by Nanette Piotrowski

Created on: April 12, 2010

Approximately 35% of Americans have some element of chronic pain and roughly 50 million Americans are partially or totally disabled due to chronic pain. Are all these people crazy or is there sound medical facts behind chronic pain?

Various neuromuscular, reproductive, gastrointestinal and urologic disorders may contribute to chronic pain whereas: depression, dependency, drug misuse, family or marital problems are psychiatric disorders that are 'used' to explain a patients pain.

A thorough history is necessary for a doctor to direct further assessments and tests and ask specific questions in order to get to the root of the problem; whether psychosomatic or virtual pain.

For a long time it was thought that people who are now diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, were all crazy. The muscle pain from Fibromyalgia is one of the most common types of chronic, widespread pain in the US today.

It was once thought that Fibromyalgia was pain caused by behavior such as: guilt, fear, sex and overwhelming responsibilities and that the patient was just vying for attention from family and friends thus exacerbating the behavior which created more pain.

Chronic Pain Syndrome by some authors suggest that any pain that persists longer than the reasonable expected healing time for the involved tissues should be considered chronic pain.

Chronic or intermittent levels of pain on a continual or sporadic basis is real, not imagined pain. Any one suffering from spinal injuries, arthritis, nerve damage or neurological disorders will attest to chronic pain.

Medications, surgery, physical and/or psychological therapies may be used to treat chronic pain. Several specialists may be needed to pinpoint the location or problem of chronic pain.

Many people who experience chronic pain wish they never had it. The majority of their waking hours are spent in agony and sometimes all available medical care does nothing to relieve the pain.

In cases of mental pain and problems, generally psychiatric care is usually sufficient along with antidepressant medications.

Those that live with chronic, physical pain may undergo a barrage of tests to determine the location of the problem. If it is spinal, surgery may be an option followed by physical therapy and medication. However that is no guarantee of pain removal.

Homeopathic remedies may be a viable solution in some cases. Whatever treatment is available and used the patient with chronic pain needs to know that their physician understands that this is debilitating and affects every part of their life.

Mental problems in no way should be considered on the same playing field as someone dealing with chronic pain.

Sources:

http://emedicine.medscape.com

http://lyrica.com

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