With the opioid crisis there is no doubt that physicians need safer, nonaddictive pain killers. Now new insights on how to create these are coming from an unlikely source: the naked mole rat.
What you find depends on what you’re looking for.
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Some people argue the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, you just need to keep looking. But there are occasions where finding no evidence is all you can do.
A man walks in a back alley in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, February 2019. More people fatally overdosed in British Columbia last year compared with 2017 despite efforts to combat the province’s public health emergency.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A policy response focused on reducing prescription opioids will not resolve North America’s opioid crisis. And it is hurting many adults who live with otherwise unbearable chronic pain.
It’s very difficult to separate anxiety and fear from the experience of pain linked with actual physical damage.
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Marijuana is known for delivering a good high. But the plant’s uses go well beyond the recreational. Marijuana contains a trove of medicinal compounds whose uses we are just now discovering.
Palliative radiation therapy is effective regardless of a patient’s original cancer site (for example breast, lung or kidney) and is usually delivered in one to 10 daily doses.
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Palliative radiation therapy can improve a cancer patient’s life, by alleviating pain and other symptoms. Unfortunately, some doctors associate the term with end-of-life care and fail to refer people.
A headache is not from your brain itself hurting, but it might mean some of the muscles, membranes and tissues surrounding the brain or its blood supply system could be hurting.
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David Farmer, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
The brain itself can’t actually feel pain. It can’t sense damage to itself the way your finger can. We know this because people can have brain surgery while they are totally awake.
Ambulance call-outs associated with the misuse of pregabalin (Lyrica) have increased tenfold in Victoria since 2012, mirroring an increase in prescription rates.
The biological pathways related to physical and emotional pain overlap.
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People who use painkillers for non-medical reasons often justify it as a form of self-medication for legitimate medical diagnoses such as depression, anxiety and stress.
Some people feel more pain than others.
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Researchers are exploring the genetic differences that dictate why some people suffer greater pain than others, and how to translate these findings into personalized pain treatments.
Even the slightest touch of a D. moroides leaf can cause excruciating pain. An intense stinging, burning pain is felt immediately, then intensifies, reaching a peak after 20 – 30 minutes.
Marina Hurley, Author provided
Many people may misunderstand the basics about opioids. That prevents researchers from understanding the full scope of the epidemic.
Knee arthroscopy requires admission to hospital and an anaesthetic. It carries some risk of harm such as infection or further damage in the joint.
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Doctors tend to overestimate how good their treatments are and underestimate the harms that come from them. But many studies have shown knee arthroscopy to no more effective than fake surgery.
Ouch! Who hasn’t felt the effects of a paper cut and then cursed the gods or themselves for the injury? But have you ever wondered why they hurt so much? A professor of family medicine explains why.
Studies examining pain are hard to judge, since they’re based on participants’ self-reported pain levels.
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Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut School of Nursing; Assistant Director, UCONN Center for Advancement in Managing Pain, University of Connecticut