Posts by Lynn Webster, M.D.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Persistence: An Example for People in Pain
Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Mission Congresswoman Barbara Lee is the U.S. Representative for California’s 13th congressional district. She spent 10 years working to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). On June 29, 2017, “In a surprise move, the House Appropriations Committee approved bill language to end the 2001 authorization of the use…
Read MoreThe Painful Statistics
The realization that you will have chronic pain for the rest of your life is life-altering. Now imagine that the pain you are feeling can be lessened with a prescription that your doctor won’t prescribe and your pharmacy won’t dispense. Produced by Dr. Lynn R. Webster and Craig Wirth, The Painful Truth Documentary examines the agony that…
Read MoreAssociation Is Not Causation
The Court of Justice of the European Union’s Dubious Decision CBS News reported on June 21, 2017, “The highest court of the European Union ruled Wednesday that courts can consider whether a vaccination led to someone developing an illness even when there is no scientific proof.” According to CNN, this ruling means “if the development…
Read MoreSalt Lake City Tribune Op-Ed Supports Utah House Health Bill 266
Salt Lake City Tribune Publishes an Op-Ed Supporting Utah House Health Bill 266 On June 20, 2017, the Salt Lake City Tribune published an op-ed that I co-authored with some of my colleagues. The commentary is called “Patients should not be stuck with ‘fail first’ medicine,” and we wrote it in response to Utah House…
Read MoreWomen, Opioids, Benzodiazepines and Pain: A Potential Deadly Combination
When we think of the segments of the population who have been most affected by the opioid epidemic, we tend to think of poor, unemployed people who live in rural areas. In September of 2016, I published a blog called “Tough Times Feed America’s Opioid Epidemic: What You Need To Know.” In it, I…
Read MoreDanielle Byron Henry
Danielle Byron Henry’s Story Danielle was born in 1981. At the age of eight, she began experiencing migraine headaches. One of the most common sources of pain, migraines are three times more common in women than in men. For most people with migraines, the pain is manageable with minimal medication, control of sleep, and a…
Read MoreWhat Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel?
Many wonderful videos turn up on Facebook. Here is a video clip I found the other day. It features one of our country’s real heroes and inspirations, Fred Rogers. Fred Rogers Inspires Us This is a video of Fred Rogers testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in 1969 to save funding for public…
Read MoreCan Francis Collins Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?
The problem of opioid addiction is more complex than lawmakers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the media would have us believe. Pressuring doctors who treat pain patients to prescribe fewer opioids may reduce the amount of opioids prescribed. While that doesn’t decrease the need for opioids, it may drive people who need…
Read MoreThe Puzzle of Pain
Dr. Mary Lynch, like Dr. Webster, understands that opioids aren’t the first line of treatment. Dr, Lynch only turns to opioids once the level of pain is intolerable, or the quality of life is compromised. In her experience, the chances of a patient developing a long-term addiction to opioids are quite low. She believes that opioids do…
Read MoreOpen Letter to Secretary Tom Price
Mother Jones reports, “On a listening tour about the opioid epidemic in West Virginia on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price stressed the urgency of tackling the staggering overdose problem, saying ‘we’re losing people every single day across the nation, so we don’t have time to wait.’ ” Secretary Tom Price’s View…
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