Chronic pain affects roughly 20% of adults in Western countries and is defined as pain on most days or every day for more than three months. High-impact chronic pain significantly impairs daily activities like cooking, sports, or hand-based work. Many individuals undergo extensive testing including x-rays, MRIs, spine imaging, and rheumatism tests without obtaining a definitive diagnosis. Patients frequently try treatments such as physical therapy, osteopathy, acupuncture, and pain therapy. Severe chronic pain can force time off work and motivate individuals to pursue nearly any option to relieve symptoms, including consideration of antidepressant medications.
The day I was originally supposed to write about the connection between chronic pain and antidepressants, my hands and wrists hurt so much, I couldn't type for longer than a few minutes at a time. Ah, the irony. Thankfully, the pain mostly retreated over the course of a weekend. In the past, I've had to take time off work for weeks as typing, or any activity that involved using my hands, became nigh impossible.
While we don't know the exact number of people living with chronic pain globally, in the so-called Western world, roughly 20% of adults deal with it. That's according to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). The IASP defines chronic pain as "a condition in which an individual experiences pain on most days or every day for more than three months."
Collection
[
|
...
]