Posts by Lynn Webster, M.D.
Resignation or Resilience: Choosing How to Face your Pain
Marsha Miller, my former patient and a forty-one-year old secretary, was bending down to fix a copy machine when she felt her back pop. She assumed that the pain she felt then was temporary and would go away with time. It didn’t. Weeks followed and Marsha attempted to resume her life until finally, her leg…
Read MorePatient Story: Jessy Klain on growing up with pain
Jessy was a sweet-tempered, soft-voiced Navajo girl of twelve from Page, Arizona who started to experience pain in her pelvic area about the time she was going through puberty. She found it hard to sit for hours on the hard seats of her junior high school, and friends had to carry her schoolbooks and open…
Read MorePain is a vital sign
Near the end of May, the New York Medical Society brought forward a resolution for the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates to consider. The focus of Resolution 707 is the 2001 Joint Commission standard to assess pain as the fifth vital sign. The drafters of the resolution claim that this standard has led…
Read MoreInterview with Micke Brown, RN – Question #1
Dr. Lynn Webster [Dr. Webster]: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster. Thank you for listening to this Pain Topics series of interviews on LynnWebsterMD.com. Today I am joined by Micke Brown, the Corporate Secretary & Steering Committee Chair of ThePainCommunity.org. Micke is a registered nurse with experience in clinical advisement, communications, consumer and health…
Read MoreHow 3 Simple Words Can Change a Life: I Believe You
At any given time, in the United States, about one third of the entire population is in pain. Half of all people sixty-five and older suffer from chronic pain. Untold numbers are caring for those who are in pain. While no one can escape pain’s effects it strikes me how unwilling we are as a…
Read MoreThe Painful Truth: Lending a Voice to Pain
At the beginning of my medical career, I met a patient who would change the trajectory of my life. He was a World War I veteran who suffered from arthritis, causing an excruciating grinding noise whenever he bent his limbs. Despite having risked his life for his country, his pain was so excruciating that whenever…
Read MorePatients Suffered First 100 Days After Hydrocodone Rescheduling
Ignoring the Law of Unintended Consequences—which dictates that undesired outcomes result from a well-meant action—appears to be human nature. In trying to do good, people create more problems, in part because they fail to consider all the moving parts in a complex world. Simple human stupidity is another reason, but much can be explained by…
Read MoreInterview with Dr. Sean Mackey – National Pain Strategy
Dr. Lynn Webster: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster, thank you for listening to this question and answer series on lynnwebstermd.com. Today I am proud to have Dr. Sean Mackey with me. Dr. Mackey is the immediate past president of American Academy of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology at Stanford University. Thank you for…
Read MoreSolving the Pain Dilemma
Chronic pain affects 1 in 3 Americans and exerts more than a $600-billion drain on the economy annually. It is the largest invisible epidemic we face. Having treated thousands of patients with chronic pain – often when they were at their most vulnerable – I want to improve the future for pain suffers. As one…
Read MoreA Note to Hillary Clinton: Please be Responsible with Opioids
While Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton only recently announced her bid for office in 2016, she has already declared a few important issues on her presidential agenda, including the ever-important opioid crisis in the United States. Many are chiming in to offer their best solutions to curbing the opioid abuse epidemic; sadly, many of the proposed…
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