Headache Headache Basics

What Is Chronic Pain?

Summary & Participants

Chronic pain can affect a person 24 hours a day. What causes chronic pain and how can you get some relief?

Medically Reviewed On: July 14, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: According to the American Chronic Pain Association, chronic pain is pain that continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness, or that goes on for months or years due to a chronic condition.

BILL McCARBERG, MD: The most common types of pain that I see in my practice are low back pain, is very common. Neck and upper back pain is the next most common. Osteoarthritis affects the hands and the feet and the hips and the knees and all of these other areas. Fibromyalgia and another condition called myofascial pain is a very common condition as well.

ANNOUNCER: Chronic pain is persistent and can degrade health and daily function.

SCOTT FISHMAN, MD: When someone's in pain all the time, they've really lost their ability to concentrate on all of the things they need to do in their lives, because, as an alarm system, the purpose of pain is to grab your attention.

BILL McCARBERG, MD: The people that are suffering pain-and this is most often the elderly, believe it or not-don't complain to their doctors about it. So what patients do is they have a lot of pain, but they don't complain about it very much. They don't let their provider know how much this is affecting their life.

ZORBA PASTER, MD: We cannot test for chronic pain. There is no way that we have a meter. There is no pain-o-meter. We can test for blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, but we can't test for pain.

ANNOUNCER: And chronic pain often affects people day and night.

ZORBA PASTER, MD: Chronic pain is an important cause of insomnia. If you're trying to go to sleep and you hurt, it's hard to get to sleep. If you do get to sleep and you hurt, you're much more likely to wake up.

ANNOUNCER: Patients can find non-prescription pain relief at the local drug store, in the form of ice packs and over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen. A group of medications called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs can also help provide pain relief. Common older NSAIDs include ibuprofen and aspirin.

But most NSAIDs may cause serious gastrointestinal problems, especially with long-term use.

ZORBA PASTER, MD: The side effects of anti-inflammatories include GI bleeds, bleeding from the stomach.

ANNOUNCER: Once patients are diagnosed with chronic pain, doctors may turn to prescription NSAIDs. One type of prescription NSAID, called a COX-2 inhibitor, is thought to be less likely to cause intestinal bleeding than older NSAIDs.

ZORBA PASTER, MD: They were developed to reduce the risk of GI bleeds. Now, do they carry a risk of GI bleeds? Yes. They are better on the gut. They're a little bit easier. They're not as likely to cause a GI bleed.

ANNOUNCER: COX-2s have been associated with serious heart complications in patients and some have been taken off the market.

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