New migraine drugs are game changers for some patients | Science News
Hayley Gudgin of Sammamish, Wash., got her first migraine in 1991 when she was a 19-year-old nursing student."I was convinced I was having a brain hemorrhage," she says."There was no way anything could be that painful and not be really serious."She retreated to her bed and woke up feeling better the next day. But it wasn't long until another migraine hit. And another. Taking a pill that combines caffeine with the pain relievers acetaminophen and codeine made life manageable until she got pregnant and had to stop taking her medication. After her son was born, the migraines came back. She started taki...
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 28, 2021 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Gene-silencing injection reverses pain in mice | Science | AAAS
Swallowing an oxycodone pill might quiet nerves and blunt pain, but the drug makes other unwanted visits in the brain —to centers that can drive addiction and suppress breathing. Now, a study in mice shows certain types of pain can be prevented or reversed without apparent side effects by silencing a gene involved in pain signaling. If the approach weathers further testing, it could give chronic pain patients a s afer and longer lasting option than opioids.More ...https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/gene-silencing-injection-reverses-pain-mice (Source: Psychology of Pain)
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 11, 2021 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Chronic Pain: Pain Without Purpose - Medscape and Stanford Pain Medicine audio
Chronic pain is physiologically distinct from long-lasting acute pain. In some cases, however, poorly managed acute pain can develop into a chronic pain condition.In addition to the direct physical suffering that patients experience, the biopsychosocial nature of chronic pain affects their social lives, ability to work, and psychological well-being. The resulting economic burden of chronic pain is estimated to cost the United States over half a trillion dollars annually —more than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.In this three-part series, doctors at the Pain Management Center of Stanford University examine t...
Source: Psychology of Pain - May 17, 2020 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Threepenny: Gao, My Right Arm
Last summer, I woke up one morning to find my right hand couldn't grab the doorknob to turn it open. The next thing I knew was that no matter how many times I shook it, it remained numb. Soon, on a hot June night, a furtive pain traveled from my right elbow to my palm, back and forth, through and through, like a fractious child jumping between hopscotch courts with his full body gravity, determined and ferocious.I am a Chinese woman. Two things I am good at are self-diagnosing and self-preservation. I went to a Chinese massage place the next morning. The lady there told me it was"tennis elbow." Which seemed f...
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 30, 2020 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Scientists are unraveling the mysteries of pain
More than three decades ago, when Tom Norris was fighting cancer, he underwent radiation therapy on his groin and his left hip. His cancer disappeared and hasn't come back. But Norris was left with a piercing ache that burned from his hip up his spine to his neck.Since then, Norris, now 70, has never had a single day free from pain. It cut short his career as an aircraft maintenance officer in the U.S. Air Force. It's been his constant companion, like the cane he uses to walk. On bad days, the pain is so excruciating, he's bedridden. Even on the best days, it severely limits his ability to move about, preventin...
Source: Psychology of Pain - January 6, 2020 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Men and Women, Male and Female Animals: What ’s the Deal with Sex Differences in Chronic Pain? (Part 1) - RELIEF: PAIN RESEARCH NEWS, INSIGHTS AND IDEAS
https://relief.news/men-and-women-male-and-female-animals-whats-the-deal-with-sex-differences-in-chronic-pain-part-1/ (Source: Psychology of Pain)
Source: Psychology of Pain - October 30, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures | NIH Common Fund
The goal of the Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) program is to develop a set of objective biomarkers that provide"signatures" to predict if chronic pain is likely to develop after acute pain. Such signatures are greatly needed as prevention of chronic pain after an acute pain event is a major challenge in pain management. For most people, acute pain resolves as the injury that caused it heals. Yet in many other people, acute pain from an injury, surgery, or disease persists beyond the initial insult, and lasts for years or throughout life. The number of people who transition from acute to chronic pain aft...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 24, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

For some with chronic pain, the problem is not in their backs or knees but their brains - The Washington Post
After 36 agonizing years with sickle cell disease, Tesha Samuels is in complete remission — free, at least for now, of one of the most painful disorders known to medicine. Yet Samuels's body still hurts almost every day.The question that perplexes her doctors at the National Institutes of Health is why, after her blood disorder has been vanquished, she is still in pain.Perhaps her newly healed red blood cells are not yet bringing enough oxygen to her tissues. Perhaps the emotional toll of a lifetime of constant pain has left her prepared to feel little else. Or perhaps the pain signals that have flooded her brain for...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 24, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

