Go Back   ISPINE.ORG Forum > Main forums > iSpine
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

iSpine Discuss Fact - Chronic Pain Shrinks Brains in the Main forums forums; Interesting Article posted by Live Science regarding an article published last month in the Journal of Internal Medicine. I've ...

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 07-30-2008, 11:07 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 53
Default Fact - Chronic Pain Shrinks Brains

Interesting Article posted by Live Science regarding an article published last month in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

I've republished the article here for those interested (with a link to the source for those that want to dig even deeper):

5 Painful Facts You Need to Know | Back & Neck Pain Solutions - Integrative Medicine & Nutrition

For those short on time here is the excerpt:
Quote:
If you have chronic pain, you know how demoralizing and debilitating it can be, physically and mentally. It can prevent you from doing things and make you irritable for reasons nobody else understands. But that’s only half the story. People with chronic backaches have brains as much as 11 percent smaller than those of non-sufferers, scientists reported in 2004. They don’t know why. “It is possible it’s just the stress of having to live with the condition,” said study leader A. Vania Apkarian of Northwestern University. “The neurons become overactive or tired of the activity.”
So the next time your Doctor says that Pain is not a good enough reason to operate... perhaps they should consider what happens to Brain of the Chronic Pain Sufferer. It's not like you Brain is going to grow back!

Now I am not here to address Surgery as the only viable option for pain treatment, and of course it would be nice if the Medical Profession understood pain well enough to find the CAUSE of the pain in Chronic Sufferers. But I am here to say, it's not okay to "just go home and live with it".

And it's further frustrating that when you need medication for your condition you are often treated as an addict. And there is so much pressure on Doctors to NOT prescribe pain medications due to potential abuse by the public at large.

The point is PAIN IS NOT OKAY TO JUST LIVE WITH. It's unfortunate but the only person who can truly understand your pain is YOU, and YOU are also the only person that is really going to be able to fight for yourself. People who are not suffering really don't get it.
__________________
My Research Postings On Dozens of Spine Pain Treatments

HealthSynergyRx.com
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 07-31-2008, 05:08 PM
dshobbies's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,596
Default

Didn't know about the brain thing but living with chronic pain is simply not a satisfactory way to live. Not -Not - Not!
__________________
3 level Prodisc adr S1-L3, Oct 12, 2005
Dr. B in Bogen, Germany
Severe nerve damage in left leg, still working on it
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 08-01-2008, 12:23 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,405
Default chronic pain shrinks brain

I'm definately not in as much pain as I was prior to being pretty well taken care of pain wise with pain meds but I felt my brain was a bit more alert and functional than it is now with very low dose Methadone use and I suppose moderate Neurontin use (Morontin as some say)..

I do find some topics extremely interesting yet find that my ability to remember what exactly I find interesting is difficult to convey to other people. Sometimes it's for a lack of the right words at the moment ( I know what I want to say and cannot remember the word I want to use) and/or I just can't seem to get the right statement out without it sounding like a huge generalization.

Sometimes I think I made more sense when I've been drunk

thank you for the link.. at least I can remember that I have read this before about the pain brain shrinking information. Maybe I'm not all that bad off.. oh yeah, on the up side of that info, I have migraines~

Last edited by Maria; 08-01-2008 at 12:26 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 08-12-2008, 03:22 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: south bay area of los angeles
Posts: 99
Default hmmm,shrinking brain

so, after 30 years of chronic back, leg,and butt pain, i must only have a Pea sized brain, hmmmmm
__________________
After a botched spinal tap where my L4/L5 disc exploded i underwent a laminectomy in 1979, and ran from spinal surgery ever since, then in 2002 i met DrDelamarter in Santa Monica- and my life as i knew it changed dramatically, I consider myself the "ProdiscPosterBoy" I am in the US Trials and one of the first in California to recieve 2 Lumbar Prodiscs, nomorepain-nomoremeds
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 08-25-2008, 04:17 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 53
Default

Only if your brain was already pea sized. 10% seems like a pretty good chunk to me too, but in this case it's not the size, it's what you do with it.

My brain sits on idle most of the time due to pain. So it doesn't really matter I suppose how large or small it is... if only the damn pain nerves would shrink.
__________________
My Research Postings On Dozens of Spine Pain Treatments

HealthSynergyRx.com
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT. The time now is 06:53 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.