Nearly one in three among us contends with long-lasting pain — the kind that lingers for weeks to months — and more often than not are not helped by the US healthcare system poorly prepared to treat them, the Institute of Medicine said Wednesday.As great as the suffering is, the cost from a financial standpoint is enormous: the tab for chronic pain is costing the nation at least $558 billion a year in medical bills, sick days, and lost productivity. That's more than the cost of heart disease, the No. 1 killer. And all that money isn't bringing relief to the majority of those who are suffering.
All kinds of ailments can trigger lingering pain, from arthritis to cancer, spine problems to digestive disorders, injuries to surgery. Sometimes, chronic pain can be a disease all its own, the report stressed.
Whatever the cause, effective pain management is "a moral imperative," says IOM, urging the government, medical groups, and insurers to take a series of steps to transform the field.
Jolie adds: Some chronic pain conditions are relieved in part or sometimes fully by taking marine omega 3's, but the dose is far greater than a single capsule...for real relief a person usually needs to take between 2400 mg EPA and DHA combined and may need to boost the dose in some very difficult cases by a factor of three.
Other pain sufferers find that getting their vitamin D levels assessed and then raising them to a level between 40-60ng/ml will help relieve pain of rheumatoid and musculoskeletal conditions and also neuropathies.
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