Showing posts with label Pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pain. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2026

Brain and Behavior Sourcebook

I think you might like this book – "A Thousand Moms' Sourcebook of Brain and Behavior: For Teachers, Parents and Students. Second Edition (Make America Smart Again)" by David Balog.

What the life-threatening misunderstanding over TRANS and LGB People means?

How to understand pain to better treat it.

What is the outlook for Alzheimer's and the aging brain?

Can we understand opiates, opioids and save lives?

Start reading it for free:

https://a.co/08h1e1A0






Monday, May 11, 2026

Your Brain, Your Health

New!


The Alzheimer's Association reports that it believes the first person to be cured of this dreaded disease is walking around today .

The Human Rights Commission reports that violence and murder against trans people, especially trans people of color, is rising at an alarming pace. New research from Holland is quickly unraveling the mysteries of sexuality and sexual orientation to show that all sexuality takes place in the brain, in the uterus, and is out of the control of all parties, except to embrace it and love the baby and the child and the adult. 

Gene editing is being called the miracle of the future, which may be closer than we think. Imagine diagnosing and repairing some of our worst remaining diseases, which mostly have their basis in our brains. 

These examples show the importance of the brain for every person. Even from a budget perspective, brain-related diseases and disorders account for more than half of our health care bill each year. 

I think you might like this book – "A Thousand Moms' Sourcebook of Brain and Behavior: For Teachers, Parents and Students. Second Edition (Make America Smart Again)" by David Balog.

Start reading for free: https://a.co/05DIU6Sm

All of these facts make it important to be aware of the brain, it's capabilities, it's limitations, it's realities. Based on the widely used Dana Sourcebook of Brain Science, published from 1997 until 2006 and now updated, this sourcebook tells readers why the brain matters, outlines basic workings of this remarkable structure, and how self-inflicted wounds from substance abuse can produce an immediate euphoric feeling--at the cost of long-term, devastating addiction and damage. 

This source book office offers a panoramic overview of what has been called the most remarkable resource in the known, or even unknown, will world. 

Author David Balog created, wrote, and edited the Dana Sourcebook of Brain Science through its first four editions. He now is back editing this resource to help parents, teachers, and students understand more who they are and why they act the way they do. 

Available now at a reduced introductory price. Just some of the topics cover covered include: Alzheimer's disease, dyslexia, ADHD, stroke, speech disorders, eating disorders, autism, Parkinson's disease and more. David Mahoney, founder of the Brain Awareness Movement at the Charles a Dana Foundation, said, "One out of five people will have a brain disease or disorder. Five out of five will know or be a caregiver for someone with a brain disease or disorder."

I think you might like this book – "A Thousand Moms' Sourcebook of Brain and Behavior: For Teachers, Parents and Students. Second Edition (Make America Smart Again)" by David Balog.


Start reading it for free: https://a.co/05DIU6Sm




Saturday, July 19, 2025

Understand Your Pain

 



Pain and chronic pain affect billions worldwide. 
Learn how pain works to manage it better.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Pain and Chronic Pain--New!

New!

I think you might like this book – "Healing the Brain, Second Edition: Pain and Chronic Pain" by David Balog.

Start reading it for free: 

https://a.co/2ilcGHE

Sample pages;




Start reading it for free: 

https://a.co/2ilcGHE




Start reading it for free: 

https://a.co/2ilcGHE



Monday, April 18, 2022

Overlooked: Millions suffer tension, migraine headaches at work

 

NIH/Migraines at work overlooked, understudied.

Millions suffer tension, migraine headaches at work, in silence


Date:

February 9, 2022

Source:

University of Copenhagen - The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Summary:

A new study shows that people with migraine or frequent tension headaches have a reduced work ability in particularly three areas. The researchers hope that the new knowledge may help workplaces become better at accommodating those suffering from headaches.

    

FULL STORY



Imagine your head pounding. And when you try to move, a door slams, or curtains are drawn it gets much worse. Ideally, you would like to crawl under your blanket in a dark and quiet room.

 

This is how it may feel for people suffering from migraine or frequent tension headaches. Untreated, a migraine attack may last for 4-72 hours, and tension headaches may potentially last for a week. In Denmark, it is estimated that approximately 770,000 people suffer from migraine or frequent tension headaches.

 

Now, for the first time, a new study from the University of Copenhagen shows specifically how migraine or frequent tension headaches affect the ability to work.

