Pain is America's Number-One Public Health Problem; It's Time to DO Something Say Lawmakers

Pain is America's Number-One Public Health Problem; It's Time to DO Something Say Lawmakers, Care Providers and Patients

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Chronic pain affects at least one in five Americans, making it the nation's most urgent and ignored health issue. Today, many suffer in silence from untreated or undertreated pain because they don't have access to appropriate care or feel stigmatized about getting treatment. Rep. Mike Rogers (R. Mich.) has introduced long-awaited legislation, HR 1863: The National Pain Care Policy Act of 2003, to improve pain treatment nationwide and allocate more resources for pain research. Its passage, however, will depend largely on improving public awareness and understanding of the plight of those who deal with unrelenting pain everyday pain and their need for accessible and effective pain management.

WHO: Rep. Mike Rogers (R. Mich.), sponsor of HR 1863: The National Pain Care Policy Act of 2003 and House co-sponsors

American Pain Society President Richard Payne, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

American Academy of Pain Medicine Past President Mark Hahn, DO, Univ. of North Texas

American Headache Society Pres. Joel Saper, MD, Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Inst.

American Pain Foundation, represented by Mary Vargas, attorney and chronic pain patient

WHAT: News Conference First showing of American Pain Society public service TV ad

WHY: Rep. Rogers and leaders of the nation's most prominent pain organizations will brief the media on the pain crisis in America and relate how HR 1863 will help pain patients, care providers and researchers. They will present startling data about untreated and undertreated pain and the personal, social and economic toll it is taking. Also, the American Pain Society's public service TV ad will be shown for the first time. All speakers will be available for interviews after the event, and a media kit and beta copies of the PSA will be distributed.

For further information, contact: Chuck Weber, 847-705-1802, cpweber@weberpr.com

How much of this "chronic pain" suffering is self-inflicted? I am sympathetic with those who do suffer constant pain from valid medical conditions...but c'mon, how broadly are they defining chronic pain?

I'm pretty sure they're not refering to normal daily aches and pains. Treatment (or lack thereof) of chronic pain is a real problem for the medical profession. And I've got firsthand experience; my wife suffered from literally constant crushing migraines for several years in a row, effectively turning her into a bedridden invalid most of the time.

We learned the hard way that doctors are happy to try to fix what's wrong with you, but if they can't, a lifetime prescription of painkillers is simply *not* an option no matter how much pain you're in. Due to concerns about "painkiller addiction", or side effects from long term use, no reputable doctor (not even the ones at the dedicated pain management centers) is willing to allow a patient to take effective painkillers for more than a month or two, tops. After that, the official approach is, "sorry, no more, you'll just have to learn how to tough it out as best you can with Tylenol."

Is painkiller addiction a legitimate concern? Perhaps, but in the same manner that people undergoing famine are "addicted" to food. When you're in constant unbearable pain, you're damned right you're going to be be saying, "give me drugs, NOW..."

As for the risks of long-term use, I can't see that they can be any worse than the effects of long-term chronic pain, which, like a natural form of continuous sadistic torture, can and does easily drive people insane or to suicide. My wife was close to both on many occasions, and I couldn't blame her.

We also naturally came into contact with other chronic pain sufferers (back injuries seem to be a frequent cause) who shared their experiences with us and we're we're hardly the only ones to have discovered the same things about how poorly the medical profession deals with such problems. Even the few doctors who would prescribe sufficient painkillers if they were free to do so have their hands tied by stringent regulations under which they could lose their medical licenses if they departed from them -- and oversight is strict.

I've got *years* worth of stories I won't bore you with. But while European healthcare is inferior to American healthcare in many ways, it is superior in at least one way: doctors there are generally much freer to prescribe larger doses of painkillers, and for longer periods, and do -- and without evidence of the kind of Dire Consequences to patients presumed by the American attitudes towards the prescribing of painkillers.

I would definitely support congressional action to loosen medical regulations on this matter, because it's the pre-existing federal regulations which are the primary problem, and need to be overhauled.

Actually, this is interesting. Now that I have taken my obligatory (and appropriate) shot at Hitlery, I had a thought.

Where does this type of chronic pain come from?
Chronic aches and pains usually manifest themselves in joints (like the shoulder, neck, hips and knees). Much of the theory regarding pain management centers around stress and controlling stress.

So why are we all stressed out?
I don't know, let me take a look at my own life.

<rant>
My wife and I wake up at about 6 AM everyday, get showered/ready, wake up the 2 kids (4.5 and 1.5 yo), awake and dressed, make breakfast, convince the children that they need to eat breakfast, (sometimes) force the kids to eat breakfast, make and pack lunch, and have the kids off to (private) day care/school by 7:30 AM. Wife and I have to be to different workplaces by 8 AM. I work until 5/5:30 PM, she works until 2 or 3 PM. After we get home, the wife or I get in a quick workout (3 days a week, so we don't get even more out of shape), take the kids to a practice (usually 2 or 3 days a week, drive there and back), get home, make the kids dinner, do homework, get the kids bathed, and put to bed. Gotta clean the dishes, put a load (or two) of laundry in, fold clothes, more laundry, fold more clothes, and then get a shower. Then, sit down, pay bills and manage the house stuff. It is now about midnight and my young daughter is starting in with her nightly regime of waking up, crying, settling her back down, waking up, crying, settling her back down...this goes on for about an hour. Then, I can try to go to sleep, which is now difficult because I am absolutely stressed out of mind. Then my wife or I have a nighttime feeding around 4 AM (she sometimes sleeps through the night), which usually takes another hour. So, at around 5 AM, I can go back to sleep for about an hour. Wake up at 6 and do it all again. And actually up until about a month ago, you could throw in studying for my MBA.
</rant>

Now, there are some fluctuations in the schedule and my day is no different that so many people out there. I am not special and, frankly, I am perfectly happy with my life. I get to look into 6 of the most beautiful eyes on the planet. Limited sleep and being stressed out seems like such a small price to pay. And, hey, I find a way to FREEP, so it can't be too bad.

But, why does it have to be that way? Why does my wife and I, both, have to work full (or nearly full) time?

You all know the answer, don't you? Yes. Taxes.

If my wife (or I) didn't have to work, all of the crap that we end up doing after work (paying bills, cleaning house, etc.), could be done during the day. Because the public school system is off it's collective rocker, there is no way I would send my kids to public school, so we are (nearly) forced to find the best day care/school and send the kids there. Of course, if mom or I didn't have to work, we could stay home with the children, saving not only the expense, but being able to spend more time with the children.

Considering that I work from January until May (depending on the most recent estimate provide by the Tax Foundation and other organizations that calculate the Tax Freedom Day) to pay my taxes, it is a wonder that my wife and I (and every couple/family just like us) don't implode from that pressure alone.

Maybe if my wife and I weren't supporting all of the B.S. social programs, we would have more money to contribute to our charities and church? Maybe the government should get out of our face? Maybe we shouldn't have to worry about our children being thrown out of school for having "Tweety-bird" finger-nail clippers or pointing a chicken finger at someone and mimic "cops-and-robbers"? Maybe we should have to worry about children in 3rd grade being taught how to put a condom on a banana? Maybe we shouldn't have to worry about our local government adding a gas tax that they piss away, not on road care as intended, but on a public bus system that has a ridership of just over 30% capacity?

Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be so stressed out? And, maybe, just maybe, the knots in my neck and shoulders would subside? And, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be in so much pain? Maybe.

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