Hi! I was pointed to a booklet given out by The American Pain Foundation, a highly respected organization, written by a doctor who treats intractable, ie; chronic pain. It's about 60 pages long.

I learned a lot from this, even though I already knew a lot! I especially why we don't want to just live with pain, or tough it out. For example, one chapter is titled "Pain is the enemy, not the symptom".

Here is a sample of some chapter titles:
complications of chronic pain
treatments to reverse damage
Anabolic Therapy
how to speak to doctors
Potentiators, what they are and how to use them
diet, re; protein is your friend
preventing dementia and mental deterioration
tooth decay, and osteo
travel tips
how to deal with family and friends

This is just a sample of chapters, not the complete booklet listings.

The title of it is: Intractable Pain Patient's Handbook for survival @2007
by Tennant, Forrest MD DrPH

Here is a link to download it.

pain-topics.org/pdf/IntractablePainSurvival.pdf

I just googled that title to find a link as it's been some time since I received it.

Sunrise

Thank you so much for sharing. I just downloaded, read through the first three pages and scanned the rest.

It offers some amazing insights, and something friends and family will benefit from as well.

I'm so glad it is of some help. I thought I knew everything there was to know about CP, or at least everything I wanted to know at this point and time, but it really was an eye opener for me. After reading I saw CP at a whole different angle.

Take Care!
Sunrise

I just downloaded the pdf since the doc wants to start me on methadone for chronic pain. This looks like a great reference!!!!

Thanks!

Welcome to NeuroTalk, dodgette.

I see you are considering methadone. This drug is very tricky for some patients, and can be even dangerous.

I have a post here with details on how to go about this safely.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post15298-4.html

Some doctors do not understand methadone, sadly to say. They do not know that methadone can cause long QT syndrome, and that this can happen if people are low in potassium and/or magnesium, as well. There are drug interactions also.

So each patient should understand this, and have a screening EKG before starting this drug, IMO.