Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Literatus: Sweetening pain By Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T. Breakthroughs
SAINT Augustine of Hippo, in his work Soliloquies, taught: “The greatest evil is physical pain.”
While it might be convenient to think of pain as a simple message that sounds an alarm in the brain, contemporary understanding indicates that the emotional aspects of an injury may be more significant than the extent of the physical damage.
Previous studies show that untreated pain can have long-lasting effects.
Newborns of diabetic mothers who received an average of 10 heel-lances within two days of birth showed heightened pain responses in subsequent venipunctures unlike newborns from nondiabetic mothers (no heel-lances).
This hinted adverse emotional impressions that can lead to psychological problems later on.
However, as surprising as it can be, current pain management for newborns involves the use of table sugar (sucrose), the same sugar you use on your milk or coffee every morning.
Sucrose, also known as “cane sugar” for its source (sugar canes), is quickly becoming the standard care in nurseries to relieve pain. It is easy to administer; is affordable; and is perceived as safe and effective. It is even replacing established analgesics (e.g. opioids, local anesthetics).
American and international pain guidelines promote the widespread use of sucrose to manage pain in term newborns.
Ten researchers from four medical institutions in Canada—University of Toronto, The Hospital of Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital, and York University—checked out the sucrose effect on procedures, such as venipuncture for newborn screening tests, intramuscular injection of vitamin K, and heel-lancing (for newborns of diabetic parents only) in a study involving 240 newborns.
The study used single doses (2 mL) of 24 percent sucrose solution taken orally two minutes before each procedure.
Results published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (July 2008 issue) established that sucrose caused a modest (16 percent) drop in overall pain, which is consistent among the diabetic and nondiabetic groups of newborns.
In both groups, sucrose reduced pain during venipuncture, but not during intra-muscular injection and repeated heel-lances.
“Its effectiveness in the first two days after birth,” said team leader Anna Taddio (University of Toronto), “is limited and cannot be extrapolated from one painful procedure to another.”
And yet sweetness in persons, not just in sucrose, can be more than a pain-relief to others and can be long-lasting as well.
British cleric and poet George Herbert wrote the poem “Virtue” in his book The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations:
