Chronic Pain Patient Resources: Managing Opioid Medication

The resources on this page have been carefully chosen by NHS healthcare professionals to provide additional support, information and guidance to individuals living with chronic pain. 

They are not a replacement for the advice offered to you by the NHS team providing your care. If you are unsure if any of the services or advice provided by this site is right for you, please discuss it further with your NHS healthcare team. 

Opioids are a group of medicines that include morphine and medicines that are similar to morphine such as oxycodone. Opioids are frequently prescribed for the management of pain and have been for centuries.

Whilst they can be useful for certain types of pain, evidence has recently shown that if they are used above a certain dose it is unlikely that a person experiencing pain will get any better pain relief but will experience more side effects. The following resources specifically relate to the safe use of opioid medication. 

The following video by Brainman focusses on opioid medication use. 

Live Well with Pain (livewellwithpain.co.uk) offers a range of knowledge, skills, tools and resources. There are a number of opioid resources available, particularly good is the 'opioid thermometer'. This visual tool will give you an idea about how your opioid use compares to the recommended safe level. To access the tool, click on the picture below. 

Live Well With Pain also has a sister site called My Live Well With Pain (my.livewellwithpain.co.uk). This site is specifically for patients and includes lots of leaflets, videos and booklets that can be accessed free of charge. 

There are a number of resources that specifically relate to the use of opioids which can be accessed by clicking here