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Approximately one in five people on Earth lives with chronic pain. And the vast majority—up to two-thirds—are women. New research from Aalborg University sheds light on a possible cause: sleep. A new study shows that disturbed sleep increases the body's sensitivity to pain, and that women react more strongly than men. According to the researchers, this opens up a new and often overlooked approach to both the understanding and treatment of chronic pain. "For many years, we've relied on stronger and more targeted medicine. But perhaps the solution is far simpler. It seems that sleep plays a greater role in...

What is kratom? And why is it being promoted as a ‘wellness’ product to our kids? My college-age son called me recently and asked me about “kratom,” saying that it was all over campus and even some of his friends were trying it. Thankfully, I got the phone call asking about what it was rather than him just hopping on the bandwagon of trying the latest trend. “What is it?” he asked. And for once, I had to admit, that although I had heard of it, I didn’t know much else about it. This concerned me on many levels. How...

Receiving six or more prescriptions of the drug gabapentin for low back pain is associated with significantly increased risks of developing dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)—29% and 85%, respectively—finds a large medical records study. These risks were more than twice as high in those normally considered too young to develop either condition—18–64-year-olds—the findings indicate. Gabapentin has become increasingly popular for the treatment of chronic pain, especially neuropathic pain, as it offers potentially neuroprotective benefits. The researchers drew on real-time data from TriNetX, which contains electronic health records from 68 health care organizations across the U.S. They scrutinized the anonymized...

Lower levels of certain vitamins and minerals were found to be associated with chronic pain in a study. This is the first study to take a precision medicine approach to chronic pain on a large scale by broadly examining micronutrient levels of people with and without chronic pain and exploring the incidence of chronic pain in people with or without micronutrient deficiencies. The findings could inform personalized nutritional strategies to help manage chronic pain. The research team focused on five micronutrients commonly associated with chronic pain: vitamins D, B12, and C, folate and magnesium. They examined the micronutrient status of...

Research supports the effectiveness of a kinesiology-based method to treat lower back pain, say study authors. Low back pain is the leading cause of late-life disability, affecting nearly 700 million globally. Those suffering from low back pain can now find relief through the scientifically supported Canali Postural Method (CPM) in the prevention of postural dysfunctions, and in post-rehabilitation functional recovery aimed at optimizing physical efficiency. Therapists evaluated and compared the effects of applying two kinesiological approaches; a generic exercise program and one based on CPM. They found that the CPM group experienced significantly greater pain relief both immediately after the...

In a recent study, researchers from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany have demonstrated that the well-known “rubber hand illusion” can significantly reduce pain perception. The findings, published in PAIN Reports, suggest that the illusion of body ownership over an artificial limb can alter pain perception in real time, providing potential implications for pain management and therapy. “We assume that the mechanism behind the rubber hand illusion is the multisensory integration of visual, tactile (here nociceptive) and proprioceptive information,” co-author and professor at Ruhr University Bochum, Dr. Martin Diers, said in a press release. “The findings suggest that when people perceive...

Wow!! An exorcist is needed at Britney Spears home.

Researchers found commonly performed interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain may provide little to no pain relief when compared with sham procedures. Chronic spine pain, defined as persistent pain along or referred from the spine lasting three months or longer, presents a global health challenge. While interventional procedures such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, and radiofrequency nerve ablation are frequently used, clinical guidelines have offered conflicting recommendations regarding their effectiveness. Researchers conducted a comprehensive search. Eighty-one trials with 7,977 patients were included in meta-analyses out of 132 eligible studies. Patients with chronic axial or radicular spine pain were...

Former abortionist: Babies feel pain during brutal ‘dismemberment’ abortions(Live Action) — Can preborn children feel the pain of the abortion that kills them?That’s the question posed to Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist, in the first video of Live Action’s Face to Face series. In the video, abortion survivor Claire Culwell says that she survived her birth mother’s D&E (dilation and evacuation or “dismemberment”) abortion, which killed her twin. “I’ve always wondered what my twin experienced,” she says to Levatino, “And what maybe I experienced in the womb next to my twin.”Levatino explains that though he is not an expert...

Excess abdominal fat is associated with widespread chronic pain, particularly in women, finds the first study of its kind. Reducing excess fat deposits in the abdomen may help reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially if it's experienced at multiple body sites, suggest the researchers. Previously published research has shown that obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain, but it's not known if excess fat tissue is linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain and at multiple body sites. To find out, they drew on data for 32,409 participants in the UK Biobank study who completed questionnaires and underwent health assessments. Around half (51%) were...

Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, revealed this week that she grew up with a spinal condition that caused a “hunchback” – and suggested using the controversial drug ketamine as one way to deal with the pain. The lefty activist daughter of second gentleman Doug Emhoff made the recommendation in one of a series of Instagram posts this week where she also revealed she has suffered from “bad chronic back pain” for most of her life. ”I was born with a tethered spine (iykyk) which caused my back to not properly lengthen when I was growing and caused a...

The results of routine blood tests could be used to speed up cancer diagnosis among people with stomach pain or bloating, suggests a study. The study looked at data from more than 400,000 people aged 30 or older in the UK who had visited a GP due to stomach pain and more than 50,000 who had visited their GP due to bloating. Two thirds of this group had blood tests following their appointment. In the new study, the researchers found that people aged 60 or over who had gone to the GP with either stomach pain or bloating had a...

A disabled Canadian man is now celebrating his “deathaversary” after escaping being euthanized by his government over his crushing debts. Amir Farsoud was due to be euthanized by the Canadian government’s “assisted suicide” program because he was struggling to pay off his financial debts. Farsoud said he was booked into to be killed under Canada’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAID) law after being faced with the grim choice of death or homelessness. However, just before he was scheduled to be euthanized, people raised enough money to improve his financial situation and he narrowly avoided death. A year and a half...

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...