I’ve learned a lot. Taking it to heart? Well…..not so fast. Being in pain on a daily basis has taught me a lot. Not only has it taught me about my body but it’s also taught me about my soul. Rosemary Lee So, what have I learned? I’ve learned that chronic means forever. When I … Read more

(Editor’s Note—This letter was submitted to the Oregon Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) in advance of its August 9 meeting to consider opioid forced taper guidelines. People outside of Oregon are free to comment. To submit your comment of 1000 words or less, email them to herc.info@state.or.us as soon as possible.) July 30, 2018 Dear Members of … Read more

By Ed Coghlan. Here at the National Pain Report, we’ve known a former Marine who lives in Tennessee and suffers from chronic pain for about 18 months. His name is Robert Rose and he has been fighting what only can be called “the good fight”. Robert Rose He has suffered from chronic pain and when … Read more

By Ed Coghlan.25 One of the National Pain Report’s many excellent contributors, Dr. David Nagel and I were chatting by email recently. Dr. Nagel, who wrote an excellent book on chronic pain called Needless Suffering; How Society Fails Those With Chronic Pain, has been speaking on the issue since his book came out. I shared … Read more

By Richard A Lawhern, PhD. Because I write and speak widely on public policy for the treatment of chronic pain, I am fairly often asked what I would recommend to patients, caregivers, and physicians who want to comment on the recommendations of the HHS Inter Agency Task Force on Best Practices in Pain Management. I … Read more

By Ed Coghlan Ask a CRPS patient about his or her experience with physicians and you’ll probably hear something like “It took months for me to get a diagnosis.” It’s true. In fact, the average CRPS patients sees four doctors before he or she can get a diagnosis. RSDSA, a national non-profit, has partnered with the … Read more

By Ed Coghlan Since we started the National Pain Report, one topic that we have tried to consistently explore is the quantity and quality of care that chronic pain patients received. As many of our writers and commentators have written over the years, this is a health care system story—and it’s a system that often … Read more

People with chronic pain who believe they won’t be able to sleep are more likely to suffer from insomnia, thus causing worse pain, says a study from the University of Warwick published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Esther Afolalu and colleagues from the Sleep and Pain Lab in the Department of Psychology created a scale to … Read more

By Staff. Patients with musculoskeletal conditions who receive prescription opioids are more satisfied with their care than comparable patients who do not receive opioids. “In the current payment paradigm, reimbursement is partially based on patient satisfaction scores. We sought to understand the relationship between prescription opioid use and satisfaction with care among adults who have … Read more

Wearing virtual reality (VR) goggles and watching calming videos significantly reduces pain for hospitalized patients. In a new study published by JMIR Mental Health, a sister publication of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, researchers examined 100 hospitalized patients who reported pain scores of greater than 3 on the Numeric Pain Rating Scale from zero to 10. … Read more