Preventing Chronic Pain From Having Consequences For Your Social Life

September 17, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Chronic pain can be a significant physical problem, but unfortunately it’s not just a physical issue. We’ve talked about how chronic physical pain can have an impact on your mental health on the blog in the past, but today we want to touch on another aspect of your life that chronic pain can affect – your social life. Below, we talk about how chronic pain can negatively affect your social life, and how to prevent this from happening.

Chronic Pain And Your Social Life

If you have a chronic pain condition, you can probably relate to at least one of the points below. Here are a number of ways chronic pain can affect your social life.

1. Withdrawing From Friends – Either because you’re dealing with a flare up or you’re afraid of a flare up when you’re out with friends, it’s easy to start using your pain condition as a reason to turn down invitations or to meet up with others. Never be afraid to say no, but at the same time, make sure you’re also offering and trying to make plans instead of always being the one cancelling or skipping. If you’re afraid of going to the movies with friends, offer to host a movie night. Find a way to stay close to your inner circle on your own terms if chronic pain sometimes gets in the way.

2. It Distracts You – Sometimes chronic pain is all we can think about, and that can take away from your enjoyment when you’re out with others. This can leave you feeling distant even when you’re out with friends. Really try to engage in the activity or the conversation, as this can help take your mind off your pain, and this speaks to the larger point of really working with a pain specialist to find treatment and coping mechanisms to prevent pain from making you mentally distracted.

3. Your Mood – Being in physical pain can have a significant affect on your mood, and nobody wants to hang out with someone whose always in a bad mood. Talk with your doctor about your cognitive treatment options to prevent physical pain from affecting your mood. And while it may not be easy, try to reflect on your mood and your attitudes when you’re with others to see if you believe your pain is making you a negative person.

4. Isolated – Chronic pain can leave you feeling isolated in a different way than described in point one where you’re not physically able to connect with friends. Chronic pain can leave patients feeling different from everyone else, and that can be extremely isolating. Don’t be afraid to talk with your friends and family about how your chronic pain makes you feel. Odds are they are going to be more accepting and welcoming than imagined, because you’d do the same for them if they opened up to you about their struggles.

By working with a specialist who understands the physical, mental, emotional and social effects of chronic pain, you can help ensure that your condition doesn’t spill over into other aspects of your life. Dr. Cohn has been doing that for patients for decades, and he can do the same for you. For more information, reach out to his clinic today.

If You Have Chronic Pain, Don’t Wait In Silence

July 16, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

A recent study commissioned by one of the nation’s largest providers of physical therapy services found that roughly one in four people with a chronic pain condition aren’t seeking professional assistance to treat their pain. Whether they are doing this because they hope the pain will go away on its own or they don’t want to go through the hassle of seeing a physician, this can be problematic for a number of reasons. Below, we explain why you shouldn’t put off a visit with a doctor if you have a chronic pain condition.

Why You Need Professional Help For Chronic Pain

Unlike acute pain, which occurs after a moment of injury, chronic pain isn’t likely to go away on its own. A stubbed toe is an example of acute pain that often resolves after a few hours or days without intervention, but chronic conditions like bulging disc pain, fibromyalgia-related pain or osteoarthritis issues aren’t likely to get miraculously better on their own. That’s why you need to see a specialist, but the data shows that chronic pain sufferers aren’t flocking to physicians in droves.

Some of the data from the recent study found that:

Only 76 percent of chronic pain sufferers have sought professional help for chronic pain.
Roughly 60 percent of patients seek profressional help if they’ve been dealing with chronic pain for at least a week or longer.
51 percent of Americans say pain needs to reach a “7” on a scale of 1-10 before their seek help for chronic back, neck or knee pain.

So while it’s clear that a number of chronic pain patients aren’t getting the professional help they need to manage their pain, the biggest point we want to convey in this blog is why this is so problematic. Delaying treatment and suffering in silence with a chronic pain problem is an issue because:

It’ll Get Worse – As we mentioned above, it’s rare for a chronic pain condition to resolve on its own. In fact, far more often the condition ends up getting worse without intervention, leading to increased pain and discomfort.

