help groups, which are now in a virtual way, ” observes Ms. Charbonneau.

This growing distress, she notes, is explained by different factors : the report of cortisone injections or other pain management, the closure of most of the pain clinics, that specialize in helping these people and where waiting lists are already very long. “The clinical treatment of pain have been for the most part stopped. They were really only the more important cases. “

In addition the difficult access to physicians in general, and physical therapists, and the adverse effects related to the isolation. “In the beginning it was not so bad, but there is a long time. In the region of Montreal, it is still in containment… The people who live with chronic pain because of a pre-existing condition don’t want to get out of fear of aggravate their situation. They find themselves all alone. The more it endures, the more they are isolated. “

Ms. Charbonneau has questioned The Need this week to “talk about it” and that the government is interested. “It is necessary to send them the message that they would not be forgotten. We spoke of the elderly, mental health… they need to know that there will be concrete measures to they get better. Not after the second or third wave of the pandemic, but that things are functioning in order that the second wave is not as terrible. “

Need help ? Please do not hesitate to call the quebec suicide prevention : 1866 CALLED (1 866 277-3553)

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