Pain for Philosophers

Arthritis National Research Foundation

2011-12-21T11:23:00.001-05:00

Arthritis sucks. Rheumatoid Arthritis is especially sucky. Here's a gentle description of what happened to my grandmother from the Arthritis National Research Foundation.She once swam competitively, but no longer could. She had difficulty doing the shopping for her family. Everyday pleasures were dulled by pain. The simplest movements required tremendous effort and concentration.Joyce Sontag was

What cancer survival really means

2011-07-29T19:59:00.003-04:00

I was really taken aback by this explanation of what cancer survival really means. I know that some of you are fighting cancer* or have someone in your lives who is. This may be useful. xkcd: Lanes (Click to make bigger) Check out the rollover --the text which displays when your mouse hovers over the picture-- on the original post for how the picture reflects the stages of breast cancer.

Foolproof method for succeeding in modern neurochemistry

2011-07-19T14:44:00.001-04:00

Neurochemistry Post-Docs! Looking to publish interesting and important papers on the neurochemistry of reward but don't know what to study? Then Dr. Swenson's Revolutionary Topic Selection Method is for you! For centuries, western philosophers have thought carefully about the nature and kinds of pleasure.* You too can benefit from their efforts!Here's the key to Dr. Swenson's Revolutionary Topic

LSD analogue and cluster headaches

2011-07-19T12:46:00.001-04:00

Whoa. Check out this abstract an annual International Headache Congress paper. Cluster headache attack cessation and remission extension of months or longer in six treatment-refractory patients administered only 3 doses of BOL-148J. Halpern, M. Karst, T. PassieFive male patients with treatment-refractory chronic cluster headache and one female patient with treatment-refractory mixed cluster/

More on pain rating scales, xkcd weighs in

2011-04-12T14:17:00.001-04:00

Following up on Hyperbole and a Half's critique of the Wong-Baker Scale, xkcd weighs in on anchors of common assessment scales. His mouseover caption presses the point: "If it were a two or above, I couldn't answer because it would mean a pause in the screaming."This reminds me of a conversation with a friend about the pragmatics of rating the pain which brought you to the doctor's office. Our

The Strange Powers of the Placebo Effect

2011-02-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

Some of the interesting features of the placebo effect:

Darvocet decision a prelude a warm up for banning methadone?

2011-02-22T11:20:00.001-05:00

Christian Sinclair over at Pallimed does some sleuthing into the FDA's rationale for pulling propoxyphene and comes away concerned:He notes that * Propoxyphene is a synthetic derivative of methadone.* Methadone causes QT prolongation of questionable clinical significance in palliative care patients. * QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias.Combined with some FDA memo

Images from the History of Medicine (NLM)

2011-02-10T11:05:00.001-05:00

Just discovered the National Library of Medicine's archive of images. Pretty neat (in a depressing sort of way). Here's the main site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/ihm/and here's a link to search results for pain: Images from the History of Medicine (NLM) - Search Results: All Fields SimilarTo 'Pain'

Open placebos

2011-01-14T17:08:00.001-05:00

By now I'm sure you've all heard the exciting news: Placebos work even if the patients know that they are taking placebos! At least in a controlled study. Where their doctors give them lots of attention. Where they, as participants in a study, may be hoping that the 'treatment' works. When they've been told that science says placebos can work. Et cetera....No need for me to recapitulate the

From Overheard in New York: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia

2010-09-02T14:52:00.001-04:00

This cautionary tale from Overheard in New York provides me an opportunity to shamelessly boost my Google rating for sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (ice cream headache/brain freeze).Overheard in New York | God Has Played a Cold Joke on Us All.: "God Has Played a Cold Joke on Us All.Guy #1: Owwww! Fuck! Owwwwwwwww!Guy #2: You won't get an ice cream headache if you drink it slower.Guy #1: I'm

Menstrual cramps even suckier than previously thought

2010-09-02T14:35:00.001-04:00

In short, this suggests that menstrual cramps not only suck, they make other pains that happen to be around worse.Brain morphological changes associated with cyclic menstrual pain: "Volume 150, Issue 3, Pages 462-468 (September 2010) Cheng-Hao Tuab, David M. Niddambc, Hsiang-Tai Chaod, Li-Fen Chenbce, Yong-Sheng Chenf, Yu-Te Wubeg, Tzu-Chen Yehbe, Jiing-Feng Lirngh, Jen-Chuen

The most obnoxious email my hand surgeon has ever received

2010-08-17T18:41:00.001-04:00

I managed to badly break my thumb during judo last week. I'm having surgery to repair it this Friday. After spending all this time learning about pain/pain medicine, I've learned just enough about drugs to be dangerous. Today, that danger has manifested in what I'm guessing is the most obnoxious email my hand surgeon has ever received from a patient.For your enjoyment:Dear [Dr's assistant],....

