Osher Gunsberg is bringing his new doco, A World Of Pain, to SBS in an attempt to help chronic pain sufferers

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Osher Gunsberg is bringing his new doco, A World Of Pain, to SBS in an attempt to help chronic pain sufferers

Osher Gunsberg is bringing his new doco, A World Of Pain, to SBS in an attempt to help chronic pain sufferers

Television host, podcaster and presenter Osher Gunsberg is no stranger to chronic pain — he’s been living with it, on and off, since being diagnosed with osteoarthritis back in 2020, a condition that saw him undergo hip replacement surgery.

He’s one of nearly 3.6 million Australians — or one in seven people — living with the ever-present and debilitating condition, which costs our country up to $139 billion annually.

It’s a staggering statistic.

“It really is nuts,” says Gunsberg, who has spoken about his battles with chronic pain in his podcast series, Better Than Yesterday.

“And it’s nuts how much it affects our productivity, how much it affects our economy, and the burden on our healthcare system — it’s a big, big deal.”

He’s sharing his very personal story with viewers via a new documentary, Osher Gunsberg: A World Of Pain, set to air on SBS this month.

Similarly to A Matter Of Life And Death, the SBS documentary he made in 2021 about suicide, where he spoke about his mental health struggles, Gunsberg goes deep exploring his own experiences managing chronic pain.

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He also meets individuals and families similarly afflicted, and presents some surprising new science and information around the medications and technological innovations being used to treat the issue.

“When we made the first film, the big question was: can we make a hopeful film about suicide?’ And it was like, ‘Yeah, we can’ and we did — we won a massive award in the industry for it,” he explained to The Sunday Times.

“So then we thought, ‘How can we make a hopeful film about chronic and persistent pain?’

“Because, when I was going through what I went through, I was discovering that part of my discomfort, the pain I was feeling, was my brain amplifying, or essentially interpreting benign sensations in my body as catastrophic pain sensations.

Camera IconOsher Gunsberg meets up with WA basketball legend and three-time NBA champion Luc Longley to talk about what chronic pain means to him. Credit: Supplied/SBS

“There were things that were absolutely happening because of physical things that you could look at on an X-ray or a scanner and see, but there were also other sensations that were sometimes way worse, that were being created by my brain — and those things you can’t medicate.”

In the new film, Gunsberg talks about how, as someone who had previously experienced an over-reliance on pain meds for non-medical use, he was forced to ask his wife, Audrey, to hide the pills doctors prescribed him post-surgery.

“There was a time in my life — and I’m sober and clean now — where I had used, sometimes quite heavy-duty prescription painkillers, clearly off-label, maybe even a VERY long way off-label,” he explains.

“And I know how slippery a slope that can be.

“There were people in my life, (who I knew) that were just so zonked out on those drugs; like, they couldn’t play with their grandkids because they were essentially junkies.

“They’re there, nodding in a corner — this nice person with doilies in their house! — and it’s like, there’s GOT to be a better thing that we can do for people. There has to be.”

Chronic pain and addiction have been much-talked-about in recent weeks. On the day of our interview, Sydney radio host Jackie O revealed her own struggles to kick an addiction to painkillers that saw her voluntarily check into a rehab facility.

Gunsberg hadn’t heard about this when we spoke, “but that is very bad news”, he says.

“That stuff — addiction — is a very misunderstood thing.

“I hope she is OK — she’s a lovely lady, and addiction is a terrible thing.”

Her struggles point to an issue that is much more widespread — and much more hidden — than many may realise.

Gunsberg hopes his story might help people see that they are not alone, and that there is hope.

“There can be times when (the pain) can be so overwhelming that it drowns out every other thought, every other ability to listen; to engage in conversation, to feel emotion in your heart,” he says.

“It can be enormously overwhelming, and truly, truly smothering — and it can just chew your life up.

“But there is hope.”

Gunsberg has found ways in recent years to manage the pain symptoms he experienced intensely for 18 months. He speaks about this at length on episodes of his podcast.

As he explains, his pain levels are now mostly “a two or three”, though sometimes they creep up to a “five or six, though I know they will go down”.

“The reality is that there are many, many clever people out there dedicating their lives to help others who are hurting, and finding new ways to hopefully find them more relief with less side effects,” he says.

“I thought it was so important to not only show the things they are developing, but the kinds of people that they are.

“There are doctors who are just so dedicated — all they want in life is to help someone — and I just want people to know that not all history ends in this moment: there’s tomorrow, and there’s next year, there’s 10 years from now, and there’s lots of people who are on the other side of all this.”

Osher Gunsberg: A World Of Pain starts on November 21 at 8.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.Lifeline: 13 11 14


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