The truth about chronic pain - Arthur Rosenfeld

"It's all in your head." "Learn to bear it." "That drug will make you a junkie." For the more than seventy-five million Americans affected by chronic pain, these are fighting words. Despite extraordinary medical progress in recent years, millions of people, debilitated by the pain of incurable cancer, crippling arthritis, unremitting headaches, and a host of degenerative disorders, continue to suffer needlessly. Here, in their own words, are the stories of more than forty people whose lives are dictated by pain--patients, healthcare professionals, ethicists, social commentators, and scientists--shining a powerful searchlight on America's most misunderstood health problem. The Truth About Chronic Pain reveals that pain is often ignored or under-treated due to widespread beliefs that it is a sign of weakness or unfounded fears that properly administered painkillers will cause addiction. As bureaucrats, doctors, and pharmacists become combatants in the War on Drugs, people in pain too often become unforeseen casualties. The Truth About Chronic Pain provides what pain-sufferers need just as keenly as physical relief: the knowledge that they are not alone. The voices on these pages are an eloquent testament to individual courage and a powerful plea to medical institutions, political leaders, and insurance companies to implement effective solutions to the problem of pain.