AFP: Pain Monitor, March 2011

PAIN MONITOR
March 2011

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Action of the Month: Ask 5 People you Know to Join APF Today
Beginning this month, APF will feature an Action of the Month to engage you and those in your community to SPEAK OUT for the rights of people with pain. Forward this message to five or more of your friends and family members and ask them to join APF. The larger our number, the greater our influence! More info>>

NEWS

Pain is Tough to Treat
Doctors were harder on themselves than patients were when it came to judging their ability to minimize the pain, discomfort, or disability caused by a condition. Only 37 percent of physicians thought they were "very" effective, though 60 percent more thought they were "somewhat" effective. But 79 percent of patients said their doctor helped to minimize their pain or discomfort.

Risk of Oral Birth Defects in Children Born to Mothers Taking Topiramate
New data suggest that topiramate (topamax) increases the risk for the birth defects cleft lip and cleft palate in babies born to women who use the medication during pregnancy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said today.

Healing the Hurt
Some hurts are forever. But now science is pushing back.

Adverse Effects Weigh Heavily in Patients’ Medication Decisions
Adverse effects hold greater sway than the magnitude of potential benefits on older patients’ willingness to take medications for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, researchers found.

UN Drugs Board Decries Poor Access to Pain Relief
More than 80 percent of the world's people have insufficient or no access to pain relief medications and are suffering unnecessarily because of it.

Arthritis Takes Varying Toll on Hispanics
Rates of arthritis vary among different Hispanic groups but the overall effects of the disease appear to be substantial across groups, according to an analysis of national CDC survey data.

Pain, Persistence, Family: Sickle Cell Disease
How do you live with a disease that can cause sudden episodes of extreme pain? How does a family manage the needs of a child with a chronic, untreatable illness? These are among the questions that people facing a diagnosis of sickle cell anemia have to answer.

The End of Ouch?
Historically, if people were not in immediate medical danger, their pain was considered an unfortunate side effect or a collateral consequence of solving a greater problem.

For Tendon Pain, Think Beyond the Needle
Two time-honored remedies for injured tendons seem to be falling on their faces in well-designed clinical trials.

Back Pain Has Been Around for 4 Million Years, Scientists Say
In findings presented in a talk at Cambridge University, researchers challenged the notion that a sedentary lifestyle is to blame for spine problems.

NSAID Use Tied to Men's Sexual Performance
The regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with higher odds of erectile dysfunction, a cross-sectional study showed.

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APF NEWS

Taking an Opioid? APF Unveils New Worksheets to Help
If you are prescribed an opioid for pain relief, there are many things you need to know. Two new handouts — Chronic Opioid Therapy: Preparing for Your Appointments and Opioid Dos and Don’ts to Help Avoid Problems will help you prepare for follow up medical appointments and give you tips for staying safe. Learn More >>

APF Releases Report on Cancer Pain
The American Pain Foundation (APF) is proud to release its report “Breakthrough Cancer Pain: Mending the break in the continuum of care.” This 24-page document builds upon our initial call to action released last fall.

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APF ACTION NETWORK

10,000 Voices Campaign
The 10,000 Voices campaign needs you to add your voice to the Virtual Wall of Voices. Your stories of struggle, hope and inspiration will be used to illustrate the range of experiences with pain management in America and inspire others to overcome the barriers that they face in their pain journey.

SPEAK OUT for the Rights of People with Pain!

Great news from Nebraska! The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) recently announced that the Nebraska Hospice and Palliative Care Association’s Jennifer Eurek, CSW, also an AN leader for Nebraska, has been appointed as the Central Plains regional representative for the We Honor Veterans Campaign, a national Veterans awareness campaign! Please visit www.nehospice.org for more information.

Georgia’s AN team attended the 2011 Atlanta Summit on Prescription Drug Abuse. Ashley Mahoney (Georgia AN leader) testified at the meeting presenting the voice of a person living with pain who requires  pain medicine and uses it effectively and responsibly to manage her pain. For more about this meeting please visit this site. 

