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Pain Awareness Month

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September is National Pain Awareness Month

Pain Awareness Month is a good time to reflect on how to become a better advocate for improved access to health care for all those who suffer with chronic pain.

Pain is a national health crisis that knows neither political parties nor constituent boundaries. It is the number one reason people seek medical help.

Chances are you know someone who lives with persistent pain - maybe it's you.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, one in four people report that they have had a problem with pain of any sort that persisted for more than 24 hours. A hallmark of many chronic conditions, pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.

While a number of effective treatments and therapies exist, many Americans lack the ability to access care that, in some cases, is the difference between life and death. Under-treated chronic pain has serious physiological, psychological, social, and economic consequences.

For those of us living with pain, we wish for a life worth living; one that permits us to enjoy our family and friends.

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than the temporal course of natural healing, associated with a particular type of injury or disease process.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage."

Photo Credit: Flickr

Did You Know?

· A Congressional mandate declared 2000 - 2010 as the Decade of Pain Control and Research.

· The barriers to appropriate and effective care are numerous, and disproportionately affect women and minorities.

· Pain patients suffer from limited access to health care, pain specialists, sites of care and prescriptions; policies that interfere with the use of appropriate medicines; limited pain research funding and negative stereotypes about pain patients.

· Improving access to care makes sound financial sense and, when pain is treated properly, people can attain a better quality of life.

Resource Links

For those living with pain

American Pain Foundation Home Page: The American Pain Foundation web site is an online resource for people with pain, their families, friends, caregivers and the general public. This site is devoted to patient information and advocacy, and provides many links to additional resources.
American Chronic Pain Association: We facilitate peer support and education for individuals with chronic pain and their families so that these individuals may live more fully in spite of their pain.
Mayday Pain Project Home Page: Mayday Pain Project provides easy to information about pain issues such as chronic pain, arthritis, headache, cancer and other conditions causing pain for use by patients, caregivers and medical professionals.

Important Dates

Mark your calendar!

September - Pain Awareness Month

September 26th - National Day of Action

Meditation For Pain Relief

How Do You Cope?

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

~C.S. Lewis

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Gall Bladder Symptoms Nov 27, 2010 @ 7:08 pm | delete

Great lens! Chronic pain can be so crippling. If the pain is stemming from gallbladder issues, there are many solutions beyond gallbladder removal. Thanks!

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sandyspider Oct 4, 2009 @ 5:01 pm | delete

I didn't know there was a Pain Awareness Month. Very informative.

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oztoo Oct 4, 2009 @ 4:01 pm | delete

There are some very sad statistics here. That's a lot of people suffering chronic pain. Makes the rest of us realize how lucky we are! I get headaches and suffer from arthritis but its not a constant thing. Thanks for this lens and making people aware of the plight of others.

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bdkz Oct 3, 2009 @ 6:44 pm | delete

Great lens!

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Sylvestermouse Oct 3, 2009 @ 11:53 am | delete

Thank you for this lens! I had no idea so many suffered with chronic pain. They must suffer in silence. You have certainly made me aware!
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