Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Sensory illusions may reveal fundamental features of the nervous system. The thermal grill illusion is such a pain illusion, where interlaced warm and cool temperature bars (thermal grill) produce a paradoxical burning sensation. Previous studies have only systematically investigated the thermal grill illusion in pain-free volunteers. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the response to the thermal grill illusion was tolerable in patients with chronic pain and whether the response differed between patients with chronic pain and pain-free volunteers. ⋯ This preliminary data suggest that the thermal grill response may provide insights into pain sensitivity that are not detected by conventional thermal quantitative sensory testing.
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Pain control is the main objective when treating patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP). However, DPNP is associated with further substantial patient burden that often is not appropriately addressed. Our study identified patients' needs and asked patients what they expected from DPNP treatment. ⋯ The majority of patients identified "general activity" and "walking ability" as most relevant BPI interference items for which they expect improvement from DPNP treatment.
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Patients and caregivers participate in decision-taking, and their views should be considered in the preparation of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs). We involved them in the development of a CPG on the safe use of major opioids. ⋯ These patients and caregivers demonstrated a preference for pain alleviation by opioid treatment and gave negative assessments on adverse digestive effects that can cause this treatment to be abandoned. They expressed interest in receiving more information and in participating in therapeutic decision making, and they reported erroneous beliefs and a lack of information about the effects of these drugs.