Everyday pain management ideas

Have a good weekend!

Breaking news! New Public Television Special Facilitates National Pain Management Dialogue - WSJ.com Look for this show on your local cable:  ITV (Information Television Network) sources:Wikimedia, WallStreetJournal

The jury is still out on what exactly causes fibromyalgia.  I would suppose if we knew the answer to that question, we would know a lot more about medicinal and non medicinal approaches to treatment. The research is ongoing...and more and more new and interesting information is coming out all the time. One such study out of Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Northridge,CA and North Central University in Prescott, AZ looked at skin biopsies from the thighs and calves of people with and without fibromyalgia diagnosis.  In their study, they found that people with fibromyalgia had a decrease in the density nerve fiber density in their calves and thighs.  This suggested to the authors that fibromyalgia is actually a problem of peripheral neuropathy. Current thinking about fibromyalgia is that the problem is in the central nervous system, so this certainly raises some questions.  Also of note was that there was evidence in this study that fibromyalgia is an immune mediated proces

It appears that twitter, a very popular social media website, has found a purpose in the research world. According to the news website Newswise, researchers at the University of Michigan studied the tweets of migraine sufferers and others in an effort to understand the agony of migraine in real time. After scrutinizing 21,741 posts regarding those pesky headaches, some pretty interesting statistics emerged. Migraine headaches are a fairly major public health problem; approximately 12 percent of the population in the Western world are migraine sufferers.  Migraine headaches negatively affect a person's mood, quality of life, and productivity.  Approximately 3 out of every 4 migraine sufferers report reduced functionality; thirty percent report that they require bed rest when suffering an attack. Some additional findings: About sixty-five percent of the tweets were actually from people experiencing a migraine attack posting in real time. Migraine tweets were attrib

If you've ever had one of those nagging knots in your neck or back, this post is for you.  I am a crocheter and sometimes I experience this kind of problem in my shoulder. For others, this may be a problem due to the nature of your job, hobbies, or other favorite pastime. According to the Cleveland Clinic, these "knots", or trigger points, are actually tight knots of muscle tissue that are simply unable to relax. The most common areas that are affected are in the neck, down the back, and across the shoulder area.  It is possible to have multiple trigger points in the same basic area. You can find one of these knots by exploring the affected area with your hands; it feels denser and tighter than the surrounding tissue, and if you push on it, you will most likely feel pain. There are four basic things you can do to try to relieve "trigger points" if you tend to experience them. The first idea is massage ; try to rub out the tension in those troubled m

Have you ever heard the term "biomarker?"  A biomarker is defined as "a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition."  You might already be familiar with some biomarkers...for instance, the prevalence of sickle-cell anemia in persons with dark skin.  Biomarkers are being studied in the realm of pain management as well.   Pain Medicine News reports of a recent study in which researchers were looking for a correlation between eye color and pain tolerance.  In the study, 58 pregnant women were assessed for pain using standard validated pain tools, including the Brief Pain Inventory, Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System, anxiety/depression sleep scales, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Quantitative Sensory Testing.  Of the 58 subjects studied, 24 of the women had dark colored eyes (brown or hazel) , while the remaining 34 had light colored eyes, including shades of blue or green. Given the small number of subj

Holistic treatment of cervical spondylosis is much like treatment of other chronic pain conditions. Over the counter pain medicine such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen is always an option when there is a pain flare up.  But keep in mind... all medications have side effects, and there is always a risk of drug interactions when taking multiple medications ...therefore all medication should be used prudently.This is precisely why it's a good idea to know about alternative ways to care for chronic pain conditions! So, keeping that in mind...what other strategies can be used to treat cervical spondylosis? Heat or ice can be applied, especially if the neck muscles are feeling sore. Soft neck braces can be used. But a word of caution: using neck braces for a short time is ok; with extended use the muscles of the neck can actually become weaker. In short, less is more. Regular exercise is really a terrific option.   Arthritis Today , a publication of the Arthritis Foundation, re