Pain is not only caused by some illnesses and disorders, it may help prevent recovery from them as well. If you think about it, that makes sense. Pain is a stress on your body. Regardless of what causes, it, your body’s reaction to pain is your blood pressure goes up, your heart races, and your system begins to release stress hormones to help you deal with it.

By Guest Blogger Patti G.
I don’t look like there’s anything wrong with me. If you saw me you wouldn’t know that I’m in pain. Everyday activities are challenging and I never know how my body will feel from one day to the next. Simple things, like laundry and dishes, become impossible some days, barely tolerable others.
I live with Fibromyalgia.
I hurt my back in a fall eleven years ago. For many years I dealt with trying to learn how to live with the chronic pain from it. I tried everything; medication, injections, physical therapy. Nothing helped; my doctors finally told me …read more

As the EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) conference continues in Paris, France, more research news is being presented. According to their latest press release regarding a new program in the United Kingdom, called Challenging Pain, there have been significant improvements for people with arthritis who are living with chronic pain: “A new two week programme significantly reduces healthcare visits, pain scores and health distress in arthritis patients with chronic pain. Results were comparable to existing six week self-management programmes and the benefits of the programme were sustained for six months with improvements continuing up to a year later, according to …read more

Uncontrolled pain makes life very difficult sometimes. Feeling that your doctor isn’t helping manage it properly is frustrating. Besides changing doctors or trying to educate your doctor about what you need, there isn’t much you can do.
One of the problems with doctors and adequate pain control is the fear of using opioids or narcotics. The fear stems from concern that patients may become addicted but it also stems from doctors not really understanding what opioids to prescribe, at what doses to prescribe them, and how often they can be given.
To address this, The Federation of State Medical Boards Research and …read more

Most people who are being treated for chronic pain are treated by their family doctor or their specialist for their specific disorder, but sometimes, that isn’t enough. There often comes a time when you need to go a step further and be seen by a doctor who specializes in pain management. That’s not to say that your doctor can’t do the job, but the pain management specialists can help find and organize a pain control regimen that your own doctor may not have considered.
Who is this pain specialist? The anesthesiologists.
Most people only think of anesthesiologists as the doctors who …read more

It’s Christmas Eve and many families and friends are getting together to celebrate this holiday. Something that can take the joy right out of holiday gatherings is suffering from pain – or just the fear that the pain may come on while you are celebrating.
Here are some tips to try to help you make the holiday season a bit more bearable.
If you have sore fingers from arthritis, it can be very painful to shake hands. If this is the case, try not shaking hands at all. A polite tip of the head to acknowledge a greeting or introduction is often …read more

Pain after surgery is, unfortunately, a given. Luckily, some surgeries are not as painful as others and we do have many medications that can help make people more comfortable, if not eliminate pain completely.
However, pain causes more than just discomfort, it can cause a delay in healing or return to regular activities. If someone is experiencing a lot of pain, they may not get up and move around as much as they should, which can delay healing or even cause other problems. So, managing pain is essential.
A new study, published in the December issue of Archives of Surgery, reports that …read more