Everyday pain management ideas

Results of a study published in spring 2015 indicate that longstanding treatment for headache may also benefit people with fibromyalgia.  The treatment is known as occipital nerve stimulation, or C2 nerve field stimulation.  This treatment involves surgical implantation of a small device at the base of the skull. Once implanted, the device can be connected to a power source that sends electrical impulses to the nerve. That being said, this is more invasive than some other forms of treatment and that means there is more risk involved when it is implemented. The study group was relatively small, so everything I am telling you here is preliminary. suppose Further studies would give a better idea of how beneficial this would be for people with fibromyalgia. Early results show an overall 50% improvement in quality of life for subjects in the study.  If you would like to read more detail about the study, you can reach it by clicking here. Sources: Chronicfatigue.a...

Dr. Ruth Defrin and colleagues at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel have once again shared some interesting findings in the journal Pain.  This time they have done a review of research about how people with various forms of cognitive impairment (due to conditions such as autism, stroke damage, Alzheimer's disease, and others) perceive pain. The authors feel that this review is important considering that so many people are affected by these forms of impairment. When coupled with aging and the development of other health conditions, these individuals cannot always verbalize how they are feeling.  So it's important to know how their pain sensitivity rates--more sensitive, less sensitive, or the same as other individuals. This scenario makes affected individuals more difficult to treat than the general population As to the findings-- Dr. Defrin and her team say that the evidence suggests the following: 1) Normal , healthy aging may be associated with in...

Pain management in children can be extremely challenging. For one thing, due to the fact that their physical and mental development is still an ongoing process, they cannot always verbalize what they are really feeling.  Medication dosages change as children develop from infancy to adulthood. One of the toughest things is getting a read on the severity of pain.  The methods used to date such as FACES scale are less than ideal.  Sad but true, many things experienced in childhood can cause acute or chronic pain.  Consider childhood cancers or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, for example.  Ouch! As published in the June 1 edition of Pediatrics, a new way to assess pain in children was validated at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.  This novel approach uses facial recognition software to study the changes in a child's facial expression over time to assess the severity of pain. This is exciting if you ask me--hopefully it will go a long way to h...

One of the many resources I like to use for this blog is WebMD.  Today, I am sharing a slide show that they put together that sort of separates fact from fiction with regard to some things you may have heard about regarding chronic pain. For example, did you know that changes in the weather actually does affect pain sensation..and even though a root cause of pain cannot be found, a person can still be in serious pain? How do diet, exercise and attitude affect pain?  Does one gender handle pain better than the other gender? If you really want to know then answers to these and other questions...click here for a very interesting presentation! Sources: Flickr, Wikimedia; WebMD

Are you into the juicing craze?  If so, this post is for you.  Click on this link to arrive at "Juicing for Health" section.  You will see a recipe for juice specific to pain relief, along with a brief essay that explains how the ingredients can help with pain relief.  Maybe it won't help...but unless severely allergic to an ingredient, it's safe enough to give it a try.

The results of a recent study certainly don't surprise me... I don't think they would surprise anyone.  Professors from Tel Aviv University and Canada's McGill University recently published their findings in the journal PAIN . This study focused on the effect of stress on pain. The research team studied 29 healthy men. The subjects underwent a number of commonly accepted pain tests...then they were given a test known as MIST (Montreal Imaging Stress Task). The MIST test is a psychological trick, a mathematical test whose very purpose is to induce stress.  Following MIST, the commonly accepted pain tests were repeated. The results indicated that the induced stress did not seem to affect pain thresholds or pain tolerance. The addition of stress to the scenario, did, however affect the intensity of pain and caused a decrease in pain inhibition capability.  Some variation was observed amongst the subjects-- i.e ., the effect was more intense in those who more str...

You may have heard of Deepak Chopra, MD.  He is an American physician who was born and trained in India.  His beliefs about medical practice are somewhat different than traditional Western Medicine because he combines spiritual and medical worlds in his approach, rooted in the idea that there is a mind-body connection. He has written over 80 books, 22 of which have been NY Times best sellers. Recently, Dr. Chopra wrote a piece for SF Gate regarding the application of his philosophies towards chronic pain.  He states that in this day and age, the complaint of pain is the most common reason people seek medical help.  Traditionally, that medical help consists of orders for diagnostic testing to help pinpoint the cause of the pain, and medication for pain relief.   In the modern era, we have come to a moral/ethical dilemma about when/when not to use opiates in the management of pain.  Dr. Chopra's mind-body approach is very appropriate here...