Living with Pain
Some 116 million American adults—one-third of the population—struggle with chronic pain, and many are inadequately treated, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine in July.
Yet abuse of pain medication is rampant. Annual deaths due to overdoses of painkillers quadrupled, to 14,800, between 1998 and 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The painkiller Vicodin is now the most prescribed drug in the U.S.
Full article on rewiring the brain to ease pain.
You wonder what people did before there were modern drugs.
Madeline, alcohol.
Narcotic pain medications rank up near the top of prescribed medications. Yet, people who live with chronic pain continue to experience chronic pain. On the other hand, a steady stream of narcotic pain relievers are diverted to the streets.
@Madeline and Joe.
They also did bloodletting.
Alcohol + opium derivatives.
But 1/3 of the population is in pain that needs medical treatment? MEPS looked at reported and treated cases for female pain and found that 12.1 million women over age 18 had any of the pain conditions studied. 27 million adults reported back problems in 2007. 19 million received treatment for them. Not all of them were chronic.
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