Life, in pain: A six-part series on chronic pain
Chronic pain has long baffled doctors and often left patients feeling helpless. But a mind-body approach is helping Chicago women reclaim their lives.
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain conditions affecting women — chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, vulvodynia, TMJ dysfunction and interstitial cystitis.
Why this series? Why now?
These six conditions affect 50 million women in the U.S. and add as much as $80 billion in costs to taxpayers, according to a 2011 report by the Chronic Pain Research Alliance. As a whole, chronic pain affects more Americans than the combined total of those who live with cancer, heart disease and diabetes — yet very little research is dedicated to finding cures or effective treatment options, and the conditions have remained misunderstood and stigmatized for years.
A new national push aims to change that. The Institutes of Medicine published a report in July calling for a “cultural transformation in how the nation understands and approaches pain management and prevention.” The idea that “successful treatment, management, and prevention of pain requires an integrated approach that responds to all the factors that influence pain” is one the committee says should be promoted throughout health care.
We wanted to examine how chronic pain is being viewed and treated in the Chicago area, and where it’s headed next.
Personal perspectives from series writer Jenni Prokopy
“Virtually everyone I’ve worked with on a chronic pain problem, at some point, begins to wonder if they’re strange or odd or an unusual case,” says Dr. Steven Kvaal, clinical psychologist at Swedish Covenant Hospital and associate professor at Roosevelt University.
His observation is consistent with my own experience; diagnosed in 1997 with fibromyalgia, most doctors I talked to dismissed the condition as a “wastebasket” disease. I felt disrespected and abandoned by a health care system ill-equipped to accommodate my hard-to-wrangle illness. Nearly all the women I interviewed for this series have experienced the same.
Today, fibromyalgia is recognized as a legitimate chronic pain condition, my symptoms are well-managed, and my health care team is stellar — but that evolved over more than a decade. No woman should have to work for so long to build an effective treatment team (or get a diagnosis, for that matter).
Developing fibromyalgia turned me into an accidental activist, and my passion for helping women like me drives my desire to create resources like this series. I interviewed 19 experts — including patients, the ultimate experts on chronic pain — to shine a light on each of these six conditions. While there is no cure in sight right now for any of them, there are many, many ways to treat and minimize chronic pain.
Throughout the research process, one comment I heard over and over was, “we treat the whole patient.” While many health care providers focus on one area of a patient’s life, the team at Swedish Covenant Hospital steps back and looks at the big picture, approaching patients in a holistic way. Doctors are talking to patients about their relationships, workplace issues and spiritual practices. Patients are trying multiple treatments to tackle their symptoms from every angle. Everyone is keeping an open mind about new possibilities. And compassion abounds.
Even if you don’t have one of the six chronic conditions we’re profiling, I hope you’ll stick with us through this series. You may be surprised to learn what the hospital is doing to help women overcome the limitations they’ve experienced.
SUBSCRIBE TO WELL COMMUNITY E-NEWS
BECOME A FAN OF WELL COMMUNITY CHICAGO ON FACEBOOK
Related Content
Pain Management
Swedish Covenant Hospital's Pain Center helps acute and chronic pain sufferers gain control of their pain and their lives. Under the medical direction of a board-certified anesthesiologist, the Pain Center's multidisciplinary team creates an individualized treatment plan to decrease your pain's frequency, intensity and duration—so you can live your life as comfortably as possible.
Related Content
Psychological Services
Clinical psychology focuses on alleviating mental health issues that occur from a combination of factors including: intellectual, emotional, biological, social, psychological and behavioral aspects.
Related Content
OB/GYN Practice
Swedish Covenant Medical Group's Obstetrics and Gynecology Practice offer the best of both worlds — compassionate and board-certified obstetricians and gynecologists with the convenience of technologically sophisticated in-office diagnostic equipment. Ultrasound and fetal heart monitoring procedures are made simple and convenient with the equipment being located right at our office.
