Posts by Lynn Webster, M.D.
Why Keep a Pain Journal
“Julie” mentioned that her doctor advised her to keep a pain journal, and she wanted some direction. She loves to write, but she wasn’t sure how to approach the task. Also, she was concerned that dwelling on her pain might make it worse. Wasn’t the goal to distract herself from the pain rather than to…
Read MoreFollow up to President Obama’s Opioid Funding Request
I blogged that President Barack Obama has requested that Congress earmark $1.1 billion to combat the U.S. opioid, and the fact that I support the president on that. Yet the president made no mention the need to help people in pain. The CDC and Johns Hopkins issued opioid prescribing guidelines without out a peep…
Read MorePresident Obama Requests $1.1 Billion to Combat the Opioid Abuse Epidemic
President Barack Obama’s request that Congress earmark $1.1 billion to combat the U.S. opioid abuse epidemic has turned out to be controversial. That’s not surprising, since controversy infiltrates everything related to every president and every Congress. Nothing any president does is viewed by everyone as the right thing to do. But, to me, there is…
Read MoreWill Cancer and Pain Melt Away?
Alec Ross, author of a book called Industries of the Future, writes that, in 20 years, cancer may be curable. We might just be able to “melt it away.” Frequently, I compare pain to cancer. Believe it or not, pain is far more complex than cancer. Cancer usually starts from a single DNA mutation. On…
Read MoreShame on an Intolerant Firefighter
I was flabbergasted to read the comment made on Facebook by the firefighter in Weymouth, Massachuestts who said “we should just let heroin addicts die from overdose rather than give them the rescue antidote, naloxone.” This would be like saying the obese diabetic should not be treated because they ate too much, or the disease…
Read MoreThe Merry-Go-Round of Chronic Pain
As if it’s not enough that some people have chronic pain, we know that these people also don’t live as long. There is new evidence that persistent pain affects the function of the same cells that fights AIDS, lymphomas, and other diseases associated with an impaired immune system. It is hard to know how much…
Read MorePromising Drugs on the Horizon
Scientists at Tulane University and the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System are working on a new painkiller that would be safer and not be addictive. Research like this should give everyone hope. There are a number of promising drugs in development, such as this one, that could replace the current type of opioids. The…
Read MoreThere Are Worse Things Than Dying
“There are worse things than dying.” I can’t tell you how many times I heard one of my patients tell me this during my 30 years of practice. The torture of severe pain robs a person of life’s pleasure and for some the only way out is death. In my book, The Painful Truth, I…
Read MoreWhy Addiction Is Nothing New
If you think the addiction crisis is new, it’s interesting to note that Sigmund Freud was addicted to cocaine. Yes. That Sigmund Freud. So addiction is not a new problem. You might think that, because we’ve been dealing with addiction for so long, that we would have found a cure for it. At least, you’d…
Read MoreAn Ironic Perspective on the Opioid Crisis
Reporting on the Opioid Crisis I was interviewed by a reporter yesterday for a column that will soon appear in a national online publication about whether naloxone (opioid antidote) should be available for people who may overdose on opioids. Hmm, I thought, who would not support making a life saving treatment available to people we…
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