European journal of pain : EJP
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The characteristics of chest pain due to suspected acute myocardial infarction and morphine use during the first 3 hospital days are described in a population of 2988 consecutive patients admitted to hospital. The duration of pain was usually less than 24 h (mean 20.9+/-0.55 h), and only 24.8% of patients experienced chest pain of longer duration. The majority of patients had only one attack of pain, but 34.4% experienced four or more attacks during hospitalization. ⋯ When intravenous morphine is given, it attains full effect 20 min after injection. Furthermore, the active morphine metabolites M3G and M6G appear rapidly in the circulation, which could influence the analgesic response to morphine treatment. Copyright 1998 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
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The aims of this study were: (1) to compare two groups of patients with chronic pain conditions (work-related muscular pain, mainly low back pain, and fibromyalgia) in general coping and pain-specific coping; (2) to examine the relationship between general and pain-specific coping and, (3) to examine the influence of state-trait anxiety on general and pain-specific coping. The sample included 80 individuals (range=19-70 years; mean=47; SD=9.9), who were patients at two pain management clinics for examination of their physical and psychosocial health conditions and consideration on disability pension. The patients were asked to respond to theStrategies to Handle Stress Questionnaire, theCoping Strategies Questionnaireand theState-Trait Anxiety Inventory. ⋯ Anxiety-prone patients with fibromyalgia might benefit from psychological support in the process of coping with pain. Copyright 1998 The British Infection Society. All rights reserved.
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Positive results of pilot studies of the effect of staphylococcus toxoid vaccine in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome were the incitement to the present, placebo-controlled study. It included 28 patients who fulfilled the criteria for both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The effect of vaccination with a staphylococcus toxoid was compared with the effect of injections of sterile water. ⋯ Fifty percent were rehabilitated successfully and resumed half-time or full-time work. The results of this study support the authors>> hypothesis that treatment with staphylococcus toxoid may be a fruitful strategy in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Copyright 1998 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
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Positron emission tomography (PET) and accumulation of H(2)(15)O as a marker of neuronal activity were used to create maps of cerebral blood-flow changes evoked by painful heat stimulation in 10 subjects. Two levels of painful tonic and phasic heat stimuli were applied with use of a newly developed contact heat thermode on the volar surface of the dominant (right) arm. The subjects participated in two separate PET sessions. ⋯ Finally, the location of the activation site in the cingulate cortex was different from that observed during tonic heat pain. This study has provided more evidence for the existence of a common pain-processing network engaged during the perception of different levels of toxic and phasic heat pain. Copyright 1998 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.