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The marketing geniuses at Advil, apparently taking a page out of Bud Light’s playbook, launched the Advil Pain Equity Project to end “systemic pain racism.”

Reflections on medical policy, DEA permits, and the fentanyl crisisEdwin Leap is a board-certified emergency physician who has been practicing for 30 years since finishing residency. He currently works as an emergency physician for WVU Hospitals in Princeton, West Virginia. Follow When I was in my residency training, from 1990 to 1993, we were in the nascent phase of the "pain is a vital sign" madness. We were told, over and over, that we should treat pain aggressively and should not be afraid to give narcotics to patients in pain. Who were we to judge someone's pain, after all? The...

Ibuprofen works wonders for your headaches, joint pain, muscle aches, and menstrual cramps, so it's probably no surprise that it's the second most common over-the-counter (OTC) drug behind paracetamol (Tylenol), according to a 2023 article https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36876700/ in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences. You might get a prescription for ibuprofen if you have rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis to reduce the pain and swelling from these conditions. Ibuprofen might also be used for psoriatic arthritis, arthritis of the spine, and gouty arthritis. Like other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ibuprofen works by blocking an enzyme that makes prostaglandins that cause...

Beloved FRiends, please lift my dear husband, John, up in prayer. He is suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding, pain and has lost a lot of weight. His doctor has tended to polyps and other lower intestinal maladies, but the bleeding has returned. He is weak, tired and of course afraid. But I know his Redeemer Lives.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WJW) — A Florida man is reportedly healing after a horrific amount of bugs were pulled from his nasal and sinus passages earlier this month. “Over a couple hours my face just started swelling, my lips swelled, I could hardly talk,” the patient told WTLV in Florida. “My whole face felt like it was on fire.” The patient, who was not identified, went to a nearby hospital for constant nose bleeds and pain, according to the TV station. What the ear nose and throat doctor on call found by looking inside the man’s nose, was like something out...

Dear Doctors: My wife has been diagnosed with something called Eagle syndrome. Not a lot of medical providers in our area treat this type of illness. Any information you can give about it, including what treatments are available and which specialists we should see, would be helpful. Dear Reader: Eagle syndrome is somewhat rare, so it's not surprising that finding information, treatment and support have been a challenge. The condition occurs in about 1 in 62,000 people, and it is seen three times more often in women as in men. Someone living with Eagle syndrome experiences sharp and sudden nerve...

Researchers have identified that a transient inflammatory pain causes mitochondrial and redox changes in sensory neurons that persist beyond pain resolution. These changes appear to predispose to a failure in resolving pain caused by subsequent inflammation. Additionally, targeting the cellular redox balance prevents and treats chronic inflammatory pain in rodents. Pain often persists in patients with an inflammatory disease, even after the inflammation has subsided. For some time, there have been clues that mitochondrial dysfunction may be involved. In a clinical study, approximately 70% of patients with heritable mitochondrial diseases develop chronic pain. To unravel the role of mitochondria in...

igher car prices and rising interest rates are hindering car owners’ ability to afford their vehicle payments, as 6.1% of subprime auto borrowers are at least 60 days past due on their loans, the highest percentage in data dating back to 1994, according to Bloomberg, which cited Fitch Ratings.

The 24-year-old Black man who was shown on police body camera footage after what his attorney said was a violent encounter with Jacksonville, Florida, sheriff’s officers after a traffic stop Friday is in “excruciating pain” at a hospital and suffering from severe injuries as a result of the beating. “I believe he has a ruptured kidney, migraine headaches and he’s hurting,” attorney Marwan Porter said of Le’Keian Woods at a news conference Tuesday. “He’s hurting really, really, really bad.”

Patients who first seek physical therapy or chiropractic care have better outcomes and shorter episodes of acute care for low back pain, according to research. The findings show that for patients with acute episodes of low back pain, the first point of entry to the health care system is associated with utilization and total cost of care in the following year. Clinical practice guidelines prioritize nonpharmacologic and nonsurgical treatments. Patients are often prescribed opioid pain medications or referred to specialists for procedures—including surgery, imaging or steroid injections—that do not address the root causes of their pain. By combing through nearly...

Opioid pain-relieving medicines are not more effective than a placebo in relieving acute back and neck pain and may even cause harm, according to a world-first trial. Over 577 million people worldwide experience low back and neck pain at any one time. The OPAL trial recruited close to 350 participants from 157 primary care and emergency department sites. Participants with acute-meaning sudden and generally short-term-back or neck pain were randomly allocated to a six-week course of a commonly prescribed opioid or a placebo. Both groups also received standard care including advice to avoid bed rest and stay active. Participants were...

