TRANSCRIPT - Battling back: overcoming the undertreatment of chronic pain

[Guest guest]

Battling Back: Overcoming the Undertreatment of Chronic Pain

WebMD Live Events Transcript

Dr. Elliot Krames, the organizer of the Worldwide Pain Conference and

a leading international pain management specialist, answered questions

about the use of implanted medical devices such as neurostimulators

and drug pumps to treat chronic pain.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the guest's alone. If you

have questions about your health, you should consult your personal

physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only and is

sponsored by Medtronic. Medtronic is a manufacturer of implantable

intrathecal drug delivery and neurostimulator systems.

Moderator: Welcome to the Medtronic Auditorium. Our guest today is

Elliot Krames, MD, the organizer of the Worldwide Pain Conference and

a leading international pain management specialist. We will be

discussing the undertreatment of chronic pain. Welcome Dr. Krames.

Thank you for joining us. How are you today?

Dr. Krames: I am wonderful, thank you very much.

Moderator: Before we begin taking questions, can you please tell

everyone a little bit about your background and area of expertise?

Dr. Krames: Surely. First of all I am by training an anesthesiologist.

I am a pain physician. I am board certified by the American Board of

Pain Medicine to practice pain medicine. I am the Medical Director of

Pacific Pain Centers in the Bay Area.

Moderator: What is chronic pain ? How does it differ from other kinds of pain?

Dr. Krames: OK. First of all everybody understands the pain of tissue

injury, when we hurt ourselves, put our hand on a hot plate, we expect

this is going to hurt. We expect we are going to get relief from this

pain when we take medications from our local physicians. We call this

pain eudynia. It's normal, expected, and we also expect this pain will

go away after this tissue heals. However, there are certain pains that

exist far beyond after the healing takes place. Usually this is pain

that exists three to six months, called maldynia. This pain no longer

has biological usefulness. The use of pain is to tell the body where

it hurts where we need to protect ourselves but the chronic pain no

longer has usefulness and is a disease process in and of itself. It

leads to depression, loss of income, it becomes a biosocial issue. It

is no longer just a biological issue but is a biopsychosocial issue.

It impacts on the body, on the neurological, on the functional life,

their ability to relate to people, to become depressed, they may be

isolated, have loss of self-esteem, so no longer is it a biological

issue. It needs to be treated in all its complexity.

**********************************

Read the full article here:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=54038

Not an MD