Informative Essay: What Is Chronic Pain?

“Pain is much more than a physical sensation caused by a specific stimulus. An individual's perception of pain has important affective (emotional), cognitive, behavioral, and sensory components that are shaped by past experience, culture, and situational factors. The nature of the stimulus for pain can be physical, psychological, or a combination of both.” (Potter, Perry, Stockert, Hall, & Peterson, 2014 p. 141) As stated by Potter et al, the different natures of pain are dealt with differently depending on many factors. Knowing this, treating pain can be very difficult as there is no single or clear cut way of measuring it; “Even though the assessment and treatment of pain is a universally important health care issue,

To most people, pain is a nuisance, but to others pain controls their life. The feeling discomforts us in ways that can sometimes seem almost imaginable. These feelings can lead to many different side effects if not dealt with or diagnosed. These effects can include depression, anxiety, and incredible amount of stress. The truth about pain is that it is vital to our existence. Without the nervous system responding to pain, we would have no idea if we were touching a hot stove, being stuck by a porcupine’s needles, or something else that could leave a lasting effect upon our bodies without us even knowing anything about it.

Are you in pain? You’re not alone, many are in pain. It is estimated pain is the largest epidemic we face, as we spend billions on medication and surgeries. Unfortunately, these treatments are often not successful, resulting in greater cost with minimal gain.

Pain which is referred to as the fifth vital sign is one of the most common reasons why patients seek care. “It can occur at any time, to anyone. Pain can profoundly affect quality of life, interactions with family and friends, sense of well-being and self-esteem, and financial resources” (Jensen,

Chronic pain describes pain that persists over long periods of time. It handicaps the normal lifestyle and quality of one’s life (http://www.asri.edu/neuro/brochure/pain1.htm).

There are a variety of pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches in managing chronic pain. These are broken down to six major categories; they are pharmacological, interventional, neuromodulation, physical medicine, behavioral medicine and surgical approaches (1). A coordinated multidisciplinary team approach and detailed patient's history is essential in tailoring a patient-specific treatment plan that will meet treatment goals. A number of randomized systematic reviews found strong evidence that multidisciplinary approach including bio-psychosocial rehabilitation improves functional status when compared with non-multidisciplinary care (2,3). Here, we will focus our discussion on some of the advantages and disadvantages of medical management versus interventional management of chronic pain.

“Chronic pain is even worse to live with than lung, cardiac or liver disease. Bad chronic pain is connected with the worst quality of life. People don’t realize that it is a disease on its own, not just a symptom.” (qtd in MacCallum par 1) Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than six months. It can affect different parts of your body and nervous system. (Blahd par. 1) Sometimes the pain is so severe that it is debilitating. That is where pain medication comes into play.

Everyone experiences pain differently, its etiology, source, and type of pain is unique to each patient. Pain is defined as “a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that originates from sensory stimuli, which has obvious motivation-affective properties, demands attention, disrupts thought and behavior and results in activity aimed to stop the pain” (Blanchard, 2010). Managing pain in the acute care setting has become one of the greatest challenges nurses and healthcare providers face. Unsatisfactorily managed pain can contribute to several adverse outcomes for hospitalized patients including reduced mobility, stimulation of unhealthy stress response, infection, creates barriers, and additional complications. “As pain treatment becomes more aggressive, so too does our attention to reassessment of pain after intervention to ensure both safe and effective pain management” (Gordon, 2014).

Chronic Pain is an interesting problem in society today. The exact cause of Chronic Pain is not the same in every patient. In fact most patients present with different symptoms and associated pathologies, such as the strong link with depression. Treatment of Chronic Pain is often performed a single practitioner whether that be a Medical Doctor, Chiropractor, Nutritionist, or an alternative health care professional. Chronic Pain is often extremely complex, because of this treatment needs to be multidimensional. Effective care of Chronic Pain requires the collective cooperation of health care professionals

There are two types of pain; Acute or Fast pain, this is a protective event that enables the organism to localise pain rapidly and accurately and withdraw from a stimulus to reduce further damage . The second type of pain is Chronic, this is commonly triggered by an injury or disease, but may be perpetuated by factors other than the cause of pain. The injury may exceed the body’s capability for healing. One will be diagnosed with chronic pain if the ‘pain’ continues 3 months after normal healing time for the injury at hand. Pain occurs due to four processes, Transduction, Transmission, Modulation and finally Perception. For pain to be felt all four processes must occur in synchronisation. Pain can affect people differently, this could be due to their; Gender, Sex or age. Studies have found that rates of most

In the United States, pain is the most common reason for patients to seek medical attention. According to an Institute of Medicine report in 2011, at least 116 million people in the United States suffer from acute and chronic pain every year, including up to 80% of the elderly population, affecting more American adults than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined.1 The national annual economic cost associated with chronic pain is estimated to be $560-635 billion (or $2000 for each American), spent on medical treatment ($260-300b) and in lost productivity ($297-336b). In 2008, 14% of all federal Medicare expenditures are spent on pain management. Chronic pain is often associated with other co-morbidities such as

A cross-national study reported that nearly 9% of primary care patients will suffer from persistent pain for one year and up to 50% report experiencing this pain one year later (Gureje, Simon, & Von Korff, 2001). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that one-third of U.S. adults experience chronic or recurrent pain (Living Well with Chronic Illness, 2012). The IOM report challenged policy makers and physicians to demonstrate and understand these four principles: (1) that it is of moral importance to have effective pain management, (2) pain is a disease with a distinct pathology, (3) pain is undertreated and under diagnosed, especially in underprivileged populations, and (4) an interdisciplinary treatment approach is needed (Cheatle, 2016; Living Well with Chronic Illness, 2012). The ability to accurately assess an individual’s pain is of great importance. More than half of all chronic pain patients receive their care from primary care practitioners (PCPs) and much of the current research is attempting to focus on this, however, most PCPs do not have the time, resources, or education in pain management necessary to effectively treat chronic pain patients

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.

This paper is going to talk about how to deal with chronic pain. First of all, this paper will explain what chronic pain means by providing the foremost chronic pain encountered in life such as low back, joints, or other kinds. Next, this paper will cover why it is important to address conditions related to chronic pain, and will explore methods and strategies showing how to cope with continuing pain. Finally, this paper will share some predictable outcomes and a conclusion.

Pain is a basic mechanism in life that helps the body identify that something is wrong or dangerous. Without pain, the body would be severely damaged without realizing it. Pain can become an inconvenience when it spirals out of control; chronic pain, for example, leaves many miserable and unable to enjoy life to its fullest extent even with traditional medical intervention. Around 80% of people report chronic pain in their lifetime (Holtzman & Beggs, 2013). People afflicted by chronic back pain turn to modern medicine for relief, but even these alternatives are not always 100% effective.