President Biden is undergoing a root canal at the White House on Monday after complaining of tooth pain, his physician said in a letter released to the public. Biden’s dental team examined him Sunday and took X-rays after the president said he was experiencing pain in one of his teeth, presidential physician Kevin O’Connor said. The dental team determined a root canal would be necessary to address the issue, O’Connor said, adding they performed the initial procedure Sunday at the White House. “The President tolerated the procedure well. There were no complications,” O’Connor said.

Most antidepressants used for chronic pain are being prescribed with "insufficient" evidence of their effectiveness, scientists have warned. A major investigation into medications used to manage long-term pain has found that harms of many of the commonly recommended drugs have not been well studied. Among the drugs studied were amitriptyline, fluoxetine, citalopram, paroxetine, sertraline, and duloxetine—with only the latter showing reliable evidence for pain relief. Professor Tamar Pincus said, "This is a global public health concern. Chronic pain is a problem for millions who are prescribed antidepressants without sufficient scientific proof they help, nor an understanding of the long-term impact...

U.S. — The American Medical Association has officially added "The View" to its pain scale to help patients better understand what is meant by the term "worst pain possible." "In that case, I guess my pain is a nine," said trauma patient Bill Reynolds, whose femur was currently lodged in his own spleen. "Please change the channel." With "The View" as a comparison, the pain rating of horrific injuries has fallen dramatically. "Sure, my skull is shattered - but that seems about half as bad as watching 'The View', so I'll go with a five," said car wreck survivor Glenn...

Plant owners know just how difficult it can be to figure out what they need, especially when leaves start browning or wilting. But it turns out that plants may have been telling you all along. A new study found that when plants are stressed, they emit specific sounds that identify what's wrong. Previous studies had shown that plants vibrate when under stress, but for years, scientists have debated whether those vibrations become sound waves. By studying tomato and tobacco plants in an acoustic chamber inside a greenhouse, researchers at Tel Aviv University discovered that it's true – plants cry out...

Researchers found that a minimally invasive procedure combined with epidural steroid injection treatment led to superior pain reduction and disability improvement over one year in patients with sciatica. The combined treatment performed better than steroid injections alone. Sciatica is pain that originates along the sciatic nerve, which extends from the back of the pelvis down the back of the thigh. When the pain is caused by a lumbar disk herniation, surgery is often the treatment option for pain relief. Minimally invasive interventional therapy has become increasingly popular in patients with sciatica who have become resistant to conservative treatments. Among the...

Despite awareness that pain is common in nursing home residents, there has been minimal attention focused on how this pain changes over time. A new study presents compelling evidence of the existence of four distinct pain trajectories in this population. "Identification of pain trajectories can help us improve pain control for nursing home residents," said Connie Cole, Ph.D., DNP. "We can identify risk factors and use those to recognize individuals who are at increased risk for pain. For patients who are not able to self-report, such as someone with Alzheimer's disease, we can use those factors to identify that they...

Gov. Ron DeSantis has assumed control of the board that oversees development at Walt Disney World, seizing leverage over the state’s largest employer and retaliating against the entertainment giant for opposing the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. “Today, the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” he said Monday at a bill signing ceremony on Disney property. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.” Under the law, effective immediately, DeSantis has the authority to appoint every member of the special tax district’s five-member governing body subject to approval by the state Senate....

A decade ago, most people thought of Tylenol (acetaminophen) as a medicine for fever, malaise and minor aches and pains. Nobody imagined that it would become the go-to drug for treating moderate, let alone severe, postoperative pain. But this is just what has happened. Thanks to pressure from lawmakers, government agencies and policymakers who inserted themselves into the patient-doctor relationship, patients became the victims of the never-ending war on drugs. Now, doctors frequently offer only acetaminophen to treat painful conditions despite the drug’s inability to remedy them. Policymakers’ exaggerated fear of opioids has pressured hospitals, doctors and dentists to switch...

Many people are unaware that some antidepressants (medications used to treat people living with depression) are also being prescribed to treat certain chronic pain conditions. One in five people experiences chronic pain in Australia and globally, and treatment of chronic pain is often suboptimal, with commonly used medicines having limited or unknown benefits. The use of antidepressants to help manage a person's pain is on the rise, even when they do not have a mood disorder like depression. An international team of researchers has found that some classes of antidepressants were effective in treating certain pain conditions in adults, but...