Chronic Pain Sufferers Suffer in Silence

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Chronic Pain Sufferers Suffer in Silence

By Gardner

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 6 (HealthDayNews) -- Bevins has been in pain since

1996. At first, the pain was intermittent; for the past three years, it has

been unrelenting.

" Pain is just a part of me, just like I have brown hair and I weigh so many

pounds, " said Bevins, 32, who suffers from fibromyalgia. " I have pain.

That's just a normal part of my life. "

According to a new survey released Thursday from the American Chronic Pain

Association, Bevins' attitude is also normal, at least among pain sufferers.

The Americans Living with Pain Survey canvassed 800 people suffering from

chronic pain and found they often denied the pain, delayed seeing a doctor

and, when they did seek medical help, tended to shy away from treatment.

Almost a third of Americans experience chronic pain at some point in their

lives, said a recent report from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation

of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the National Pharmaceutical Council.

At any particular point in time, about 50 million Americans suffer from

persistent pain. Chronic pain is the No. 1 cause of adult disability and

represents about $100 billion in lost productivity each year, according to

the report.

The pain survey, which was supported by Endo Pharmaceuticals, found 72

percent of people with chronic pain have lived with it for more than three

years, while a third have lived with it for more than a decade. At the same

time, 44 percent of those who have talked to their doctor about the pain

delayed doing so. Slightly more than half (53 percent) of those who

eventually visit their doctor do so because their pain is getting worse.

Despite this apparent reluctance to see a health-care professional, the

majority of those surveyed admitted pain had a major impact on their lives,

including 82 percent of young people who said they were affected emotionally

by the pain.

One in six said it had adversely affected their careers.

Almost half (45 percent) said it had negatively impacted their personal

relationships.

And 51 percent of those employed said it had affected their productivity; 61

percent said it affected their daily routine, and 27 percent said it

affected their ability to actually get to work.

For Bevins, who lives in Newport News, Va., chronic pain has meant giving up

some of her most precious dreams and completely overhauling her life to

accommodate it.

She has had to give up her dream of being a professional dancer. And she has

had to stop working as a public school teacher because, she said, " I'm not

dependable as far as times go. There are days that I wake up and can hardly

get out bed, and then there are days where my mornings may be fine but then

my afternoons I'm totally wiped out. "

And although she and her husband, , are keeping their fingers crossed,

they have had to shelve their plans for having a baby, at least for the time

being.

Bevins has wanted to be a mom since she was 16, but she's worried that all

the medications she takes would affect the baby and that being pregnant

might take too much of a toll on her body. She also worries about having the

energy to care for an infant.

Then there are the daily hardships. She can no longer keep house, and she

frets about not being able to cook.

" I hate not being able to have quality food, " she said. She did, however,

" swallow her pride " and now uses the electric buggy when shopping for

groceries.

Penney Cowan, executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association,

who also lives with chronic pain, hopes the survey will help people

understand how pain impacts so many lives in so many ways. She also hopes it

will persuade more pain sufferers to take an active role in their own

treatment.

" Ideally, we want them to begin to make the transition from the mindset of a

patient to that of a person who does not allow pain to become their identity

so they can eventually cope with it, " she said.

" There is hope, " Bevins added. " You can end up accepting your pain as just

another part of you. It's just something that's there. It doesn't mean your

dreams have to stop. They may have to be altered. "

More information

The American Chronic Pain Association has more on

http://www.theacpa.org/pf_02.asp>managing chronic pain and on

http://www.theacpa.org/pf_03.asp>resources for chronic pain.

(SOURCES: Bevins, Newport News, Va.; Penney Cowan, executive

director, American Chronic Pain Association, Rockland, Calif.; Pain: Current

Understanding of Assessment, Management, and Treatments)

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