Announcing Two New APF State Leaders
Angie Gravois, RN, joins us from Mississippi. Angie is both a person with pain and the health care provider. Angie has been active in awareness campaigns, research, and education on issues of fibromyalgia, and other diseases causing chronic pain, as a health care professional, a patient, and an advocate.  

Zulma Pagan is a new leader from Puerto Rico. She is a person with pain who has been living with fibromyalgia for over 14 years. She is the founder and president of a fibromyalgia support group and has campaigned for increased visibility of fibromyalgia issues in policy, healthcare, and research within the U.S and in Latin American countries.

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CONNECT

PainAid Online Support Community
PainAid provides chat rooms (regularly scheduled chats on different issues), discussion boards (threaded message boards on a broad variety of topics), and the Ask the Experts feature (pose questions to licensed health care professionals). PainAid is staffed by highly qualified volunteers with a range of backgrounds, all of whom either live with chronic pain or care for people who do. Visit PainAid for more information.

Voices of People with Pain
If you are a person with pain or know someone who lives with pain, we invite you to share your story. View others' stories or share your own.

Webinar and Teleconference Replays
All APF webinars and teleconferences are archived for on-demand viewing. Make sure to check out our chat transcripts and join us at PainAid for future daily and special chats. Sign up to receive notifications of future webinars and teleconferences.

Other ways to get involved in our efforts:

• Keep up with us on Facebook.
• Follow APF on Twitter at www.twitter.com/americanpain for the latest pain news and information and at www.twitter.com/painadvocacy for information on advocacy, policy and public awareness activities.
• Visit the Exit Wounds site to learn more about our Military and Veterans living with pain.

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SPOTLIGHT ON PAIN

The American Pain Foundation “Spotlights” are educational campaigns that highlight specific pain conditions or populations of people that experience pain. Spotlights bring focus to an issue offering a variety of ways for people to learn more about the topic, gain support, and take action. Click here for more information about our spotlights.

Back Pain

Treating Back Pain
Tips for the best solutions and treatments. (Video)

Taking Short Breaks Alleviates Back Pain
Preventing back pain might be as easy as getting up from your chair and walking every couple of hours.

The Claim: Back Pain Runs in Families
Heavy lifting, overuse and middle age are some of the most familiar risk factors for lower back pain. But for many people, predicting a lifetime of lumbar trouble could be as simple as consulting the family tree.

Cancer Pain

One-Third of Cancer Patients on Opioids Suffer Cognitive Problems
About a third of cancer patients taking opioid painkillers experience cognitive problems such as confusion, disorientation and forgetfulness, a new study finds.

Fibromyalgia

Increased Risk for Death From Suicide and Accidents Seen in People with Fibromyalgia
Although patients with fibromyalgia are not at an overall increased risk for mortality, they are at greater risk for suicide and accidents, according to a large observational study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

Let's Talk Pain

Patients Unable to Simplify Medication Schedules Themselves
Few people were able to translate prescription instructions so that they minimized the number of times a day they had to take medication, researchers found.

Shingles

People with COPD May Have Risk of Shingles
Researchers suggest people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease get shingles vaccine.

Yoga

Believe in the Power of Movement
An increasing number of studies emphasize the health benefits of physical activity. Yoga, an ancient practice aimed at achieving tranquility and increasing flexibility, muscle tone, balance and strength is rapidly becoming the activity of choice for a large number of people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

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SCIENCE & MEDICINE

Managing CSF Leaks During Spinal Cord Stimulation Trial
A cerebrospinal fluid leak can be a headache for anesthesiologists performing a spinal cord stimulator trial, not to mention a trigger for an excruciating post-meningeal puncture headache for the patient.

UC Davis Pain Research May Pave the Way to Understanding and Controlling Chronic Pain
Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered a “cross-talk” between two major biological pathways that involve pain. This research may pave the way to new approaches to understanding and controlling chronic pain.

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COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Alternative Treatment Helps People with Chronic Back Pain
Non-aggressive therapy strengthens bad backs.

