A PAINFUL PROBLEM.

AuthorLewis, Terri A.
PositionMEDICINE & HEALTH - Chronic pain

As many as 100,000,000 Americans suffer from chronic pain, according to a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies. Chronic pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.

"This suggests that the current ill-designed war on prescribed narcotics may cause far more deaths by collateral damage than it prevents--that as many as 7,000,000 additional Americans face the risk of suicide from unabated pain, in an attempt to prevent 15,000 prescribed narcotic overdose deaths yearly," says board certified internist Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., the author of several books, including Pain Free 1-2-3: A Proven Program for Eliminating Chronic Pain Now. He also recently had research published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

According to Dr. Teitelbaum, the answer is not to either ignore the overdose deaths or the suffering of those with chronic pain. "There is a third option, which can effectively address both, that is being largely ignored: treat the root causes of pain.

"Using the entire medical tool kit, including structural therapies (such as physical therapy and chiropractic), low-cost generic medications, and natural remedies, most pain can be effectively controlled and often eliminated without narcotics."

However, suicidal ideation and action are ever present in the pain...

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