chronic pain
When Is Healthcare Noble?
What is it about certain medical conditions that results in unprecedented concern, a willingness to muster all resources, and an outpouring of selflessness from practitioners and the public alike? Why are healthcare professionals willing to risk their lives for coronavirus patients, but not their reputations to treat chronic pain?
Read MoreHow Is COVID-19 Affecting You? Please Take a Survey
These are hard times. Our emotions are intense and frayed, and often it’s helpful to share those feelings. Pain News Network, in collaboration with chronic pain advocate Barby Ingle, has published a survey you can take to share how the pandemic has affected you thus far.
Read MoreThe Victim of a Created Crisis — Left Behind
There have been just north of 68,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2018. The largest new healthcare crisis in America.
Read MoreWhen Anger Is Destructive
People can be forgiven for getting angry in the moment. If they have experienced a personal loss from prescription opioids, it’s reasonable for them, in their grief, to blame opioids or the doctor who prescribed them. But it’s harder to accept their vengeances when they draw a false equivalency between prescription opioids and illicit drugs.
Read MoreWe Are At War: People With Chronic Pain Must Prepare
Think of COVID-19 as another natural disaster, and anticipate the same potential problems. Begin your planning immediately by talking with your doctor.
Read MoreAlternatives to Conventional Opioids
My colleague, Richard Rauck, M.D., Pain Fellowship Director at the Wake Forest University of Medicine, and I presented a Continuing Medical Education (CME) symposium at the meeting on atypical opioid options. We discussed the strengths and weakness of three atypical opioids—tramadol, tapentadol, and buprenorphine—that clinicians may consider for the appropriate patients.
Read MoreWhy People Do Not Dispose of Unused Opioids
Many people clearly want to hold onto their unused medications. This is not new. However, the problem may worsen because, more than ever, patients who are in pain fear that they will not be able to get the medication they need.
Read MoreKaren Smith’s Story
Many people in pain want to share their story, and they ask me for help in doing so. Sometimes, I mention people who are in pain when I am speaking in public or talking with the media. Occasionally, someone tells me a story that is so poignant and eloquent that, with permission, I publish it.…
Read MoreAre You at Higher Risk for Coronavirus?
Tens of thousands of people have contracted the new coronavirus, now referred to as COVID-19. The people with increased risk for experiencing severe symptoms, and possibly dying of COVID-19, are seniors and those with chronic illness.
Read MoreThe Reason People Become Addicted Is Multifactorial
Debunking the Myths About Why Opioid Addictions Develop
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