Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic


Book Description

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.




Relieving Pain in America


Book Description

Chronic pain costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enlist the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in examining pain as a public health problem. In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes. Better data are needed to help shape efforts, especially on the groups of people currently underdiagnosed and undertreated, and the IOM encourages federal and state agencies and private organizations to accelerate the collection of data on pain incidence, prevalence, and treatments. Because pain varies from patient to patient, healthcare providers should increasingly aim at tailoring pain care to each person's experience, and self-management of pain should be promoted. In addition, because there are major gaps in knowledge about pain across health care and society alike, the IOM recommends that federal agencies and other stakeholders redesign education programs to bridge these gaps. Pain is a major driver for visits to physicians, a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.




Healing Back Pain


Book Description

Dr. John E. Sarno's groundbreaking research on TMS (Tension Myoneural Syndrome) reveals how stress and other psychological factors can cause back pain-and how you can be pain free without drugs, exercise, or surgery. Dr. Sarno's program has helped thousands of patients find relief from chronic back conditions. In this New York Times bestseller, Dr. Sarno teaches you how to identify stress and other psychological factors that cause back pain and demonstrates how to heal yourself--without drugs, surgery or exercise. Find out: Why self-motivated and successful people are prone to Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS) How anxiety and repressed anger trigger muscle spasms How people condition themselves to accept back pain as inevitable With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno reveals how you can recognize the emotional roots of your TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain...and start recovering from back pain today.




Overcoming Acute and Chronic Pain


Book Description

Find the holistic treatment that will work best for you based on your emotional type and specific pain condition • Provides an easy questionnaire to determine your emotional type and an interactive self-assessment for finding the right pain treatment for your condition • Explores mind-body treatments for many common pain conditions, including arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, migraines, carpal tunnel, and PTSD • Reviews the scientific evidence in support of acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, massage, chiropractic, yoga, herbs, and essential oils Throughout history many healing traditions have focused on analgesia--the alleviation of pain--an area in which modern medicine provides few options beyond narcotics, steroids, and surgery. For those seeking drug- and surgery-free alternatives or complements to conventional pain management, the choices can be overwhelming. How do you know which method will work for you? In this guide to safe and effective natural therapies for acute and chronic pain, authors Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D., and Sebhia Marie Dibra explain how your emotional boundary style--how you react to emotional, social, environmental, and physical stresses--affects which complementary treatments will work best for you. Providing an easy questionnaire to determine your emotional type and an interactive self-assessment for finding the right pain treatment for your condition, they explore the effectiveness of mind-body treatments for each emotional type and for many common pain disorders, including arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, ulcer, migraine headaches, carpal tunnel, anxiety, PTSD, and other chronic pain conditions. They review the available research and scientific evidence in support of each therapy, suggesting only well-established, safe, and clinically proven alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, massage, chiropractic, yoga, herbs, and essential oils. Approaching pain holistically, they reveal how pain should be understood as a dynamic condition--an interaction between mind and body as well as between patient and therapy--and how your emotional type is key to long-lasting and successful results.




Marijuana As Medicine?


Book Description

Some people suffer from chronic, debilitating disorders for which no conventional treatment brings relief. Can marijuana ease their symptoms? Would it be breaking the law to turn to marijuana as a medication? There are few sources of objective, scientifically sound advice for people in this situation. Most books about marijuana and medicine attempt to promote the views of advocates or opponents. To fill the gap between these extremes, authors Alison Mack and Janet Joy have extracted critical findings from a recent Institute of Medicine study on this important issue, interpreting them for a general audience. Marijuana As Medicine? provides patientsâ€"as well as the people who care for themâ€"with a foundation for making decisions about their own health care. This empowering volume examines several key points, including: Whether marijuana can relieve a variety of symptoms, including pain, muscle spasticity, nausea, and appetite loss. The dangers of smoking marijuana, as well as the effects of its active chemical components on the immune system and on psychological health. The potential use of marijuana-based medications on symptoms of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and several other specific disorders, in comparison with existing treatments. Marijuana As Medicine? introduces readers to the active compounds in marijuana. These include the principal ingredient in Marinol, a legal medication. The authors also discuss the prospects for developing other drugs derived from marijuana's active ingredients. In addition to providing an up-to-date review of the science behind the medical marijuana debate, Mack and Joy also answer common questions about the legal status of marijuana, explaining the conflict between state and federal law regarding its medical use. Intended primarily as an aid to patients and caregivers, this book objectively presents critical information so that it can be used to make responsible health care decisions. Marijuana As Medicine? will also be a valuable resource for policymakers, health care providers, patient counselors, medical faculty and studentsâ€"in short, anyone who wants to learn more about this important issue.




TALKING BACKHOW TO OVERCOME CCB


Book Description

"Back pain afflicts more than 3 in 4 adults and costs Americans over $100 billion every year. While most people recover quickly, the disabilities suffered by people who don't generate the vast majority of the costs and heartache. Talking Back offers people disabled by chronic back pain personal strategies for recovering active lives and wellness"--




Break Through Pain


Book Description

The newest treatment for pain is one of the oldest, most effective strategies for pain-free living; meditation. With Break Through Pain, meditation expert Shinzen Young teaches you how to retrain your relationship to pain through traditional meditation practices. Drawing from 30 years of results in the field, this widely respected teacher offers the essential techniques that have proven successful at pain management centers around the country. Break Through Pain adapts the core principles of mindfulness training to a practical process that can treat even extreme, chronic pain effectively, possibly reducing the need for drugs or surgery. You will learn that, by observing and opening to pain, you can stop resisting it and step outside physical suffering. Step-by-step techniques taught in plain language show how to overcome internal resistance the key to transforming physical pain into a flow of pure energy. With regular practice, you can tap into your mind's own power to overcome physical pain.




Overcoming Acute and Chronic Pain


Book Description

Find the holistic treatment that will work best for you based on your emotional type and specific pain condition • Provides an easy questionnaire to determine your emotional type and an interactive self-assessment for finding the right pain treatment for your condition • Explores mind-body treatments for many common pain conditions, including arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, migraines, carpal tunnel, and PTSD • Reviews the scientific evidence in support of acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, massage, chiropractic, yoga, herbs, and essential oils Throughout history many healing traditions have focused on analgesia--the alleviation of pain--an area in which modern medicine provides few options beyond narcotics, steroids, and surgery. For those seeking drug- and surgery-free alternatives or complements to conventional pain management, the choices can be overwhelming. How do you know which method will work for you? In this guide to safe and effective natural therapies for acute and chronic pain, authors Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D., and Sebhia Marie Dibra explain how your emotional boundary style--how you react to emotional, social, environmental, and physical stresses--affects which complementary treatments will work best for you. Providing an easy questionnaire to determine your emotional type and an interactive self-assessment for finding the right pain treatment for your condition, they explore the effectiveness of mind-body treatments for each emotional type and for many common pain disorders, including arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, ulcer, migraine headaches, carpal tunnel, anxiety, PTSD, and other chronic pain conditions. They review the available research and scientific evidence in support of each therapy, suggesting only well-established, safe, and clinically proven alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, massage, chiropractic, yoga, herbs, and essential oils. Approaching pain holistically, they reveal how pain should be understood as a dynamic condition--an interaction between mind and body as well as between patient and therapy--and how your emotional type is key to long-lasting and successful results.







Acute Pain Management


Book Description

This textbook provides an overview of pain management useful to specialists as well as non-specialists, surgeons, and nursing staff.