 

"It is especially the ability to remember, make quick decisions and do hard physical work that cause difficulties for people with these headache disorders," says Project Manager and author of the study Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.

 


Learn about your brain in clear, jargon-free language.


She hopes that the study will help to focus on the consequences which headaches may have for working life.

 

"Migraine is the leading cause of functional impairment among people under the age of 50. And headaches have negative effects on sick leave and productivity. So, it would benefit workplaces to open their eyes to the untapped potential that you find here," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, adding:

 

"Indeed, we cannot afford not to take it seriously."

 

If you ask the Danish working population, 24 per cent of women and 10 per cent of men suffer from migraines or frequent tension headaches.
The possibilities of adapting the work during headache attacks depend on the type of work you have, says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, stressing:

 

"So also in this context, there is a significant inequality in health."
While people with academic jobs will often be able to go home a little earlier, work from home or choose to postpone the tasks that demand the highest concentration, other people, such as cleaning staff or nursing staff in old people's homes, do not have the same opportunities to adjust the working hours or postpone the tasks to be solved. Instead, they may have to call in sick.

 

According to Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, it takes creativity on the part of the manager and the employees to find out which solutions may be helpful:

 

"It is about having a good overview of the tasks that need to be solved, and then having a talk as to the best way to arrange a work day. For example, there may be tasks that can be performed later in the day, or that can be solved at a leisurely pace or in a quiet space until the pain has gone."

 

"I am going to lay down"
Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen believes that headache disorders such as migraine and frequent headaches are an overlooked epidemic.

 

"We are stuck with the idea of the character Maude from the Danish TV series Matador saying 'I am going to lay down' whenever she is a bit stressed," she says, explaining:

 

"Most people have experienced headaches. Therefore, it may be difficult to understand how debilitating migraine and frequent headaches may be for a colleague, friend or family member. People still have the notion that it will be sufficient to swallow a pill."

 

Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen believes that there is a lack of knowledge in the general population about the importance of headache disorders. The same applies to the fact that taking too many painkillers to soothe the headache may actually lead to more headaches.

 

"Some studies show that headaches are the second-most common cause of sick leave -- surpassed only by infectious diseases. Therefore, headache disorders carry large personal and socio-economic costs," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.

 

Associated with depressive symptoms and muscular pain
The researchers have used self-reported information from more than 5,000 active Danes with different educational backgrounds -- from people with long academic educations to unskilled workers.

 

"It is new that we combine information about migraine and frequent headaches with the participants' use of painkillers and with their description of the ability to cope with seven different, specific requirements at work," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.

 

The participants also answered questions about their health, depressive symptoms and pain in muscles and joints.

 

Here, the researchers found that depressive symptoms and pain in muscles and joints play an important role for the context between headache disorders and the ability to work.

 

"Our results indicate that the handling of depressive symptoms and pain in the musculoskeletal system may be an important factor in improving the ability to work among people with headache disorders," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.
Previous studies support the finding that headaches, muscle and joint pain coincide with depressive symptoms.

 

Among other things, you may see mood changes, and neck pain may be a warning sign of a migraine attack, just as frequent headache attacks may affect the mood negatively.

 

Under- and overmedication
The researchers find the lowest ability to work in the group of headache sufferers who do not use painkillers at all and the group who use painkillers on a daily basis.

 

"This raises the question whether these two groups are undertreated and overtreated, respectively," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.

 

According to Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, it seems to indicate that the group taking painkillers on a daily basis may not receive a treatment that works as intended -- and they might even suffer from medication overuse headaches.

 

"On the other hand, when you look at the group who does not take medication at all, it seems to indicate that they are undermedicated. And maybe it has to do with the fact that they do not consider their illness to be severe enough to seek medical attention -- but that is just our guess," says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen.

 

 
Facts: What are migraines and frequent headaches?
The two most common forms of headaches are migraine and tension headache.

 

Migraine is characterised by bouts of moderate or severe pulsating headache accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Chronic migraine occurs more than 14 days a month.

 

Tension headache is characterised by mild to severe pain on both sides of the head. Nausea and vomiting are usually absent. Chronic headache occurs more than 14 days a month.

 



Learn about your brain in clear, jargon-free language.

Facts: Recommendations
Based on the study, and seen in the light of other research, the researchers are making two recommendations:

 

People with headaches should see their doctor for advice and possible medical treatment.

