Pain and myeloma tend to go hand in hand for many patients. Whether it's caused by the myeloma itself or the treatment side effects, pain management is a big issue to tackle when achieving patients' highest quality of life. It's not uncommon for patients to downplay their pain to their providers, wonder if other myeloma patients experience the same pain level, or question how well their pain medications are working.
One of the options for pain management in myeloma is opioid use. Opioids (including Morphine, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Norco, Fentanyl, or Dilaudid) can be prescribed by doctors to help alleviate or eliminate pain in a patient. However, the pros and cons of opioid use for pain management for myeloma patients still needs to be more sensitively investigated, and we would love your help!
You can contribute your experience with opioid pain management to help accelerate key research in this area by completing a fifteen-minute survey. All you need is a HealthTree Cure Hub profile to get started.
Don't have a Cure Hub account? All you'll need today is an email and a password to complete the survey above. Our team will contact you after you complete the survey so you can be a validated participant.
The HealthTree Foundation for Multiple Myeloma, in collaboration with Dr. Craig C. Hofmeister, MD, MPH (Emory Winship Cancer Institute) and Karen Sweiss, PharmD (University of Illinois Chicago), has developed two surveys focused on better understanding thoughts and experiences regarding pain management in patients with multiple myeloma or precursor conditions.
These surveys, focused on cannabis and opioid use for pain management, will be compared to each other to learn which are most effective to myeloma patients. Taking both surveys helps us understand the comparison between the two methods for eliminating or managing pain. Consider taking the cannabis survey here: Effectiveness of Cannabis for Myeloma Pain
We aim to have at least 200 patients participate in the opioid and cannabis surveys, and the final results will be shared with participants. We have 85 responses already, but need several more answers to reflect the myeloma population’s thoughts on the subject accurately. Be an active part of this research and receive updates along the way of the survey's progression.
If you have any questions about this survey, please contact our Patient Experience Team via call/text at +1 800 709 1113 or emailing support@healthtree.org.
Remember, your participation is voluntary in this survey, and your personal information will always be kept confidential. Thank you for sharing your insights with us!
about the author
Audrey Burton-Bethke
Audrey is the Editor for the HealthTree Foundation for Multiple Myeloma. She joined the HealthTree Foundation in 2020 originally as the Myeloma Community Program Director. While not knowing much about myeloma initially, she worked hard to educate herself, empathize and learn from others' experiences. She loves this job. Audrey is passionate about serving others, loves learning, and enjoys iced chais from Dutch Bros. She loves spending time with her supportive husband and energetic three-year-old.
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