NIH-funded study suggests brain is hard-wired for chronic pain

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A Map of Chronic Pain
A Map of Chronic Pain

Brain’s white matter may determine susceptibility to chronic pain

Scientists used the structure of the brain’s white matter (green lines) to predict whether a subject would recover from low back pain. Red dots represent differences in white matter structure between subjects who recovered and who suffered chronic pain. Courtesy of Apkarian lab, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

The structure of the brain may predict whether a person will suffer chronic low back pain, according to researchers who used brain scans. The results, published in the journal Pain, support the growing idea that the brain plays a critical role in chronic pain, a concept that may lead to changes in the way doctors treat patients. The research was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

“We may have found an anatomical marker for chronic pain in the brain,” said Vania Apkarian, Ph.D., a senior author of the study and professor of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Chronic pain affects nearly 100 million Americans and costs the United States up to $635 billion per year to treat. According to the Institute of Medicine, an independent research organization, chronic pain affects a growing number of people.

“Pain is becoming an enormous burden on the public. The U.S. government recently outlined steps to reduce the future burden of pain through broad-ranging efforts, including enhanced research,” said Linda Porter, Ph.D, the pain policy advisor at NINDS and a leader of NIH’s Pain Consortium. “This study is a good example of the kind of innovative research we hope will reduce chronic pain which affects a huge portion of the population.”

Low back pain represents about 28 percent of all causes of pain in the United States; about 23 percent of these patients suffer chronic, or long-term, low back pain.

Pain in the Brain with Dr. Vania Apkarian
Apkarian on Pain

Watch Dr. Vania Apkarian discuss the relationship between lower back pain and the brain.
Scientists have thought the cause of low back pain could be found at the site of injury. However, recent studies suggest that the brain may be more involved with chronic pain.

“Currently we know very little about why some patients suffer chronic low back pain,” said Debra Babcock, M.D., Ph.D., a program director at NINDS. “The earlier we detect pain will become chronic, the better we may be able to treat patients.”

Dr. Apkarian and his colleagues addressed this by scanning the brains of 46 people who had low back pain for about three months before coming to the hospital but who had not had any pain for at least a year before.

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4 Lies We Believe About Life With Illness

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Founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week and Rest Ministries

When it comes to making the daily decisions about our illness it’s easy to rely on instinct. Occasionally, however, our instinctive decisions about dealing with our disease can lead us astray. What we once believed about our body and its limitations when we were healthy may no longer apply, and yet we can still have those same clichés running through our thoughts, trying to dictate how we live.

Here are four lies we can easily listen to that can cause us grief or even physical harm.

1. Your illness is a sign that you somehow messed up

There are great debates over how much control we have over our bodies. Those who are diligent about what food goes into their bodies and how much they exercise will often claim they have prevented disease. Unfortunately, although we can lessen disease by eating healthy, avoiding smoking, and other good health habits, these choices do not guarantee that we are exempt from a chronic illness.

Some people who have made wise health choices for decades, have had their bodies eventually betray them, succumbing to cancers or other health conditions. And although one can delay a disease they may be genetically predisposed it, it cannot always be avoided.

Don’t beat yourself up trying to figure out what you did wrong to cause your illness. Guilt, blame and shame are not going to help you. Instead, spend your time understanding more about your unique illness and how it affects your body.

What is the common treatment? What symptoms can you expect? How have people responded to treatment? Are there controversies about treatments? Then choose to become the healthiest person you can be — with your disease.

2. If you rest you are letting the illness win

In the United States, the afternoon nap gets little respect. Many countries have rest times built into their work days, from Latin siestas to afternoon naps in Japan’s workforce, with “nap salon” popping up in major cities. But in our culture the shift in attitude has been slow, despite the fact that Google offers employees “napping pods” to take a quick rest. Rest has traditionally been considered a sign that you are lazy and unmotivated.

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complex regional pain syndrome CRPS/RSD: sheila’s story as told by her husband

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Dave and I had been roommates in Salt Lake when I met Cody back in 2000. He was always quiet and funny, waxing poetic about moldy coffee or snow leopards. Cody and I were both surprised when he and my other roommate began running half and full marathons, regularly. Soon a cute girl kept showing up in Dave’s photos and Cody and I jokingly wondered how regular old Dave had landed such a babe. They married, continued to run races and you could always tell how in love Dave and Sheila were in their photos.

Earlier this month Dave changed his profile picture, it was a good one. The two of them sitting in the back of a truck, Sheila looking up at Dave with all the love in the world. I noticed a comment left by a friend that said “I’m so glad she had you to share her life with.” I started reading other comments, then posts from other people, all condolences and love. Then came the obituary.

His wife had passed.

I offered my condolences, and feeling helpless asked if he’d ever be willing to share her story, to share awareness of the misunderstood and rare disease that Sheila was diagnosed with earlier in the year. He was reluctant at first “I’m not a writer.” But when it comes to sharing something you care so deeply about, it doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or not. Dave loved Sheila, Sheila loved Dave.

Dave tells the story better than I ever could have, my only ability is to share it, ask you to share it, and hopefully help even one person with Sheila’s story.

********

I had never heard of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or Causalgia) before my wife Sheila was diagnosed with it earlier this year. In April of 2013 her big toe went numb for no apparent reason. The numbness, accompanied by weakness, quickly spread up her leg until her entire right leg below the knee was rendered useless. Within about 10 days the pain set in. She was diagnosed with CRPS in May and she passed away on July 29th, 116 days after her toe first went numb.

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How can IMS help get rid of your chronic pain?

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Young Man Holding His Lower Back In Pain w creditBy Graham Gillies – Lake Country Calendar
Published: August 28, 2013 3:00 AM

In this column I am going to focus on the treatment of chronic muscle and nerve pain and why it can be so difficult to find a solution for this type of pain.

It is estimated that over one third of the adult population in North America suffers from chronic pain.

That is a staggering statistic. This means that one of out of every three people out on the street is dealing with ongoing daily pain.

Research shows that suicide is nine times more prevalent in people with chronic pain than with depression and it is estimated that, in the United States, chronic pain affects more people than diabetes, cancer and heart disease combined.

So, is chronic muscle and nerve pain so common?

To understand this question we have to look at the gradual process that happens to all of our bodies to some degree over many years.

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The Importance Of Addressing The Psychological Components Of Chronic Pain Management

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Psychological Components of Chronic Pain Management

httpv://youtu.be/eBHUS4hhi2A

Dr. Grinstead – I believe that to effectively manage a chronic pain condition it is very important to understand exactly what type of pain you are experiencing. When people are in pain they experience both physical and psychological symptoms. To understand the language of pain, we must learn to listen to how the pain echoes and reverberates between the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of the human condition. Pain is truly a total human experience that affects all aspects of human functioning. Please watch my video below and then watch the remainder of this post.

The psychological symptoms include both cognitive (thinking changes) and emotional (uncomfortable feelings) that lead to suffering. Most people are not able to differentiate between the physical and psychological. All they know is “I hurt.” For effective chronic pain management people need to learn all they can about their pain.

The easiest way to understand pain is to recognize that every time we feel pain our body is attempting to tell us that something is wrong. Pain sensations are critical to human survival. Without pain we would have no way of knowing that something was wrong with our body. So without pain we would be unable to take action to correct the problem or situation that is causing the pain. There are also two types of pain that need to be understood: acute and chronic pain.

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