The Double-Faced Pain Problem: Reflections On July’s Narrative Matters Essay

Reading Janice Lynch Schuster’s tormented account of her persistent pain and her journey through the medical maze of care in the July issue of Health Affairs, I’m reminded of how millions of Americans are living with not one, but two, pain challenges. The first is the epidemic of over-prescription; the second is the condition of endemic under-medication. In her essay “Down The Rabbit Hole: A Chronic Pain Sufferer Navigates The Maze Of Opioid Use,” Schuster herself hints at the dual issues when she writes: “pain patients like me often feel trapped between the clinical need to treat and manage pain and the social imperative to restrict access to such drugs and promote public safety.” People coping with chronic pain confront a double-faced problem: a society simultaneously providing too much relief and too little. Which face of the American pain dilemma any patient will experience depends on where they live, who they are, and what kind of practitioner they encounter in their pursuit of relief. As Schuster writes, the situation is perplexing, maddening, and sometimes arbitrary.
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Access All Categories Chronic Care Narrative Matters Personal Experience Pharma Policy Source Type: blogs