Gender Inequality--In Pain Transmission

In the ever constant struggle for gender equality comes this news from the world of pain management...and in this case, it would be much easier for science and medicine to resolve if it did not exist.

Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent conditions in the medical realm. Nearly one in four Americans has experienced it. Pain management is a very tricky business...medical practitioners are struggling with when to use potentially addicting medications, antidepressants, complementary and alternative medical practices..the list goes on. This has now become more complicated...because a recent study published in Nature Neuroscience reports that pain sensitivity differs with respect to gender. In other words, this study (conducted in mice) concluded that pain is transmitted via the nervous system differently in men than it is in women.

This opens up a whole new avenue into the world of pain management. In the future we may see different treatment options depending on the gender of the individual patient. No one can say for sure, but it sure is interesting, isn't it?

You can read an article about this topic by clicking here.

Sources: Medical News Today; Wikimedia

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Living with Chronic pain hits the big screen!

Been to the movies lately? Jennifer Aniston is on the big screen in a recent release titled "Cake." Her character, Claire is a victim of chronic pain...she belongs to a support group, where all of the members are coming to terms with the suicide of one of their members. Of course, she also takes pain medication and addiction is another of her problems...and of course there's more! I guess I am writing this post just to bring readers' attention to the fact that Hollywood has become aware of the crisis that is chronic pain. This movie is a testament to that. People that don't have to live with this kind of pain don't fully understand the whole story. Maybe this movie will shed some light on the issues. Here is the official trailer for the movie: Sources: prweb;NorthJersey.com;YouTube

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Most of us know someone who has osteoarthritis, if we don't have it ourselves. Joint replacement surgery is a pretty common remedy when the joint becomes severely damaged and the patient is in a lot of pain. With risk of complications from such a surgery, perhaps an alternative treatment should be tried first. One such remedy is the injection of a synthetic version of collagen(e.g. Synvisc®) into the affected joint. This procedure restores the cushioning to a joint that has degenerated over the years. It can diminish the pain substantially and help put off joint replacement surgery for months to years. The biggest drawback is that these products are expensive. GoodRX , a web site that can be used to estimate the cost of medications, estimates the cost of these products to be over $1,000 each. Here's another example--and I am not sure how widely accepted this protocol has become since study authors introduced it in November 2015. Are you ready for this? Inject

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