Aerobic exercise: More pain now for less later

2010-05-28T11:14:00.001-04:00

A useful bit from The Well's interview with sports medicine specialist Dr. Vijay VadLinkQ: What else can someone do to relieve pain besides take a prescription pain reliever or undergo a procedure?A: There are so many self-help things you can do. Something as simple as trying to do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise can help. With pain, you’re in a vicious cycle – you take more narcotics, your REM

The Almost Discovery Of Anesthesia : NPR

2010-05-28T10:45:00.001-04:00

Here's an NPR story on the discovery of nitrous oxide. The transcript and podcast are here: No, Thank You; We Like Pain: The Almost Discovery Of Anesthesia : NPRToday's Quantified Self practitioners take note, you've got nothing on young Humphry Davy.

Carnival

2010-05-11T11:40:00.001-04:00

As always I'm super late on this, but the April pain blog carnival is up at How to Cope With Pain:http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/blog/2361/pain-blog-carnival-april-2010/Definitely check it out.

Contest!

2010-05-11T11:37:00.001-04:00

Our friends at How to Cope With Pain are having a contest. The winners get the opportunity to write a guest post at the site. This is an excellent opportunity for those of you looking to bring your voice to a wider audience.The contest details are here:http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/blog/2287/contest-write-a-guest-article/The deadline is 16th May, so hurry......

NY Times Patient Voices series

2010-04-08T11:02:00.001-04:00

I just happened across the NY Times' Patient Voices series. Check it out.Here're some of the pain related ones:Patient Voices: Rheumatoid ArthritisPatient Voices: MigrainePatient Voices: Fibromyalgia

Review of David Biro's The Language of Pain

2010-04-01T13:37:00.002-04:00

Short story: David Biro's The Language of Pain: Finding Words, Compassion and Relief is very good. Go buy it.Longer story: The publisher sent me an advance copy of Biro's The Language of Pain a few months ago. I've read it several times and been working on a review to share with y'all. But the review is getting too long and though I think I agree with most of his conclusions, I'm still not

A critique and new version of the Wong-Baker Pain Faces Scale

2010-04-01T11:24:00.003-04:00

I'm passing along this excellent critique and suggestion from Allie at Hyperbole and a Half: Hyperbole and a Half: Boyfriend Doesn't Have Ebola. Probably. *UPDATED* We're all familiar with the Wong-Baker Pain Faces Scale. But as our Hyperbolic critic notes, this is easily misunderstood. For example, she interprets it as 0: Haha! I'm not wearing any pants! 2: Awesome! Someone just offered

Mutations in the SCN9A gene and pain sensitivity

2010-03-14T11:36:00.001-04:00

The article emphasizes the genetics, but I'm more interested in the implication that the heightened sensitivity relates to the speed at which sodium channels close in nociceptive neurons.Gene Linked To Pain Perception - Science News: "Gene linked to pain perceptionCommon genetic variant makes some people more sensitiveBy Laura Sanders Web edition : Monday, March 8th, 2010 [....]The team found

Placebo effect video

2010-02-19T16:16:00.001-05:00

Here's a nice summary of some of the current understanding of the placebo effect. I'm also a fan of the fact that the efficacy of a placebo pill increases with the geometric complexity of its shape. Also, the point at the end about using the research on placebos is bolstered by research on the nocebo effect -where contextual cues make the condition worse (though the nocebo effect lacks much of

My mom must be proud

2010-02-17T19:17:00.000-05:00

According to Alexa.com this site is the #1 place on the internet to find answers to the age old question: Do opiates decrease telepathic abilities?I hope the 5 people arriving from 3 different countries found the answers they were looking for.

Fetal pain

2010-02-15T17:28:00.001-05:00

I think this sort of debate runs together two separate questions:(1) Is the neurophysiology upon which pain-involving mental states supervene present in fetuses of x weeks?and(2) Is fetal pain --if it exists-- bad for the fetus?Here's two reasons for thinking they come apart.First, it's worth remembering that the aversiveness of pain is to some extent learned (see, for example, the famous McGill

Oklahoma restricting injections for chronic pain

2010-02-15T16:56:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately, the article doesn't say why this was an issue in the first placeOklahoma House gets bill restricting injections for chronic pain | NewsOK.com: "Only physicians would be allowed to administer precise pain management injections under a bill approved Tuesday by a House committee.The House Public Health Committee approved Senate Bill 1133 by a 14-5 vote. It now goes to the full

Healthcare-Associated Infection

2010-02-14T11:15:00.001-05:00

This isn't directly about pain. But I thought I'd pass it along.The Kimberly-Clark Health Care Company has an informational (and of course promotional) website on healthcare associated infections here Patients who want to get a sense of the problem and what they should keep an eye out for may find some of the links useful.