The New York Times stirred up some old controversies recently with their article on fibromyalgia called "Drug Approved. Is Disease Real?" The author quoted two sides of an argument, one saying that fibromyalgia is a real condition that has a real diagnosis and real treatments. The other side saying in essence that the disease is... Read more
Caregivers play a critically important role in the lives of people with pain. Caregivers provide a great deal of emotional and practical support. Far too often, though, that role may be overlooked or minimized. We frequently become caregivers by default. We may be the parent, adult child or family member who lives the closest or "has... Read more
The fact is that there are many different kinds of pain that arise from many different causes and that operate by many different mechanisms in our bodies. There is no silver bullet, no single route to maximum pain relief. Unfortunately, much of our medical profession and, for certain, the public at large is not up-to-date on assessing and... Read more
On November 14th the Senate Veteran's Affairs Committee passed the Veterans Pain Act of 2007. This is a critical step on the way to this bill becoming law. We all owe hearty thanks to Chairman Senator Daniel Akaka from Hawaii. He, along with Senator Brown from Ohio, recognized that pain is one of the most prevalent and persistent... Read more