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PAIN MONITOR
November 2007
THE NEWS
Chronic Pain: A Burden Often Shared
Chronic pain is a family problem. When people experience unrelenting pain, everyone they live with and love is likely to suffer.
 Vitamin D Inadequacy May Exacerbate Chronic Pain
Approximately one in four patients who suffer from chronic pain also have inadequate blood levels of vitamin D, possibly contributing to their ongoing pain.
Exercise Found to Ease Chronic Pain of Fibromyalgia
Regular walks and stretching exercises can help ease the chronic, depressing pain of fibromyalgia, a mysterious ailment with no obvious cure.
Botox Offers Shot in Arm for Arthritis Sufferers
Botox seems to relieve shoulder pain in arthritis sufferers, a preliminary study found.
Ways to Manage Osteoarthritis Pain
Can osteoarthritis pain be effectively managed so that it does not significantly disrupt normal daily activities? Can a person living with chronic osteoarthritis pain get their symptoms under control and still live a productive and happy life?
 Water Workouts Work for Arthritis Patients
Sessions relieve pain and help improve daily function, researchers say.
Family-Oriented Therapy Best for Children with Chronic Pain
A new study from the Indiana University School of Medicine shows the importance of adapting pediatric pain management strategies whose main focus in on improving as well as restoring the quality of life for the child and the whole family as well.
Masking Pain Might Cause Lasting Harm
Athletes are lauded for playing through injuries, but the short-term gain may lead to long-term pain.
Veterinarians Receive More Training on Pain than Doctors and Nurses
A recent survey for the Canadian Pain Society found students in veterinary medicine received an average of 98 hours on pain education, while medical students spent about 16 hours studying the subject.
 Drug Derived from Chili Peppers May Reduce Acute Pain After Surgery
Purified capsaicin, a drug derived from chili peppers, reduced pain for at least three days following groin hernia surgery.
Smoked Cannabis Proven Effective in Treating Neuropathic Pain
Smoked cannabis eased pain induced in healthy volunteers, according to a study at the University of California, San Diego Center for Medical Cannabis Research. However, the researchers found that less may be more.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder
Medicare beneficiaries now can go online and compare details of their Medicare prescription drug plans using a revised Web site tool recently launched by CMS. The newly revamped Finder allows beneficiaries to compare plans offered in their areas, contrasting plans based on prescription costs and monthly premiums.
 Ask the Expert: Commonly Asked Questions & Answers About Migraines
The National Women's Health Report Online provides health information for women interested in making informed decisions about their health.
101 Ideas to Empower Persons In Pain to Survive & Thrive
NeuroTalk Communities, a support community for people with neurological disorders and diseases, offers tips to help those with pain.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
 1 in 3 Canadians Now Living with Chronic Pain
New comprehensive population survey of Canadians confirms that pain is a mounting problem, with impacts extending into Canadians' work life, relationships and emotional health.
APF NEWS
APF’s Executive Director Will Rowe Begins a Blog!
APF and The HealthCentral Network, Inc. are collaborating on several consumer-focused projects, including a blog on the topic of pain written by APF executive director Will Rowe, available at Chronic Pain Connection. The site also feature videos of first-person experiences with pain. “Our inaugural blog began during September Pain Awareness Month and furthers the APF’s mission to raise public awareness about pain as a critical health issue,” said Will. "HealthCentral’s online pain community is keenly interested in the research and policy agenda of APF and my blog will encourage everyone affected by pain to contribute to the fight for fair access to better pain care.”
Yvette Colón, PhD, MSW, is Named Distinguished Social Work Practitioner
APF's Director of Education & Internet services was recently elected by her peers as a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in Social Work because of her significant and enduring contributions to healthcare practice. NAP) exists to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and policy change, and honor achievement in health care. Read more...
POLICY & ADVOCACY
By uniting, mobilizing and leveraging our collective voices, we can improve pain management. It is not acceptable that 76 million Americans suffer pain and the majority do not receive appropriate care! Click here for more information on the latest National Pain Legislation and how you can Make Your Voice Heard!
