seeking joy in a life with chronic migraine, chronic daily headache and chronic illness
In studies of rats, Columbia University researchers have identified a molecular switch that turns off chronic pain. WebMD offers a good explanation of how it works:
“The switch is an enzyme called protein kinase G or PKG. When PKG gets stuck in the ‘on’ position, nerve cells keep sending pain signals — long after the injury that originally caused the pain has healed. Turning PKG off stops the pain, rats studies show.”
Better meds could be the eventual result of this exciting finding.
Anyone with pain that requires opioid treatment must read this article on the DEA’s stance on painkillers. In fact, I think everyone who lives in the US should read the article.
Entitled “Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers: The Drug Enforcement Administration’s War on Prescription Painkillers,” this 35-page journal article overflows with illustrative information. Print it out and grab your highlighter. The time investment is well worthwhile.
Here’s the abstract:
Since 2001, the federal government has accelerated its pursuit of physicians it alleges are contributing to an increase of prescription-drug addiction. These highly publicized indictments and prosecutions have frightened many physicians out of the field of pain management, exacerbating an already serious health crisis—the widespread undertreatment of severe chronic pain.
[via Kevin, MD]
The American Academy of Pain Medicine‘s 22nd annual meeting begins tomorrow. Topics include FDA regulation of pain treatments, advocacy issues and alternative therapies for treating pain.
Could be good stuff. I’ll let you know what comes out of it.
In the US, about 50 million people have some form of chronic pain, yet there is little known about how and why we feel pain. (Although the revelation that chronic pain may be caused by healthy nerves, not damaged ones as previously though, may change that.)
FOX News examines chronic pain in The Pain Truth: How and Why We Hurt. From describing how little is known about pain to the complexity of it to ways to treat it, the article teaches the basics of pain.
According to FOX, researchers at the Mayo Clinic say “chronic pain, which might result from inflammation, can be amplified and distorted like music turned up beyond a speaker’s capability, causing pain out of proportion to the source.”
Richard Paey, a chronic pain patient who is serving 25 years in prison for his frequent refills of pain meds will be interviewed on Sunday’s 60 Minutes. He was charged with prescription forgery, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and drug trafficking.
Ironically, the same judicial system that prosecuted Paey is now supplying him with more pain medication than he took before his prison term.
The show airs at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 29.