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PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Responsible Opioid Prescribing in the Era of REMS Dinner Dialogues Series
The interactive Dinner Dialogues series discusses critical thinking strategies to help you optimize analgesia and facilitate safe and appropriate use of opioid therapy in your practice. These independent medical education activities are sponsored by the American Pain Foundation (APF) and supported through an educational grant from Endo Pharmaceuticals. Click here to register today!

Social Work Fellowship in Palliative and End-of-Life Care
A postgraduate social work fellowship in palliative and end-of-life care is available through the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center. The fellowship program provides a supervised experience in the multidimensional assessment and care of patients, in multiple practice sites (an inpatient pain, palliative care and hospice unit, inpatient consultation service and an ambulatory practice) at various points along the continuum of life-threatening illness. Fellows participate in interdisciplinary rounds, case discussions, didactic conferences and departmental meetings with the focus on multidimensional approaches to symptom management, palliative and end-of-life care.

Learning will be complemented by access to interdisciplinary experts and resources such as the departmental multimedia resource center where a broad range of educational materials is available. Designed to develop role models, leaders, and mentors, the social work fellowship was established with a grant from the Open Society Institute Project on Death in America through their Social Work Leadership Award and receives ongoing support through the Barbara Zirinsky Fund. The program is offered on a full-time basis for one year and includes stipend and benefits. Applications are currently being accepted and are available at this link: http://www.stoppain.org/for_professionals/content/information/training.asp

Deadline for completed applications is April 1, 2011 with fellowship year to begin in June 2011 or shortly thereafter.

Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative
The Mayday Fund, a New York City-based foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequence of human physical pain, is interested in providing new leaders in the pain field with tools that will enable them to reach the broader public.

The Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative is a fellowship program to train physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, basic, translational and clinical scientists, policy experts and legal scholars in the pain management community to go beyond their own professional pursuits to become leaders and advocates for change in the pain field in the United States and Canada. The deadline for applying to the 2011-12 program is Wednesday, June 15, 2011. More info >>

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EVENTS

Public

RSD/CRPS Awareness Quilt Project
An ongoing project to raise awareness about chronic pain conditions, especially RSD.  The organizers are gathering quilt squares to make a pain awareness quilt that will travel across the United States. For more information, visit the Facebook page.

April 28, 2011
Wounded Warrior Care- Rediscovering the Meaning of Healthcare in America Today
Washington, DC

March 18, 2011
RALLY for pain care in WA State

June 5, 2011
National Cancer Survivors Day

June 2-4, 2011
Amputee Coalition National Conference
Kansas City, MO

Professional

March 24-27, 2011
American Academy of Pain Medicine Annual Meeting
Washington, DC

April 28, 2011
RADARS System Annual Meeting
Bethesda, MD

May 19-21, 2011
American Pain Society
Austin, TX

June 2 - 5, 2011
53rd Annual Scientific Meeting American Headache Society
Washington, DC

Sept 7-10, 2011
American Society for Pain Management Nursing
Tucson, AZ

Sept 7-10, 2011
PainWeek
Las Vegas, NV

Sept 14-17
American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Meeting
Orlando, FL

September 20 - 23, 2011
22nd Annual Clinical Meeting
American Academy of Pain Management
Exploring the Science Practicing The Art
Las Vegas, NV

For more events happening around the country or to submit an event of your own, please visit our Events page.

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Thank you to our medical/science editor Robert Twillman, PhD.

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The Pain Monitor is a monthly electronic publication of the American Pain Foundation. We want to keep you abreast of recent media attention given to topics that are related to pain care or living with pain. This information is provided for educational and information purposes only. Readers may wish to print the information and discuss it with their doctor. Always consult with health care providers before starting or changing any treatment. Above are links to news articles, feature stories and timely information that have come to our attention. Please pass them along to others who might benefit. We encourage you to send any comments you may have to the authors or publishers directly. Every voice counts when working towards improving pain care in our nation.

The American Pain Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that relies upon private donations to fund its programs, services and distribution of educational materials. There are millions of people who live with unrelieved chronic pain. If you can help, please make a donation to the American Pain Foundation. For other ways you can support APF’s work, please visit our website at www.painfoundation.org.