Treatment Success Likelihood – While it may not be as severe as a condition like cancer, chronic pain is a lot like the cancer in that the sooner treatment begins, the higher the likelihood it will prove successful. Putting off professional intervention will only reduce your long-term treatment success.

Opioid Reliance – When people are reluctant to head to a doctor for active treatment options, they may fall back on passive short-term fixes, like painkillers. They may provide some short-term relief, but research has shown that along with potential problems like dependence and overdose, over-reliance on pain medications can reduce your body’s ability to manage pain on its own and it can increase a person’s sensitivity to pain.

Solutions Are Closer Than You Think – The final reason and the reason that breaks our heart the most is that many people don’t head to a professional because they think pain is just something that they’ll have to live with for the rest of their life. Even if we can’t cure your pain, we’ll do everything in our power to help reduce your pain and get you to a point where you’re having more good days than bad. Oftentimes treatment is simpler than you may imagine, so don’t cheat yourself out of an improved quality of life because you mistakenly believe your pain not treatable.

For more information, or for help with your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Self Management Tips For Chronic Back Pain

July 1, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Chronic back pain is one of the most common conditions that affects Americans over the age of 40. Because it is so common, many people often try to push through the pain and keep on living their daily life. While this is admirable, it may not be your best move, and it can actually lead to worse pain. However, if you are proactive and deliberate in how you care for your spine, you can help treat these types of pain and get back to a pain-free way of living. We share those tips in today’s blog.

Managing Back Pain On Your Own

There’s no perfect playbook for managing chronic back pain on your own, but here are some helpful tips to start you off on the right foot.

Get A Diagnosis – Now, this may go against your idea of managing your back pain “on your own,” but getting a diagnosis can play a key role in helping you self-manage your pain. If you don’t know what you’re dealing with, it can be hard to follow the right self-care management techniques. The vast majority of spine specialists will recommend conservative care before moving towards surgical intervention, so one appointment can lead to a comprehensive conservative care plan. Knowing what you’re dealing with and how to best treat your pain leads to higher treatment success rates.

Exercise – This may seem like it goes against conventional wisdom, but exercise or physical therapy can help strengthen weakened spinal areas and resolve inflammation that could be leading to pain. Your first instinct may be to rest, but after 24-48 hours, controlled activity often proves more helpful than extended rest. Again, this depends on your root cause of pain, which speaks to the importance of getting a clear diagnosis.

Don’t Over Rely On Painkillers – Painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications can help manage pain, but they don’t always target the underlying cause of discomfort. Simply relying on rest and painkillers to fix the issue will often leave you unsatisfied and still in pain. Use these medications to pursue more active treatments if pain is making things like therapy or exercise unbearable.

Don’t Overdo It – Your spine is with you for the long haul, so be sure to prioritize your long term health over your short term physical desires. Athletes, for example, are notorious for trying to rush back from injury before they are truly ready. The same can be said for many older adults who work manual labor. Listen to your body and realize that missing a game or a couple days of work is worth it to help it heal instead of overstressing it while it’s injured. Manage these issues before they snowball because you tried to power through them.

Food And Water – A healthy diet can also go a long way in helping provide back pain relief. A diet rich in key vitamins and nutrients can help strengthen your spine, and staying hydrated will ensure healthy blood flow to key spine structures. A good diet can also help you maintain a healthy weight, which will limit excess stress and strain on your spine.

Mind Your Mental Health – Finally chronic pain back can be just as much of a mental battle as it is physical, so don’t ignore your mental health. Make sure you are doing things that benefit your mental health, like exercising, reading, socializing and getting a good night’s sleep!

For help managing your chronic spine pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today!

New Study Shines Light On Vagus Nerve Stimulation – This Time For Chronic Pain Care

June 10, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

ear icon on light background

If you’ve been following this blog for a while now, you know that we’re very interested in how vagus nerve stimulation can be used to help treat certain health conditions. Our focus has mainly been on how vagus nerve stimulation can help with migraine headaches, and we’ve always paid attention to see what new studies are saying about the potential treatment. A new study suggests vagus nerve stimulation may be helpful in treating some forms of chronic pain.

