Anesthesiologists Denver CO

Overcoming Pain

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By Catherine Guthrie

Open the newspaper or flip on the TV and you’ll see accolades for doctors’ many miraculous abilities. They can separate conjoined twins, reattach severed limbs, and shuffle organs between patients like peas in a shell game. But sit down with someone whose body is racked with the pain of osteoarthritis, migraines, or fibromyalgia, and the shortcomings of traditional medicine become blindingly clear. The humbling fact is that at least 50 million Americans live in chronic pain, and the vast majority are pretty much at its mercy. The hallmarks of daily life—work, sleep, raising families—become enormous challenges, and as if that’s not enough, most pain patients also grapple with depression. “Chronic pain can swallow you up and steal your identity,” says Penny Cowan, founder and executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association in Rocklin, California. “So many of us base who we are on what we do, on our abilities. When that is taken away, you become an un-person.” Unfortunately, chronic pain patients have traditionally been the Achilles’ heels of Western medicine. They’re hard to diagnose—pain is by its nature subjective, and can’t be located on an X-ray or under a microscope—and conventional treatments are fraught with risk. And painkillers like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, opioids, and morphine come packaged with a slew of side effects as well as some addictive properties, which can be more disruptive than the pain itself. No wonder pain sufferers are often perceived as “difficult”: Who wouldn’t get cranky under such frustrating circumstances?

The uneasy relationship many chronic pain patients have with doctors is driving them into the arms of alternative healers. In fact, pain is the number one reason people use alternative medicine, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Some therapies, such as acupuncture, biofeedback, and massage, are scientifically proven to reduce certain types of pain, while others, like reiki and meditation, can help a person get a handle on the emotional demons that chronic pain unleashes.

But while it’s tempting to paint a two-dimensional picture—conventional medicine bad, alternative medicine good—it’s also dangerously simplistic. A naturopath who tells a patient her pain will vanish with the right combination of supplements is just as irresponsible as a doctor who dashes off a prescription for opiates before running out the door. If ever there was a condition that calls for a truce between the two schools of thought, it’s chronic pain.

Enter James Dillard, a specialist in integrative pain management and the author of The Chronic Pain Solution. Trained first as an acupuncturist and chiropractor and only later as a physician, Dillard believes an integrative approach is especially important for people who struggle with chronic pain. “Because they suffer on so many levels—physically, emotionally, and psychosocially—you can’t treat chronic pain with a single ...

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