Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Persistent vulvovaginal pain affects many women and often has adverse effects on sexual functioning. Psychological inflexibility related to pain is associated with distress and functional disability across different types of chronic pain conditions, but little is known about the role of psychological inflexibility in vulvovaginal pain. The present study examines psychological inflexibility related to pain as a predictor of sexual functioning over time among women with vulvovaginal pain. ⋯ The findings provide preliminary evidence that psychological inflexibility is associated with sexual adjustment over time among women with vulvovaginal pain and point to the relevance of further examinations of the psychological inflexibility model in the context of vulvovaginal pain.
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To evaluate the association between hypovitaminosis D and outcomes of symptom severity, mood disorders, fatigue, and quality of life in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. ⋯ Hypovitaminosis D may be a risk factor for worse symptom severity, anxiety, and depression in FM patients.
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Although past research has established that men with chronic pain are more likely to misuse prescription pain medications in a myriad of ways compared with women, little is known about men's medication use in the context of their gender role beliefs. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of men's domestic gender role beliefs on their use of prescription pain medication for chronic pain. ⋯ These findings suggest that although men's perceptions of somatic stimuli through its perceived interference contribute to their medication use, the extent to which they consume prescription pain medication depends on their beliefs in domestic gender roles during chronic pain.
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This study used high-speed cooling of the skin and exact control of stimulus duration to measure the cold detection threshold in healthy participants. The objective was to compare the method of limits, in which the temperature is slowly and gradually increased/decreased until the subject perceives the stimulation, and the method of levels, in which the subject must detect brief thermal stimulations close to the threshold of perception. ⋯ These results suggest that the method of levels is more accurate than the method of limits for measuring cold detection threshold. The improvement of cold detection threshold measurement may provide new perspectives to more precisely assess the function of A-delta fibers and the spino-thalamic pathway.