Articles: chronic.
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The biopsychosocial model (BPS) of chronic pain aspires to be comprehensive, incorporating psychological and social factors omitted from biomedical models. Although psychosocial factors are viewed as highly influential in understanding behavioral and psychological responses to pain, these factors are usually viewed as modifiers of biological causes of the experience of pain itself, rather than as equal contributors to pain. To further advance the BPS model, we re-examine a classic 1994 article by Wilbert "Bill" Fordyce, "Pain and suffering: what is the unit?" In this article, Fordyce suggested that pain-related disability and suffering should be viewed as "transdermal," as having causes both inside and outside the body. ⋯ It makes it possible to place psychological and social factors on an equal footing with biological ones in explaining pain itself and to remove distinctions between pain mechanisms and pain meanings. The brain's salience network now offers a platform on which diverse influences on pain experience-from nociception to multisensory indicators of safety or danger-can be integrated, bridging the gap between impersonal nociceptive mechanisms and personal meanings. We also argue that Fordyce's article is practically important because this concept expands the BPS model beyond the bounds of the clinical encounter, opening the door to the full range of social, psychological, and biological interventions, empowering patients and nonmedical providers to tackle chronic pain.
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Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) is a significant concern and contributes to the opioid epidemic; however, little is known about CPSP in young people. ⋯ Patients who present with pain during their preoperative appointment may need to be monitored with increased vigilance throughout the perioperative period, possibly with bedside QST and psychological questionnaires, which nurses could administer. Biobehavioral interventions targeting pain intensity and feelings of helplessness and anxiety during the preoperative period may alleviate the transition to CPSP.
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A 44-year-old woman with a history of dyslipidemia and chronic anemia from uterine fibroids was admitted to the general medicine department of a tertiary hospital for a prolonged fever of 2 months' duration. The patient reported multiple visits to her local general practitioner, with tympanic temperatures up to 38.2 °C, where she was treated with 2 courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics in view of associated sore throat, nonproductive cough, and generalized lethargy. Although her respiratory symptoms abated within a few days of her initial presentation, her fever and lethargy persisted. ⋯ Subsequent CT scan of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis detected an enlarged subcarinal lymph node measuring 3.7 cm × 1.7 cm and a mildly enlarged pre-carinal lymph node measuring 2.0 × 1.5 cm, with a mean attenuation of 66-77 Hounsfield Units (HU), and no central necrosis or calcification. No significant abnormalities were detected in the abdomen or pelvis. The patient was then referred to the respiratory department for further evaluation.
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Traumatic injuries are amongst the leading causes of death and disability in the world across all age groups. This systematic review aimed to (1) describe the role of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) on the development of chronic pain and/or pain-related disability following musculoskeletal trauma and (2) report pain and or pain-related disability by injury severity/type. ⋯ CRD42021285243.