 

Managers and employees should discuss the possibilities for adapting work during attacks, in order to reduce absenteeism, such as the opportunity to work in a room with less noise or outdoors, the opportunity to perform less physically demanding tasks or the opportunity to perform tasks that are not emotionally or cognitively demanding.

 

We need to think about the handling of other pain disorders (e.g., neck-shoulder pain) and mental health in order to improve the overall health-related quality of life among people with headache disorders.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Copenhagen - The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Friday, March 2, 2018

Pain, Chronic Pain, and Opioids

Pain: What is it and how do you treat it?

Chronic pain is recognized by the World Health Organization as a leading medical issue, worldwide.

Pain also has been called a first possible step on the road to opioid addiction. A slip, a broken limb followed by a prescription to oxycontin or other powerful opioid, misuse of that prescription, and the path to heroin or fentanyl abuse can easily start.
Learn about the brain. Click here.

Pain is an unpleasant sensation and emotional experience linked to tissue damage. Its purpose is to allow the body to react and prevent further tissue damage.

We feel pain when a signal is sent through nerve fibers to the brain for interpretation.

The experience of pain is different for everyone, and there are different ways of feeling and describing pain. This can makes it difficult to define and treat.

Pain can be short-term or long-term, it can stay in one place, or it can spread around the body.

Fast facts on pain:

--Pain results from tissue damage.
--It is a part of the body's defense mechanism. --It warns us to take action to prevent further tissue damage.
--People experience and describe pain differently, and this makes it hard to diagnose.
--A range of medications and other treatments can help relieve pain, depending on the cause.

Pain chronic, acute

Pain can be chronic or acute and take a variety of forms and severities.


Pain is felt when special nerves that detect tissue damage send signals to transmit information about the damage along the spinal cord to the brain. These nerves are known as nociceptors.

The brain then decides what to do about the pain.

For example, if you touch a hot surface, a message will travel through a reflex arc in the spinal cord and cause an immediate contraction of the muscles. This contraction will pull your hand away from the hot surface.

This happens so fast that the message doesn't even reach the brain. However, the pain message will continue to the brain. Once there, it will cause an unpleasant sensation of pain to be felt.

How an individual's brain interprets these signals and the efficiency of the communication channel between the nociceptors and the brain dictate how people feel pain.

Source: Medical News Today
By Adam Felman   
Reviewed by Deborah Weatherspoon, PhD, RN, CRNA

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Is pain treatment the root of the opioid crisis?

Check any obituary of a young person. It almost always lists heroin overdose as the cause. And going further, these heartbreaking obits describe the path to heroin beginning with treatment for an injury. 
Pain is a brain condition. Learn about your brain HERE!

As the number of U.S. prescriptions for opioids doubled over a 15-year period from 105 million in 1998 to 207 million in 2013, the number of fatal overdoses from the drugs soared almost five-fold, from 4,000 deaths a year in 1999 to nearly 19,000 in 2014. That includes people who illicitly used prescription opioids and those who overdosed on pills prescribed for them.
The problem has been building since the 1990s when a shift occurred in pain management. While traditionally medical professionals avoided opioids for any pain treatment, many doctors began using these medications a quick solution to a patient's pain.
"There was an entire movement and I was being told that we had an unrecognized epidemic of pain in America," Dr. Joseph Zebley told PBS NewsHour. "I think I, like many others, were fooled into at least partially believing that and starting to write prescriptions more liberally."
Amid the growing epidemic, many doctors also don't learn much about pain management while in medical school. A 2011 study found that during four years of training, a typical U.S. medical student spends only nine hours learning about pain.
In turn, some in the medical community, with increasing pressure from regulatory agencies and policymakers, are re-examining their approaches to pain management and how it's taught.
Comprehensive pain management is much more complex than just writing a prescription. The plan can include opioids when necessary. But the comprehensive approach also involves listening to patients, thinking creatively about treatment options, and working with doctors focused on different disciplines.