For Chronic Pain, Off-Label Naltrexone In Low Doses Seems To Help : Shots - Health News : NPR
Lori Pinkley, a 50-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., has struggled with puzzling chronic pain since she was 15.She's had endless disappointing visits with doctors. Some said they couldn't help her. Others diagnosed her with everything from fibromyalgia to lipedema to the rare Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.Pinkley has taken opioids a few times after surgeries but says they never helped her underlying pain."I hate opioids with a passion," Pinkley says."An absolute passion."Recently, she joined a growing group of patients using an outside-the-box remedy: naltrexone. It is usually used to treat addiction, in...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 24, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Opioid Crisis: Medical Schools Rethink How To Teach Students About Pain : Shots - Health News : NPR
The next generation of doctors will start their careers at a time when physicians are feeling pressure to limit prescriptions for opioid painkillers.Yet every day, they'll face patients who are hurting from injuries, surgical procedures or disease. Around 20% of adults in the U.S. live with chronic pain.That's why some medical students felt a little apprehensive as they gathered recently for a mandatory, four-day course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — home to one of the top medical schools in the country.The subject of the course? Pain."I initially was a bit scared and I guess a bit wary coming in...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 19, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

I became a cyborg to manage my chronic pain | Popular Science
I don't remember what it feels like to live without pain. At 15, I began feeling aching, stabbing, and burning sensations in my lower back and down my legs. Swallowing a few Aleve didn't help —in fact, nothing did. If I sit or stand for any period of time, or lift something heavy or fall, I pay for it, sometimes for weeks or months. I've slept on the kitchen linoleum, because the carpet felt too soft to stand.For 17 years, I went to doctor after doctor, undergoing scans, physical therapy, and just about every"alternative" treatment that promised relief. Despite some amazing doctors and the expensive...
Source: Psychology of Pain - August 25, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll: Pain In America : Shots - Health News : NPR
At some point nearly everyone has to deal with pain.How do Americans experience and cope with pain that makes everyday life harder? We asked in the latest NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll.First, we wanted to know how often pain interferes with people's ability to work, go to school or engage in other activities. Overall, 18% of Americans say that's often a problem for them. Almost a quarter – 24% — say it's sometimes the case.The degree to which pain is a problem varies by age, with 22% of people 65 and older saying pain interferes often with their daily lives compared with only about 9% of people 35 and younger....
Source: Psychology of Pain - August 23, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Canadian Pain Task Force Report: June 2019 - Canada.ca
The Canadian Pain Task Force was established in March 2019 to help the Government of Canada better understand and address the needs of Canadians who live with pain. Through to December 2021, the Task Force is mandated to provide advice and information to guide government decision-makers towards an improved approach to the prevention and management of chronic pain in this country. The eight Task Force members include people personally impacted by chronic pain, researchers, educators, and health professionals with experience and expertise in preventing and managing chronic pain across major professional disciplines (i.e., me...
Source: Psychology of Pain - July 18, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

What Was the Cause of the Excruciating Pain in His Shoulders and Hips? - The New York Times
As the physician prepared to leave the exam room, the patient's wife spoke up:"Doctor, my husband won't tell you this, but he is suffering," the woman said, her voice cracking. Dr. Timothy Quan, a rheumatologist in central Connecticut, looked at the 69-year-old man he'd been caring for over the past several months. The man gave a brisk nod. It was true. The past few weeks had been a nightmare of pain.Six months earlier, the patient woke up with a sore, swollen right hand. He figured he must have injured it a few days before when he cleared out a pile of wood in his backyard. He mentioned it to his pri...
Source: Psychology of Pain - June 5, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

These Mole Rats Felt No Pain, Even From Wasabi ’s Burn - The New York Times
If you've ever taken a big bite of wasabi, you know what comes next: a painful zing that creeps over your whole scalp.You aren't the only animal that feels this way. The condiment's sinus-burning kick comes from a chemical compound called allyl isothiocyanate, or AITC, that actively damages proteins within cells. Flies and flatworms shun it, as do miceand wolf spiders."Practically every animal you look at will avoid AITC," said Gary Lewin, a molecular physiologist at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin.But there is one exception. In a paper published Thursday in Science, scie...
Source: Psychology of Pain - May 31, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs