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THERE was no blood. No broken bones. No apparent cause for the excruciating pain in Anita Jones' lower back, knees, hands and neck. Yet the intensity of her pain was so unbearable that she could barely stand or walk. She lost the use of her hands at times and could no longer work her full-time job.

What was wrong with Anita Jones?

She was suffering from chronic pain, later identified as fibromyalgia, a condition that transformed her life into a prison of misery and suffering.

Anita Jones is one of millions of African-Americans, and people in general, of all ages, who suffer from painful medical conditions ranging from arthritis to back pain, cancer, diabetic neuropathy, HIV/AIDS, fibromyalgia, sickle-cell crisis, lupus and post-operative conditions. The latest studies indicate that chronic pain affects an alarming 44 million households and costs an estimated $100 billion per year in health care costs and lost productivity. The Partners Against Pain program reported that chronic pain is so severe and debilitating that one-third of all patients say that they cannot function normally and experience such agonizing pain that they often want to die.

To combat the rising problem, experts suggest that chronic pain be treated as a disease, not merely a symptom. "Pain is a growing problem for physicians and patients. When inadequately treated, pain can lead to depression, loss of function, increased time to heal and lost workdays" says Dr. Kathleen Foley, professor and neurrologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

But understanding the cause of pain, the patient's response to that pain, and then matching the appropriate pain management to the degree of pain can be difficult, says Dr. Gary C. Dennis, chief of neurosurgery at Howard University Hospital and former National Medical Association president. "However, using a pain scale ranging from 0 to 10, we ask the patient to assess their pain. If the pain is 10 out of 10, then that patient is in terrible pain," he says. "If a patient's pain is 10 out of 10 even with medication, then obviously, that medication is not working."

# posted by Medical Information : 2:42 AM