--Source: PBS NewsHour

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Relief for Migraines

Effective help is available for migraine sufferers

Summary:
Although it’s the third most prevalent illness in the world, migraine is widely misunderstood and frequently undiagnosed. Until quite recently a common “remedy” for migraine was to lie in a dark room and wait for the pain to pass. But today there are treatments that work – and new medications formulated specifically for migraine are in the pipeline.
The World Health Organization lists migraine -- the condition that produces recurring, severe, often-incapacitating headaches and other debilitating symptoms lasting from a few hours to a few days -- as the third most prevalent illness in the world, behind only tooth decay and tension-type headaches. More than 38 million Americans suffer from migraine, including approximately 28 million women, who are afflicted at a rate three times that of men. The nonprofit Migraine Research Foundation says health care and lost-productivity costs associated with migraine are estimated to be as high as $36 billion annually in this country.
Learn more about your brain in plain, clear language.
Despite those (and many other) daunting statistics, migraine is still widely misunderstood and frequently undiagnosed. And until quite recently the most commonly prescribed "remedy" for migraine was to lie in a dark room and wait for the pain to pass.
"It used to be that people with migraine were largely ignored and had to sequester themselves off someplace for hours or even days," said Juline Bryson, M.D., a neurologist and headache specialist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "But people who have migraine don't have to suffer. We have treatments that work, and even better ones are in the pipeline."
The first thing to realize about migraine, Bryson said, is that it's not just a bad headache. Rather, migraine is a complex neurological disorder that is genetic in nature.
"It's a strong hereditary trait," she said. "If one of your parents has migraine, there's a 50 percent chance you will, too. If both parents have it, there's a 75 percent chance."
In people who have this genetic predisposition to migraine the brain is abnormally sensitive to certain stimuli.
"When the brain is irritated it slows everything down, which is why people can't see clearly, feel clumsy, can't think straight, can't speak well, feel nauseous," Bryson explained. "Blood vessels get super-sensitive with increased blood flow, which causes throbbing pain.
"And the trigeminal nerve [the large nerve on both sides of the head that supplies sensations to the head and face and controls the muscles used in biting and chewing] flips out and sends all sorts of pain signals."
Not all migraine attacks are the same -- some, for example, are preceded by visual disturbances called aura -- nor are the triggers that initiate them.
And because migraine doesn't produce a visible sign like a bruise or rash and can't be detected by an X-ray or other imaging technique, doctors have to depend on patients' accounts of their episodes to know exactly what they're dealing with.
"We do rely on what patients tell us," Bryson said. "But people don't have very good recollections of their migraines. Some people think they have more headaches than they actually do, some fewer. So we tell a lot of patients to do a headache diary. When they keep a record of their migraines, when they occur, how bad they are, how often they last, what they did or consumed before they happened, we can get a much better idea of how to proceed."
Some of the factors than can trigger migraines or make them worse are common to most patients. These include fluctuations in estrogen levels in women, a drop in barometric pressure (as when a storm is approaching), anything that causes inflammation (such as a cold or any type of infection) and the overuse of over-the-counter medications and prescription opiates. Physical conditions such as obesity and sleep apnea also can contribute, as can lifestyle choices like smoking, drinking alcohol and eating foods high in preservatives and artificial sweeteners. But by no means does the list stop there.
"I could talk for hours about migraine triggers. There are probably as many triggers as there are patients," Bryson said, adding that some people have no clear triggers.
The prescription medications currently used to prevent migraine were all developed for other purposes. These blood pressure medicines, anti-seizure drugs and antidepressants have proven effective in reducing migraine. There's also onabotulinum toxin type A (Botox), which is approved as a preventive measure for people who have attacks more than 15 days a month. Medicines in a group called triptans can be taken at the onset of migraine attacks to lessen their effects.
"There are some good medications, but not everybody responds to them," Bryson said. "Fortunately, we have a whole new class of medications formulated specifically for migraine that are probably going to be released in the next year or two, which should change the face of migraine treatment strategies as we know them."
Those treatment strategies are not limited to drugs. Bryson and her colleagues in the headache program at Wake Forest Baptist take an integrative approach that can include sleep studies, psychological counseling, relaxation techniques, physical therapy, exercise and lifestyle changes.
Another member of the Wake Forest Baptist team, Rebecca Wells, M.D., is currently conducting a clinical study of stress reduction as a treatment for migraine.
"We don't just give somebody pills and send them on their way," Bryson said. "We look at a variety of factors and try to address them. It's my job to educate patients, to help them learn how to control their headaches, but they have to do their part."
However, no treatment program can totally eliminate migraine.
"Patients can do everything perfectly -- take their meds, lose weight, get enough sleep, stop drinking coffee, whatever -- and still get migraine, because it's genetic," Bryson said. "We'll never completely stop migraine headaches, but we can reduce them so people can be in control of their pain instead of their pain controlling them.
"Even if somebody has only one or two migraines a month, those hours with pain are lost to them, their families, their work, the enjoyment of their lives. Anyone who has migraine should see a doctor as soon as it interferes with their life. Period."
Story Source:


Thursday, December 7, 2017

Chronic pain: An unwanted memory


The brain, in easy-to-read language.
Dr. Allan Basbaum, pain specialist, called chronic pain a memory...one we don't want. Yet pretreatment of pain in the 1990s with drugs such as oxycontin has, many say, led to our current addiction crisis with opioids, including heroin and fentanyl.

