The waiting area in Kayla’s (name changed) practice was so peaceful that I felt better just sitting there. I had come to receive acupuncture treatments and didn’t quite know what to expect. While I sat and waited for Kayla to lead me back t…
Category: Pain Management
How objective pain management can save lives and prevent addiction
The management of pain in clinical practice often involves navigating the critical tension between compassionate care and ensuring patient safety. While subjective self-reports of pain are essential for understanding a patient’s experience, relyi…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is talking when they should be listening
On May 9-10, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a workshop titled “Training health care providers on pain management and safe use of opioid analgesics — exploring the path forward.” I attended the workshop in person to o…
Restoring compassionate pain care: a call to action
As a patient advocate, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of policies leading to untreated and undertreated pain. As a mother who has lost a child to drug poisoning, I have also witnessed how drug policy is driving an increasingly letha…
The real cause of the opioid crisis isn’t what you think
For years, the U.S. public has been hearing that prescription opioid pain relievers are always and forever a bad thing—and that doctors and big pharma companies are supposedly responsible for an epidemic of addiction and drug overdose-related deaths. H…
How alternative therapies could be the key to ending the pain care crisis [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We dive into the pain care crisis in the United States with Cindy Perlin, a social worker and chronic pain expert. We explore the epidemic of chronic pain, the limitations…
The shocking truth behind the DEA’s role in America’s pain crisis and doctor prosecutions
The United States federal government is a single entity, despite its three equal branches having more heads than a hydra and more arms than Mahakali. One part of that federal government is not supposed to create and propagate standards that another par…
The shocking truth behind the DEA’s role in America’s pain crisis and doctor prosecutions
The United States federal government is a single entity, despite its three equal branches having more heads than a hydra and more arms than Mahakali. One part of that federal government is not supposed to create and propagate standards that another par…
Why physicians need to become more educated about alternative pain treatments
All indications are that pain care in the United States is in crisis. There is an epidemic of prescription opioid-fueled opioid addiction and overdoses (over a million dead and millions more addicted) as well as an epidemic of chronic pain. Estimates o…
How the DEA’s use of predictive algorithms is worsening crises in urban communities and raising suicide rates among African Americans
The true definition of criminal behavior has always been problematic. Are we criminals because we break the law or because we have been convicted? Famous and revered people throughout history have clearly broken the law but are almost never defined as …
