Author’s Note: This blog contains references to “Star Wars,” but you will find no spoilers here. In my world, a physician working with Pharma is perceived to be serving the Death Star. It doesn’t matter that thousands of drugs have been developed to save millions of lives, and have enabled millions more to live longer…
Get involved in the discussion about using marijuana as pain medication. Here is my latest opinion piece on this topic, published the Morrow County Sentinel in Ohio: http://morrowcountysentinel.com/opinion/6387/is-marijuana-the-holy-grail-for-pain-medication. Leave us your comments on this topic as we continue to evaluate and advocate for both alternative and traditional treatments for chronic pain.
Is marijuana the holy grail for pain medication? You might think so by reading the popular press. An ideal drug therapy is one that is highly effective for a multitude of pain disorders and has low to no toxicity regardless of duration of exposure. Marijuana flirts with this profile—but it is a Trojan horse. Depending…
Studies show conflicting results about whether or not acupuncture can help people with chronic pain, but there is evidence that acupuncture works for some people and some types of pain. Even if, as some studies have found, the benefits of acupuncture are all in the head, those benefits could still be worth pursuing. After all,…
Yoga can be helpful for people with chronic pain, just as it can be immensely helpful for people who are dealing with trauma. Chronic pain patients often suffer from trauma as well. Chronic pain is processed differently by the brain than acute pain. Chronic pain, as opposed to acute pain, recruits areas of the brain…
We love this TEDEd lesson on the complicated topic of pain. Check it out then tell us your stories and respond on Twitter using hashtag #mindonpain.
Last week I discussed the phenomenon that, though more women experience pain than men, they are chronically undertreated. Ethnic minorities, including African Americans, are known to be undertreated as well. Not surprisingly, low-income patients experience the same disparity. One could point to subtle gender, class, and racial biases as the reason why such disparities exist.…
As I put it in my book The Painful Truth, “Pain is an unbidden guest, humanity’s shadow companion down through the ages. It is an interloper, a despoiler of dreams, a thief.” The “thief,” however, does not treat all persons equally. Chronic pain affects one group of people more frequently than any other—women. A study…
Dr. Lynn Webster: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster. Thank you for listening to this pain topic series of interviews on lynnwebstermd.com. Today I’m proud to have Dr. Bob Twillman, most of you probably are aware of Dr. Twillman. He is executive director for the American Academy of Pain Management and I believe is probably…
Dr. Lynn Webster: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster. Thank you for listening to this pain topic series of interviews on lynnwebstermd.com. Today I’m proud to have Dr. Bob Twillman, most of you probably are aware of Dr. Twillman. Dr. Lynn Webster: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster. Thank you for listening to this…
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