Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
-
To identify associations between prescription coverage and cancer pain and its sequelae in indigent patients. ⋯ Indigent patients without prescription coverage trended toward reporting more cancer pain, received lower doses of transdermal fentanyl, and trended to lower adherence to pain regimens due to financial reasons. The trends observed in this pilot study will guide the design of a hypothesis-driven regression analysis.
-
We attempted to identify psychological comorbidities that are associated with the propensity for prescription opioid abuse. ⋯ Patients in chronic pain should be assessed for psychological and addiction disorders because they are at increased risk for abusing opioids. They should also be referred for psychosocial treatment as part of their care, where appropriate.
-
The emergency department (ED) can be a particularly challenging environment in which to offer care for chronic pain. This study tried to determine if beliefs held by patients and providers about noncancer-related chronic pain affect evaluation and management of pain in ED. ⋯ Patients in chronic pain may need to be reassured that their pain will be treated, even in the absence of objective signs or magnified symptoms. Providers may wrongly believe that lack of a primary care physician brings these patients to the ED. Providers and patients appear to believe that treating chronic pain in the ED has a low priority. Both groups may underestimate the problems inherent with prescribing opioids in this setting.
-
Exercise performance and chronic pain in chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of pain catastrophizing.
This study aimed to examine the associations between bodily pain, pain catastrophizing, depression, activity limitations/participation restrictions, employment status, and exercise performance in female patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) who experience widespread pain. ⋯ These data provide evidence favoring a significant association between pain catastrophizing, bodily pain, exercise performance, and self-reported disability in female patients with CFS who experience widespread pain. Further prospective longitudinal studying of these variables is required.
-
Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lipid storage disorder showing a high prevalence and early occurrence of painful neuropathy. Early detection of this likely underdiagnosed disease is an important approach because a causal therapy is available. ⋯ Thus, somatosensory profiling in male patients with painful extremities may be useful in the detection of FD.