Living with chronic pain and arthritis - Research Paper Example

Chronic Pain & Arthritis Chronic pain is described as pain that lasts more than 3 months. Some professionals describe it as lasting more than six months. It is different from acute pain because it is not simple to discover the reason of chronic pain. Diagnosis can reveal no wound in the body, and yet the patient can be in excruciating pain. Arthritis is a joint disorder with swelling. Arthritis literally represents swelling of one or more joints. It is one of the rheumatic diseases. Arthritis victims consist of males and females, kids and grown-ups.

More or less 351 million individuals worldwide have arthritis. More than 40 million citizens in the United States are affected by arthritis, together with more than a quarter million children. More than half of persons with arthritis are less than 65 years of age. Almost 60 percent of Americans with arthritis are females (Hunter, p. 90). Chronic pain in adults is a main health issue with severe personal as well as financial consequences. A reasonably huge percentage of adult chronic patients report the initial onset of signs in the early years of life.

The reality that pain is a subjective phenomenon, and pain behavior is the outcome of the contact of somatic (genetic), behavior (psychosomatic), and environmental (sociological) aspects, means that learning has a part in pain. Study of chronic pain during youth and teenage years, may consequently give additional hints to the causes of adult pain issues and to preventive actions. Several studies on the impact of chronic pain have evaluated separate quality of life domains, for instance, disability, hopelessness, or nervousness instead of using comprehensive quality of life measures.

Quality of life is a multidimensional notion that includes extensive domains of quality of life and the overall contentment of a person with life and wellbeing. Chronic Pain and Quality of Life One in three Americans go through some type of chronic pain. Chronic pain does not go away regardless of the efforts. It disturbs the personal and professional life, has an effect on the emotional and social life, and can take over the life of the sufferer. It is continuous and mostly complicated to treat because the source of the pain is not clear and even if it is clear, it is not easy to remove such as arthritis pain.

Living with chronic pain restricts what a person can do. Chronic pain can hinder with the capability to work, to take part in sports, to walk or even to look after. “Chronic pain can even become the basis of what is known as ‘disuse syndrome’, which is the medicinal approach of saying, use it or lose it” (Cochran, p. 89). To stay away from pain, several individuals restrict the number of things they do during a day. Ultimately, this becomes the cause of weakness, which causes even less activity, and a cycle is formed.

The psychological state of the sufferer plays an enormous role in the effect it has on his life. One may notice bad temper, annoyance, gloominess and difficulty concentrating in the sufferer of chronic pain. The psychological consequences of living with chronic pain can be as unbearable as the pain itself. This is what makes chronic pain such a difficult situation. Individuals with constant pain live a life that usually incorporates dealing with a number of symptoms beyond the uncontrollable feeling of excruciating pain.

They also have problem in sleeping, are mostly disheartened, nervous and even have trouble in taking simple decisions. During the recent research, researchers identified a sign that may clarify how experiencing continuing pain could cause these other pain-associated symptoms. In a healthy brain, all the regions are in a state of stability. When one region is lively, the others calm down. However, in individuals with chronic pain, a front region of the cortex generally linked with feeling ‘never shuts up’ (Lorig et al, p. 201). Being a chronic pain patient is hard, but finally with the help of physicians and medicine things should get easy to handle.

Even though, some physicians may choose that the patient want medicine to do more than to relieve the pain. They may say that you are addicted to your medicine; and this can lead to guilt as well as annoyance. Treatment The treatment of arthritis relies on which particular type of arthritis is there, its location, severity, persistence, in addition to any basic background medical conditions of the patient. Every treatment program should be modified for the individual patient. Treatment programs can include home medications, nonprescription and prescription pills, joint injections, as well as surgical operations.

A number of treatment programs incorporate weight loss and avoiding activities that apply too much pressure on the joint. The objective of treatment of arthritis is to lessen joint pain and swelling while preventing harm and improving joint function (Tearnan, p. 106). Works Cited Cochran, R. T. Understanding Chronic Pain: A Doctor Talks to His Patients. Providence House Publishers, 2007. Hunter, M. Making Peace with Chronic Pain: A Whole-Life Strategy. Routledge. Lorig, K., Holman, H., Sobel, D.

and Laurent, D. Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions. Bull Publishing Company, 2006. Tearnan, B. H. 10 Simple Solutions to Chronic Pain: How to Stop Pain from Controlling Your Life. New Harbinger Publications, 2007.