Pain Management

YESTERDAY

  • Early Greeks and Romans advanced the idea that the brain played a role in producing the perception of pain.
  • In the 19th century, physician-scientists discovered that opiates such as morphine could relieve pain and chemist Felix Hoffmann developed aspirin from a substance in willow bark. Aspirin remains the most commonly used pain reliever.
  • The French physician, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, proclaimed in 1931 that, “Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself.”
  • In 1994, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) (http://www.iasp-pain.org/) defined pain as an “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.”

TODAY

  • Pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.
  • Pain is cited as the most common reason Americans access the health care system. It is a leading cause of disability and it is a major contributor to health care costs.
  • According to the National Center for Health Statistics (2006), approximately 76.2 million, one in every four Americans, have suffered from pain that lasts longer than 24 hours and millions more suffer from acute pain.
  • Chronic pain is the most common cause of long-term disability.
  • The diversity of pain conditions requires a diversity of research and treatment approaches.
  • Pain can be a chronic disease, a barrier to cancer treatment, and can occur alongside other diseases and conditions (e.g. depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury).
  • For infants and children, pain requires special attention, particularly because they are not always able to describe the type, degree, or location of pain they are experiencing.
  • Discoveries of differences in pain perceptions and responses to treatment by gender has have led to new directions for research on the experience and relief of pain. For example, medications called kappa-opioids provide good relief from acute pain in women, yet increase pain in men.
  • NIH-supported scientists identified a gene variant of an enzyme that reduces sensitivity to acute pain and decreases the risk of chronic pain.
  • COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) is a major contributor to pain associated with inflammation. A study of genes affected by COX-2 led to the discovery of its role in connection to multiple cellular pathways that contribute to pain relief and adverse side-effects.
  • Behavioral interventions for pain also demonstrate promise for providing pain relief either in conjunction with or in lieu of drug interventions. For example, NIH-supported research has demonstrated that individualized pain management programs may reduce cancer pain for some patients.

TOMORROW

The NIH is poised to make major discoveries that will improve health outcomes for individuals experiencing acute or chronic pain by applying opportunities in genomics and other technologies to improve our understanding of the fundamental causes of pain. This will be accomplished through translating basic laboratory science to new, improved pain treatments and by providing strategic support for the research community to discover more effective pain treatment strategies.

Applying genomics and other technologies to understand pain. Advances in basic and clinical genetics are making it possible to both characterize genetic factors related to pain sensitivity and develop novel therapeutic approaches.

  • In ongoing pain studies, scientists are using technologies such as microarray-based assays (complex genetic and molecular tests) to better understand the mechanisms of pain and analgesia, identify new targets for analgesic drugs, and test the efficacy and adverse reactions of newly developed or currently used drugs to treat pain. Researchers are currently using these technologies to discover the mechanisms by which drugs such as COX-inhibitors and neurotropins may relieve pain.
Translating basic science to improved pain treatments. Researchers will continue to focus on advancing both biological and behavioral pain management strategies from the research sphere to clinical applications.

  • Innovative ways to categorize and measure pain are currently being studied. For example, scientists are using computer-assisted technology to develop a novel program that will capture and quantify pain experiences. Tools such as this will be combined with existing methods to more accurately and consistently measure pain over time and across groups, diseases, and conditions.
  • Research will continue identifying biomarkers and biological pathways associated with painful conditions resulting from the use of drugs to treat diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS (http://www.umgcc.org/research/et.htm).
Providing Strategic Support for Research into Pain Treatment Strategies.

  • The NIH Pain Consortium (http://painconsortium.nih.gov/), an effort involving over 21 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices, promotes collaboration among the various NIH programs that support pain research, and provides strategic direction for accelerating advances in pain prevention, and treatment.
  • The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has established an Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, led by the Department of Health and Human Services, to assess and coordinate pain research efforts across the Federal government.
Contact: NINR Office of Science Policy and Public Liaison, info@ninr.nih.gov, 301-496-0207

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR): 
http://www.ninr.nih.gov/


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