managing pain Archives - The Painful Truth

The Painful Later Years of Frances Passik

Steven D. Passik’s mom (Fran) and dad (Ike), and their granddaughter, Sofia (Steven’s daughter). That picture was taken almost exactly 22 years ago.

Steven D. Passik, Ph.D., is a Pennsylvania-based pain psychologist. I’m proud to call him a friend. He is a giant in the field of pain medicine, but that doesn’t make his family members immune to the problems that other chronic patients face.

Steve lost his mother on September 14, 2016. He’s given me permission to share her story here.

The Painful Later Years of Frances Passik

Born 1/10/32

Died 9/14/16

Who Is to Blame When Athletes Get Addicted to Heroin?

“I remember, the first pain pill they gave me, I felt really good. I actually felt very calm. I felt a sense of confidence that I never felt before. I knew it was going to be the start of something,” said a former high school football star to Soledad O’Brien on an episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” called “Hooked” (HBO Sports), that originally aired in February of 2015.

What Is the Correlation Between Financial Stress and the Ability to Cope with Pain?

The authors of this Harvard Business Review article appropriately report an association between economic insecurity and the rise in painkiller consumption. Of course, a person’s painkiller consumption may increase for many reasons, but augmented pain due to stress certainly may be one reason.

The Experience of Pain

People consume painkillers primarily because of pain which is a bio/psych/social/spiritual disorder. The experience of pain is the sum of all of life’s experience. The combination of fear, anxiety, and stress will factor into that pain experience.

The Reasons Caregivers are Heroes and Saints

Some religions call their holiest people saints. In secular speak, a saint is a person who is pure, honest, and beyond reproach, and who mostly devotes their life to benefit others. In our more common vernacular, we use the word “heroes” to describe those who sacrifice themselves for the good of others.

Saints and Heroes: A Personal Story

I have decided that my grandfather was either a saint or a hero. That epiphany came to me recently, long after he passed.

This is the Reason Chris Bell’s Sobriety is Important

Thank you to the LA Times for recently running a story about Chris Bell.

Chris Bell was producing a documentary about prescription drug abuse. Bell wasn’t only making a documentary about the problem. He was also living it.

Bell was using alcohol in combination with Xanax which led to a decline similar to the one that had ended the life of his brother, Michael, who had been a professional wrestler. Neither Michael nor Chris were stereotypical prescription drug abusers.

Can Fun Help Overcome Pain?

Can good, old-fashioned fun help people overcome chronic pain?

Sometimes.

It all depends what we mean by “fun.”

One person’s fun is another person’s work

For example, therapists have been recommending coloring books to their adult patients for years. The benefits of using crayons (and markers and colored pencils), the theory goes, extends beyond children to adults. While you use your creativity, and splash colors on the page with joyful abandon, you can’t focus on your troubles.

True, right? Well, some of the time, for some people, it’s true.

Empathy: An Overdue Prescription

Last week I discussed the phenomenon that, though more women experience pain than men, they are chronically undertreated. Ethnic minorities, including African Americans, are known to be undertreated as well. Not surprisingly, low-income patients experience the same disparity.

One could point to subtle gender, class, and racial biases as the reason why such disparities exist. While I would agree that these are problems we ought to address, I think the real culprit is far more subtle and prevalent: physicians just have a low aptitude for empathy.

What’s Massachusetts Thinking?

What’s Massachusetts thinking?

The newest twist in the painkiller abuse debate is that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has proposed legislation that has me in dejected disbelief. The bill would restrict both doctors and dentists from prescribing more than 72 hours of medication to patients upon initial injury or surgery. I understand the thought but it is wrongheaded.

In proposing the legislation, the Governor is reacting to the more than 1,000 painkiller overdose deaths in the state in 2014 and something clearly needs to be done. I get it. But the legislation is an over-reaction and will likely cause unnecessary pain and suffering. Sadly the legislation accelerates the trend of politicians and regulators practicing medicine.

Confronting Mental Illness and Guns: What Should We Do?

In my column in Pain Medicine News this month, I talked about a tragic dual suicide attempt of a married couple I knew, both of whom suffered from chronic pain. From one standpoint, a story like this is as shocking as it is incomprehensible. From another perspective, it’s becoming another sad milepost in society–not unlike the rash of gun rampages of the last few years.

The blithe acceptance of social dysfunction – whether suicide stemming from chronic pain or gun violence – is enormously disturbing to me. When social problems seem too big to solve, human beings tend to be resigned that it is part of life in our culture.

Fighting Chronic Pain as a Teenager

Chronic pain is almost always life altering, but it can be an especially difficult adjustment when it impacts someone whose life is just beginning. Ali Goldsmith was 14 when she started to feel the effects of chronic pain. After surgery to remove bunions, her pain worsened when her doctor struggled to take out the pins that had stabilized her feet during the healing process. In the following months, her legs and feet became increasingly sensitive, so much so that a slight gust of wind could set off spasms of pain.