There are THREE critical actions you can take right now that will help advance pain care in our country:
- Ask your Congressperson to co-sponsor the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007 (HR 2994) - CLICK HERE.
- Request that your organization endorse the Consensus Statement for the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007 - CLICK HERE.
- Ask your Senator to co-sponsor the Veterans Pain Care Act of 2007 (S 2160) - CLICK HERE.
SPOTLIGHT ON PAIN
Cancer Pain
 Association of Oncology Social Work
Psychosocial Oncology Worldwide Educational Resource (POWER)
Are you looking for a speaker on a specific topic or counseling to help cope with a cancer diagnosis? Oncology social workers are recognized as leading experts in providing psychosocial care to people affected by cancer and their families. The Association of Oncology Social Work provides an online searchable database of oncology social workers around the country.
Cancer Care for the Whole Patient
A new report from the Institute of Medicine says quality cancer care requires attention to emotional, social, financial and other issues beyond medical treatment. Along with physical pain and discomforts caused by cancer and its treatment, patients experience many other stressors that may include job loss, financial burdens, inability to perform activities of daily living, needs for transportation to medical appointments and a long list of other challenges. Cancer Care for the Whole Patient: Meeting Psychosocial Health Needs found that in order for people with cancer to get good care, the health care system must recognize these needs and connect patients to the many services available to support them emotionally and socially. Those stressors can be the source of additional suffering, and can cause patients to miss or forgo treatment and threaten their recovery. Please visit the IOM website to read the Entire Report, Report Brief for Patients and Report Brief for Providers.
Military/Veterans
Helping Veterans Deal With Pain
Wounded veterans are still dealing with pain months and years after leaving the war.
Yoga
Meditation May Reduce the Brain's Reaction to Pain And Increase Pain Tolerance
Participants from UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital Pediatric Pain Program learned techniques prescribed at the hospital to ease their physical and emotional pain.
SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Treatment Preferences for CAM in Children with Chronic Pain
CAM therapies have become increasingly popular in pediatric populations, yet little is known about children's preferences for CAM. This study examined treatment preferences in chronic pediatric pain patients offered a choice of CAM therapies for their pain.
Somaesthetic Disturbances in Fibromyalgia are Exaggerated by SensoryMotor Conflict: Implications for Chronicity of the Disease?
Researchers in the United Kingdom say that the unexplained pain experienced by patients with fibromyalgia is the result of a mismatch between the body's sensory and motor systems.
How to Prevent Morphine "Tolerance"
Researchers at Saint Louis University have discovered how to prevent tolerance to the pain-relieving effects of morphine from developing.
COMPLEMENTARY/ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
 Acupuncture: Ancient Practice Finds Place in Western Medicine
Acupuncture, one of the oldest medical therapies in the world, is steadily gaining popularity in the United States.
Acupuncture Diminishes Acute Postop Pain
An analysis of several large research studies found that acupuncture, a traditional form of Chinese medicine, effectively eases postoperative pain without serious side effects.
Healing Touch: A New Patient Outreach Program
Healing touch is an "energy therapy" that uses gentle hand techniques purported to help re-pattern the patient's energy field and accelerate healing of the body and mind. It is based on the belief that people have fields of energy that are in constant interaction with the environment around them.
EN ESPANOL
 Wikcionario Tiene una Entrada Sobre Dolor
Wikcionario (en inglés Wiktionary) es un proyecto de diccionario de la Fundación Wikimedia, que contiene definiciones, traducciones, sinónimos, pronunciaciones de palabras en múltiples idiomas. Al igual que Wikipedia, Wikcionario está basado en la tecnología wiki, utiliza el software MediaWiki y su contenido está bajo licencia libre. La entrada incluye características, factores y clasificación del dolor, el dolor en la historia humana e enlaces externo.
Wikcionario: Pain
Wikcionario is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, containing definitions, translations, synonyms and pronunciations of words in Spanish and other languages. Like Wikipedia, Wikcionario is based on Wiki technology, uses MediaWiki software and offers its content under free license. The entry includes characteristics, factors, and classification of pain, pain in human history and links to other resources.
