Most people who know about drugs tend to have an intuitive model of drug tolerance where “what goes up must come down”. In this piece, the author shows that this intuitive model is wrong, for drug tolerance can be reversed pharmacologically. This seems extremely important in the context of pain relief: for people who simply have no option but to take opioids to treat their chronic pain, anti-tolerance would be a game-changer. I sincerely believe this will be a paradigm shift in the world of pain management, with a clear before-and-after cultural shift around it. But before that, a lot of foundational research needs to take place. That’s the stage we are at.
We anticipate and hope that the field of anti-tolerance drugs soon materializes in an academically credible way. Given how common chronic pain is, we would all benefit from its fruits in the future.
Most people who know about drugs tend to have an intuitive model of drug tolerance where “what goes up must come down”. In this piece, the author shows that this intuitive model is wrong, for drug tolerance can be reversed pharmacologically. This seems extremely important in the context of pain relief: for people who simply have no option but to take opioids to treat their chronic pain, anti-tolerance would be a game-changer. I sincerely believe this will be a paradigm shift in the world of pain management, with a clear before-and-after cultural shift around it. But before that, a lot of foundational research needs to take place. That’s the stage we are at.
We anticipate and hope that the field of anti-tolerance drugs soon materializes in an academically credible way. Given how common chronic pain is, we would all benefit from its fruits in the future.