What is the best opiate for long term chronic pain treatment?

Good question: The best long term pain management treatment is multimodal and opioids are only one possible piece of that treatment plan. If opioids are needed then a trial of different medications may be needed to find the most effective medication for an individual patient. I would recommend seeing a pain management specialist if you are requiring opioids on a regular basis to manage your pain.

The one that works. : Opiates don't always work the same for different people and some cannot tolerate one while others do very well with it. Have to experiment and find the best balance of pain relief while maximizing function.

Chronic pain: Chronic pain is best treated with a comprehensive treatment. It might include physical therapy, exercise, weight management, nutrition, medications like anti-inflammatory, anti-depressants, anti-convulsant ...., injections, psychotherapy. Opioid therapy alone is not the best option for chronic pain management.

Long acting medicine: Please read the other answers, too. In my practice, with my patients, I have found that a baseline opioid is the foundation of pain treatment for several patients. That may be a fentanyl patch they change every two or three days. It could be morphine tablets that they take several times a day. I believe the best treatment involves a round the clock pain medicine as the foundation of treatment.

After interventional: Options have been tried and failed, the "best" opioid pain medication is the one that reminds you about your pain the least, with the least amount of side effects. Pain control to keep your ave pain between a 0-3/10, and rarely needing "breakthrough" pain medications is a good goal, as well as living life that is as close to "normal" as possible. Patches and once daily meds are my favorite.