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
 National Children's Pain Center
The NCPC is a unique non-profit organization dedicated to insuring state-of-the-art pain treatment for all children and to empowering parents to understand and advocate for their children's pain care. It helps increase public awareness about children’s pain through lay publications and other media, provides workshops on pediatric pain and other outreach educational activities for clinicians and includes news and information in order to keep families and professionals informed on the latest treatments and research in pediatric pain.
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES
APF is dedicated to providing people with useful and relevant information; we NEED your help to continue to build our Resource Locator. Do you know of any local resources, in your state, disease-specific or otherwise, that you believe would be useful to others affected by pain? If so, please click here and provide whatever information you have for that particular organization. You can fill out the form as often as you’d like. APF reserves the right to review and verify all submissions for their appropriateness, before adding them to the Resource Locator. Thank you for supporting our work!
New Video Resource for Amputees
The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is excited to announce a series of nine new streaming videos entitled Introductory Amputee Care on the ACA website. The videos, narrated by ACA President and CEO Paddy Rossbach, contain important information for new lower limb amputees.
 CME/CE Online Tutorial on Chronic Vulvar Pain Now Available
The National Vulvodynia Association and the Dannemiller Memorial Educational Foundation are sponsoring a free online tutorial for health care professionals titled Vulvodynia: Integrating Current Knowledge into Clinical Practice. The program includes a self-guided presentation on the prevalence, differential diagnosis, treatment and etiology of chronic vulvar pain. To access the tutorial, please visit http://learn.nva.org/. If you have any questions about the program or experience a problem accessing it online, please contact Christin Veasley, NVA Associate Executive Director (chris@nva.org or 401-398-0830).
Adapting: Financial Planning for a Life with Multiple Sclerosis
Part of navigating Multiple Sclerosis is managing your money and planning wisely for the
future. More than ever, you will need to take a clear look at your income, assets, debts, benefits, and other resources. The National Endowment for Financial Education, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Paralyzed Veterans of America have produced a booklet to help you meet the financial challenges that can accompany MS, so you can focus on living
your life to its fullest.
UPCOMING EVENTS
 December 11, 2007 1:00pm-2:00pm EST
NCI Teleconference
Cancer Survivorship Research: A Dialogue with Advocates, Survivors and Caregivers
Featuring Dr. Julia Rowland, Director, NCI Office of Cancer Survivorship
USA toll-free 1-800-857-6584 / Passcode OCS
Toll-free playback until January 11, 2008 1-800-253-1052
For more information about the Office of Cancer Survivorship: http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/ocs/.
January 30 - February 2, 2008
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine & Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses Association
2008 Annual Assembly
Tampa, FL
February 12 - 16, 2008
American Academy of Pain Medicine
24th Annual Meeting
Orlando, FL
VOICES OF PEOPLE WITH PAIN
PainAid in the News! Pushing Past Pain
There are days when Glenda Dykstra of Iowa cannot get out of bed. To cope with her pain, Dykstra joined the American Pain Foundation as a volunteer. She is now the assistant manager of PainAid, APF's online interactive community. In the same article, PainAid Community Moderator Susie Sanford, also of Iowa, considers that on the outside she looks like a middle-aged healthy woman, but inside she suffers from chronic pain.
PainAid Online Support
Join our vibrant community and share discussion and your personal stories with others affected by pain. Here you will find: Conference Rooms (regularly scheduled chats on a range of issues); Discussion Boards (threaded message boards on a broad range of topics); and Ask the Expert feature (pose questions to licensed healthcare 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!
Be sure to check out the VOICES section of our website! New personal stories are added weekly!
Thank you to our medical/science editor, Peter J. Vicente Ph.D., ABPP.
Share with us how you’d like to get involved and ways you might be able to contribute your voice and skills to our joint efforts by completing our online Advocacy Survey. We welcome your participation and look forward to working with you!
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.
To make sure you continue to receive our newsletters and alerts, please add AmericanPainFounda@painfoundation.org to your address book or approved sender list. 
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