A study conducted by the University of Alberta shows that pain not only affects one’s physical, emotional, and mental states, but it can also affect a person’s memory and concentration. It interferes with the memory trace needed to hold information for processing, and long-term storage. This affects not only one’s ability to remember, but also to concentrate and focus in the moment.
Many chronic conditions that cause pain are more common in people who are overweight or obese — arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia, hypertension, asthma, type 2 diabetes, and back pain. Because of this, the assumption is that being obese increases the likelihood of having multiple medical problems, and many of these conditions may cause pain. Obesity and pain often go hand in hand, even if the obese person is otherwise healthy.
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) often does not always cause symptoms, but if the infection becomes chronic, it can cause complications over time. One of these is joint inflammation and pain.
Radiofrequency ablation is an attempt to give patients longer, sustained relief of that painful area. As with any invasive procedure, there are risks and potential complications, but RFA is considered a low risk procedure.
Chronic pain is the No. 1 cause of disability and disease burden globally.
Having a chronic condition diagnosis is hard enough. It is even more challenging to go through all of this every day, yet be denied a concrete diagnosis. It can be exhausting and you can feel like giving up. However, you are not alone.
Mirror pain, is pain experienced on both sides of the body, usually after trauma or inflammation in a limb on one side. However, the pain on the side opposite the affected area is usually not as severe as that on the side of injury.
For doctors, it is learning to recognize and asses key symptoms of chronic pain conditions. And, as doctors, developing a solid network of resources and specialists to refer patients to. We cannot know and specialize in everything, nor should we. Seeing when it is time to send a patient to someone else who many know more is essential to the proper diagnosis and care of pain.
The stress system is closely aligned with the nervous system, including peripheral and central areas that interact with the brain. These are the areas that also happen to interpret pain. When the body reacts to stressors, it begins to modify pain symptoms, thus stimulating a different and/or higher pain perception in the body.
If you have a chronic pain disorder and are experiencing increased pain symptoms in the the summer, talk to your pain specialist. Come up with a plan to tackle the pain caused by heat and humidity.
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