For the study, researchers at the Medical University of Veinna, the Vienna University of Technology and other institutions used what’s known as high-resolution episcopic imaging (HREM) to generate histologic volume data from donated homan cadaver ears. They then used the data to reconstruct anatomical vascular and nerve structures, and a 3D model was used to calculate an optimal stimulation pattern of the vagal nerve branches.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation

It’s a little complicated, but essentially, researchers were able to find three points along the nerve that were within a close radial distance to a good portion of other nerves and vessels. By delivering a series of oscillating electrical pulses to these three areas, researchers believed they could help drown out pain signals.

“The blood vessels can be made clearly visible in patients by shining light through the ear. The nerves, however, cannot be seen,” said study co-author Professor Wolfgang Weninger, MD, of the MedUni Vienna division of anatomy. “Our microanatomical measurements on donated human bodies now tell us exactly where the nerves run in relation to blood vessels, as well as the average distance between blood vessels and nerves at certain important positions of the ear. This helps us to find the correct spot for placing the stimulation electrodes.”

Researchers then took the next step and tested their hypothesis on volunteers with chronic pain. The team said their understanding of pain was proven correct when the triphasic stimulation pattern was tested on real patients.

“In our computer simulation, it was shown for the first time that from a biophysical point of view, a triphasic signal pattern should be helpful, similar to what is known from power engineering, only with much lower magnitude,” said senior author Professor Eugenijus Kaniusas, PhD, of the Institute of Electrodynamics. “Vagus nerve stimulation is often a lifesaving option, especially for people with chronic pain who have already been treated with other methods and do not respond to medication anymore.”

Hopefully we can build on this understanding and really hammer out which types of chronic pain conditions could benefit from this triphasic stimulation of the vagus nerve. It certainly won’t be easy, especially considering that pain is unique to the individual, but it’s another step in the right direction for providing chronic pain patients with the right treatment options.

Could This Experimental Treatment Help Cure Chronic Pain?

May 5, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

University of Copenhagen

New research out of Denmark is showing promise for treating neuropathic pain. According to the team of researchers, they have been focusing on targeting hyper-sensitive nerves that contribute to chronic pain onset. They’ve done this by developing an experimental compound – a peptide called Tat-P4-(C5)2 – that has proved effective in treating similar pain in mice.

“We have developed a new way to treat chronic pain. It is a targeted treatment. That is, it does not affect the general neuronal signaling, but only affects the nerve changes that are caused by the disease,” says Kenneth Lindegaard Madsen, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

“We have been working on this for more than ten years. We have taken the process all the way from understanding the biology, inventing and designing the compound to describing how it works in animals, affects their behavior and removes the pain,” said Madsen.

How The Peptide Works

The image on this blog shows the Tat-P4-(C5)2 compound after it is injected into the spinal cord. The compound (purple) begins by penetrating the nerve cells of the spinal cord (yellow), but not the surrounding cells (cell nuclei can be seen in blue). The compound works by blocking neuropathic pain signals like the kind that are seen in patients dealing with diabetic neuropathy, CRPS or phantom limb pain. The team has been pleased with how successful the treatment has been in mice.

“The compound works very efficiently, and we do not see any side effects. We can administer this peptide and obtain complete pain relief in the mouse model we have used, without the lethargic effect that characterizes existing pain-relieving drugs,” said Madsen. “Now, our next step is to work towards testing the treatment on people. The goal, for us, is to develop a drug, therefore the plan is to establish a biotech company as soon as possible so we can focus on this.”

Aside from simply working to block pain signals from being interpreted by the brain, researchers believe a peptide-focused treatment may become the norm for a variety of pain conditions in the future because it can perform the same task as painkillers without the risk of addiction or dependence. Our bodies naturally build up a tolerance to traditional painkillers, and as dosage increases so too does the risk of dependence and overdose. But with peptide intervention, we can block pain signals without the need for potentially dangerous painkillers.

It’s far from a miracle cure, and even if it’s proven successful in a human trial it should be paired with other healthy habits like regular exercise and dietary improvements, but it certainly gives us hope for the future of pain care. We’ll keep our eyes on this research as it moves to the next stage of trial. In the meantime, if you need help with a chronic pain issue, let us help you. Contact Dr. Cohn’s office today for more information.