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The War
on Pain : How Breakthroughs in the New Field of Pain Medicine Are
Turning the Tide Against Suffering
by Scott, Md Fishman, Lisa Berger
Review by Jan Cantle aka GrannyJan
This book
endears itself to me by having
a chapter heading "the anatomy of ouch". The author also
described arthritis as "the crab grass of pain medicine".
This seems to sum up the
invasive nature of arthritis.
The
book starts with a very philosophical foreword if it. It is then split
into two parts, one analyzing the problems and to the solutions are
available at to deal with chronic pain. The main author is a pain
specialists. He believes like
Hippocrates, that one should study the patient rather than the
disease. The early part of the book has an interesting history of
anesthesia and analgesia starting with aspirins this it in 1899 and
leading on by way of paracetamol in the 1960s to Ibuprofen in the
1970s and mentions the Cox 2 inhibitors of the late 1990s. I for one
had not realized how late in history these medications had been found.
There is a clear and interesting section on opiate use explaining that
"while many doctors worry about the repercussions of long-term
use of morphine drugs, many rheumatologists use them as less risky
than a long-term daily doses of many over-the- counter pain
relievers." I hope that at more GPs can be persuaded to this
opinion.
The
most refreshing thing I found in this book was the attitude that the
patient knew best. Pain is what the patient says it is - not what the
doctor thinks it might be. I think anymore than one person who would
be pleased to find a doctor who believed what they were being told.
The
book has one of the best descriptions I have come across of arthritis
and its effects. Scott Fishman explains that pain is in the mind -
body continue on and has both physical and psychological parts. So,
when one is referred to the psychologists it is not because one is
going mad but rather to deal with that part of pain that is mainly
recognized at by the mind's eye. This should be done at the same time
as dealing with the physical causes of the pain. The case studies in
the second half of the book are varied and interesting.
There
is a section on alternative and
complementary therapies and their place in pain of management.
This
is a book I have enjoyed reading and I have had great difficulty in
not quoting a huge chunks of it. I recommend it to all who deal with
chronic pain, whether doctors or those being treated.
Order
it from Amazon.com
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