Chronic Pain

Article by Bob Johnson

Pain management is big business in the U.S. especially for those who make and distribute pharmaceuticals. The use of drugs can be wonderful when the drugs help to alleviate the cause of the pain impulse for the patient, but it becomes a problem if the drug is only used to mask the brain’s ability to perceive pain. This is one of the techniques that is used for pain management of the chronic pain patient however there are better options.. If a patient is in chronic pain due to an incurable disease such as cancer then by all means no one wants to see another human suffering needlessly and pain management by pharmaceuticals may be the best route for the physician to take. When the underlying conditon is not terminal and pharmaceuticals are used to mask the brain’s ability to perceive then many other issues are involved. Often the masking does more than mask, it also diminishes the brain’s ability to be alert and aware of the patient’s surroundings and in extreme cases the patient may injure themselves without knowledge it has happened. This can be extremely dangerous if the patient is operating a vehicle, working on a project that requires concentration, or the patient’s inability to be alert puts another person in danger of injury.

It is far too frequent in the U.S. that our first line of defense for chronic pain is the masking of the brain’s ability to perceive pain. Part of the issue is lack of education about other treatment options. Medical schools are great labs for those who sell pharmaceuticals to instruct new physicians on the benefits of their products. One physician with a life ahead of practicing medicine can represent a gold mine to anyone who can get that physician to think of their product first when dealing with pain. Also with chronic pain patients that patient becomes a “failure” to many doctors simply because the underlying pain etiology can not be determined or can not be “cured”. Over time the patient’s return for treatment frustrates the physician and there is few things easier than what is considered “doping” the patient with mind altering drugs. This is the area that many chronic pain patients choose to depart from traditional medicine and look for alternatives to their chronic state of living with pain.

A method to use when pain becomes chronic is to block the transmission of the pain impulse to the brain. When the impulse is blocked then there can be no pain. For many years the method of doing this is the use of electrotherapy via tens, interferential, microamperage or high volt units. These units interfere with the pain message transmitted over the pain nerves going to the spinal cord. This is called the Melzack/Wall Gate Control Theory of Pain ( def).

Melzack/Wall Gate Control Theory of Pain

A good comparison of this is to look at an emergency room where you have many patients entering that would not be considered “emergencies”. The staff has to adjust

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