Clinicians post gains against HIV-related pain

Presenters at a November 1994 symposium on issues of pain, argued that physicians too often undertreat or fail to treat pain in people with HIV. They suggested that the reasons include misplaced fear of inducing opiate addiction and of hastening death. Speakers emphasized that people with AIDS and their physicians must be persistent in diagnosing the causes and manifestations of pain, and must have the willingness to try different treatments and dosages to control pain and thus enhance patients' quality of life.