Welcome to Live Well with Pain. The website for people who are living with persistent pain and those who support them.

We now provide access to all our resources without the need to register or sign in. Simply choose one of the options below – it will take you straight to the content you need.
Just as before, ‘Resources for people living with pain’ and ‘Resources for practitioners’ each have their own areas of the site. The only difference is – you no longer need to register or sign in to access it.
Questions about this change? See our FAQs.

Opioids and persistent pain

Thousands of people in the UK are prescribed and taking opioid medicines after reporting pain, whether it is short-lived or persisting. It is now clear that despite referring to medicines like codeine, tramadol, morphine and oxycodone as ‘painkillers’, for most people they do not take pain away at all. In fact, the longer they are taken and the higher doses go, they are more likely to cause new or worsening symptoms and can even make pain worse.

In this special investigation by Channel 5 news, Live Well with Pain’s Louise Trewern explains how, after years of being dependent on prescribed opioids, she was eventually able to learn self-management techniques that helped her get her life back . . .

Thinking about reducing your pain medicines?

If you have been taking pain relieving medicines for three months or more and still have pain that is stopping you doing what you want, then it is likely the medicines are not working. The most important thing to remember is – never stop taking medicines suddenly.
Find out more about reducing or stopping your opioid medicines here:

Reducing my pain medicines

How do our resources work?

More than a third of the population live with persistent pain. It is a long term condition and cannot be ‘fixed or cured’. Traditional medical treatments such as pain medicines are now recognised as having only limited value.
Instead, a different way of living with persistent pain is growing in influence. It’s called a ‘self-management’ approach.

 

Find out how self-management works

NEW – printed booklets for practitioners

We are often asked by practitioners whether it’s possible to buy printed versions of our publications for them to use in their work. We are pleased to announce that we can now offer multiple copies of some of our most popular booklets (minimum order 50 copies). Visit our printed resources page to find out more.

Buy printed resources

Who is behind Live Well with Pain?

Live Well with Pain is run by an alliance of healthcare professionals working in pain management and people with lived experience of persistent pain.
They share a passionate belief in the power of self-management to improve life for people with pain.
By combining their professional and personal experience they have developed a range of self-management resources that have been tried and tested over many years.
They have built this website to share these resources with others.

 

Learn more about the team

Always trusted, always free

Live Well with Pain’s resources offer tried, tested, and effective ways to develop your confidence to self manage your pain.
And everything is completely free to use, whether you are a person living with persistent pain, a carer, or a health care professional supporting people to develop their self management skills.