Related Content
Incontinence and Pelvic Pain
For many women, a weak bladder, pelvic pain or other pelvic conditions can be embarrassing and isolating problems — but they are also very common.
Related Content
Life, in pain: Part 1 — Chronic fatigue syndrome
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain condition
Related Content
Life, in pain: Part 2 — Endometriosis
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chroni
Related Content
Life, in pain: Part 3 — Fibromyalgia
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain condition
Life, in pain: Part 4 — TMJ disorder
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain condition
Related Content
Life, in pain: Part 5 — Vulvodynia
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain condition
Related Content
Life, in pain: Part 6 — Interstitial cystitis
In this six-part series, Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com joins Well Community in examining the six most common chronic pain condition
Comments (20)
SoftProtect is a great and affordable files password protection software. It enables you to keep all the private, corporate or confidential data available only for the key owner. || data encryption software || You can easily choose the type of key: PC hardware profile, USB Flash drive, a password or even a combination of these three ones to make it more flexible for you to access the files.
April 19, 2013 - 1:21pmwww.rankpage.in
June 3, 2013 - 12:48amA superb informative article that you've got discussed along with fortunate your projects for expressing the data. Acquired several attractive data along with would choose to give it a go. Applaud your projects along with keep expressing your details. Really fascinated! Every thing is quite wide open and incredibly apparent clarification involving problems. Its content has really facts.
This is an excellent post, I was looking for this knowledge. Just so you know I found your web site when I was searching for blogs like mine, so please check out my site sometime and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.osteopath near denistone
April 18, 2013 - 11:28am"It's not true that mid-range phones are quickly forgotten by their manufacturers and never receive software updates." visit website And now, we can even back this statement with the fact that Sprint's Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE just got updated to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean!
April 11, 2013 - 12:28pmLate Wednesday, a Federal Patent Court in Germany stripped Samsung of what the Korean manufacturer had called an essential patent for the UMTS 3G standard. buy kindle fire hd The patent covered "turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data according to QoS," and the court also removed the patent protection on all of the proposed amendments to the original patent made by Samsung. Samsung can still appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Justice.
April 11, 2013 - 11:52amAccording to a survey conducted by shopping app and website BuyVia, consumers seem to be content with the current platform on their smartphone. 46% of Apple iPhone users said that they have no intention of switching to an Android flavored model. For current Android users, 42% of them do not plan on leaving for the Apple iPhone. Web design companies As for those upgrading their current handset, 41% want the next Apple iPhone while 19% are eyeing the recently unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4. 4.7% are lusting over a Windows Phone unit and the Samsung GALAXY Note II is wanted by 2% as well. As for the new BlackBerry Z10, another 2% want that to be their next phone. 2% want something else besides the models presented, and a huge 27% are not sure. The undecided consumer group is large enough to be worth fighting for with ads and promotions.
April 9, 2013 - 11:13amGreat beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog website? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear idea Konsumen Cerdas Paham Perlindungan Konsumen | Iconia PC tablet dengan Windows 8 | Tas Ransel Murah | Harga Nokia Asha 309
April 4, 2013 - 8:40pmBei bestbezahlte Berufe mit Hauptschulabschluss, Berufe mit Realschulabschluss oder Berufe mit abitur alles möglich. Internetmarketer in 12 Wochen bei ca 2 bis 3 Std. täglich. bestbezahlte berufe
March 25, 2013 - 11:52amI recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
June 12, 2013 - 6:55amhttp://hghprice.com
Taking 2012 by storm, Samsung catapulted all the way to the top last year, as the Korean based company delivered timeless devices over and over again with little Calgary web design pause for its rivals to combat its insatiable appetite. Claiming victory while looking down from the pinnacle of the mountain, Samsung as a whole transformed from being a competitor trying to emerge from a heap of hard rollers, to the one taking ownership of the crown in the smartphone kingdom. Today marks yet another triumphant push forward in retaining that bitskin prestigious crown, seeing that the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S IV just became official-official.
