What is chronic pain?
| This is a question frequently
asked by people who suffer pain, and one that is sometimes not easy to answer. We know that pain is usually a warning from the body that something is wrong, but sometimes the warning system itself fails and issues an alert that is not required, or that is out of proportion to the underlined disease. Indeed, a pain alarm is sometimes sounded when there is no actual illness or injury at all. |
| Pain can be friend or foe. The most common cause of pain is when the body detects tissue injury or some sort of disease. For common aches and pains the intensity roughly matches the physical disorder. If the pain is relieved by common pain killers, it is a safe bet that it will go away on its own in a matter of hours or days. If the pain is alarming or severe, it is a good idea to seek medical help as soon as possible. Some people have recurring pains, like headaches or menstrual cramps that they have learnt to recognise as non-threatening, if unpleasant. When the pain alarm rings loud, especially when you're not sure why, the alarm system is doing its job.take it seriously. |
| Simple injuries can become inflamed
or infected, and this tends to prolong the pain. Deep tissue injuries like
a sprained ankle also tend to last days or weeks rather than hours. Simple
painkillers, like aspirin, are usually safe and effective against these
pains. However, when taken for weeks at a time, these medications carry an accumulating risk of serious side effects, particularly stomach and intestinal troubles. Other alternatives are available. |
| There is no specific time after which a short-term pain becomes chronic. This depends on the specific condition. Generally speaking you may have chronic pain if your pain has lasted more than six months and is not relieved by medical and/or surgical care.Chronic pain may also be from an ongoing condition, such as back and/or leg pain (pain that is felt in the back and/or leg which may result from spinal diseases), complex regional pain syndrome (usually develops in the foot or hand after an injury such as a broken bone), surgery (which may involve nerve damage), or painful neuropathy (neurological disorders resulting from damage to nerves that generate severe chronic pain) |
| Prevalence
of chronic pain Although comprehensive epidemiological data for the European Union is not available, chronic pain is clearly a very widespread condition. It is estimated that chronic pain affects around 70 million people in Western Europe. Several recent community-based surveys, for example, found that about 50% of adults sampled suffered from one or more types of pain at any given point in time. In a substantial proportion of those surveyed, the pain was both chronic and severe - the numbers increasing considerably in older age groups. The most widespread chronic pain conditions like low back pain, arthritis and recurrent headache (including migraine) are so common that they are often seen as a normal and unavoidable part of life. Although few people die of pain, many die in pain, and even more live in pain. |
| If you are suffering from chronic pain, discuss your treatment options with your doctor, or make an appointment with a specialised pain clinic near you. |