March 19, 2013 - 5:17amAs teased in the promotional image Samsung released a few days prior to the Samsung Unpacked 2013 event, rentalic the Galaxy S4 looks just like its prior flagship brethren — there's plenty of the same curves and general feel on the handset, so no major waves will be made in design. Although the difference in weight from the S4 and the S III is a scant .1 ounces, the feel on the new phone is actually deceptively light. Gibson Guitars Add to it a very sleek cover (which actually snaps into the back of the phone) and an eye-popping 5" 441 PPI Super AMOLED screen, and it makes a strong statement as a new phone — even without an envelope-pushing design.
March 16, 2013 - 9:37amAs you might imagine, the prospect of completely unhooking yourself from a desktop or laptop computer might not sit entirely well. Robbins is founder of software consulting firm Palador, based in Seattle, Washington. A year ago, he decided to do away with his PC, tablet, keyboard and do all his work from his smartphone, Fort Lauderdale Plumber
March 14, 2013 - 1:48amIn the time it's taken Black Box to make Need for Speed: Fort Lauderdale Plumber The Run, we've had three other awesome NFS titles from other developers. While that's great for fans, it kind web directory of spoiled Black Box's return to form. Need for Speed: The Run feels like a traditional NFS game, released after the franchise had already redefined itself. michael fiore What Need for Speed: The Run has going for it is that it feels more like an old-school NFS game than the last few "spinoff" titles have. Developer Black Box has been making NFS games for over a decade, and they bring a lot of that arcade style, nitrous fueled racing action back. Racing down snow and ice covered tracks, skidding along a turn and narrowly avoiding plummeting off the edge of a cliff face is exhilarating. Weaving through traffic on a crowded freeway feels tense and frightening.
March 13, 2013 - 11:08pmIn the time it's taken Black Box to make Need for Speed: Fort Lauderdale Plumber The Run, we've had three other awesome NFS titles from other developers. While that's great for fans, it kind web directory of spoiled Black Box's return to form. Need for Speed: The Run feels like a traditional NFS game, released after the franchise had already redefined itself. michael fiore What Need for Speed: The Run has going for it is that it feels more like an old-school NFS game than the last few "spinoff" titles have. Developer Black Box has been making NFS games for over a decade, and they bring a lot of that arcade style, nitrous fueled racing action back. Racing down snow and ice covered tracks, skidding along a turn and narrowly avoiding plummeting off the edge of a cliff face is exhilarating. Weaving through traffic on a crowded freeway feels tense and frightening.
March 13, 2013 - 11:08pmWe manufacture minimum pressure valve,compressor valves, nbdlfd.com have advanced CNC processing machines and complete inspection equipments,to provide customers with quality products. llkjihygjhfg
March 12, 2013 - 11:53pmThere is a life after painful affairs. The recovery & healing can at times be testing, it can be exciting but the most significant thing is the transformation. The secret to living a complete life after abuse of any type is to release the feeling. http://www.tweets123.com/category/life-tweets
December 24, 2012 - 4:08amPretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.
May 29, 2013 - 8:08amTips by BM Fabd
Easy option to get useful information as well as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts auto finance
November 10, 2012 - 5:37amPlease continue this great work and I look forward to more of your awesome blog posts.
May 22, 2013 - 5:32amVisit Lutkar Skopozoriste
Take China for instance,cheap ugg boots red just like the degree of LV Neverfull handbags,as that section,from the Zhang Ziyi,next to his mother comes in different forms,a pair of manpower. If the winter if you been to Beijing Maternity Hospital ugg boots on sale,you can also "surprise" belly bulge that every expectant mother will be stepping on the foot of one pair of ugg. Listen to friends that she had met in Dubai,the local woman wearing a black veil,you can vaguely see the pedal pair of ugg,these shoes with warm desert weather enough to walk in a pressure cooker feet in still wear such circumstances,sufficient to show the magic of these boots 9iietwt89jhdj.
November 25, 2012 - 10:24pm