Guidelines for neuropathic pain sufferers

Almost everyone is familiar with the sensation of physical pain. However, did you know that there are different types of pain?

One type, known as acute pain, results from injury or surgery and typically goes away when normal healing occurs. Another type, chronic pain, is persistent, can last beyond the typical healing time, and often interferes with a person’s quality of life. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain.

Neuropathic pain is a type of chronic pain that can result from diseases, such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and shingles (an infection related to chickenpox). The exact causes of neuropathic pain are poorly understood, but researchers believe that the nerve fibers themselves may be damaged or injured, sending out the wrong signals to pain centers in the brain. The pain that a patient then feels is very real but the cause is not often easy to identify.

"To deal with pain is very difficult and the pain I experience affects my day-to-day activities to a point where sometimes I can’t work or I’m not able to move as freely as I’d like to," said Domenick Romano, a patient who suffers from PHN (postherpetic neuralgia), a painful skin condition associated with shingles. "It’s possible to manage your pain, though. I manage my pain by working with my doctor to develop a treatment plan that . . . incorporates relaxation techniques such as yoga as well as more targeted therapies such as an adhesive pain relief patch that I apply directly to my skin."

According to the American Pain Society, only one in four patients with chronic pain receive adequate treatment. In an effort to improve quality of life for patients, leading international experts convened to develop first-of-its-kind guidelines that were designed to help physicians better diagnose and manage patients suffering from neuropathic chronic pain. The guidelines were recently published in the medical journal Archives of Neurology.

"The challenge with neuropathic pain is that no single symptom points to the condition, thus making diagnosis difficult," said Charles E. Argoff, MD, director of the Cohn Pain Management Center and an assistant professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine and a co-author of the guidelines. "My hope is that these guidelines will translate into improved diagnosis and treatment for patients, many of whom have put their lives on hold due to their chronic pain."

The new guidelines offer physicians treatment recommendations for the various forms of neuropathic pain and help provide clarity on the types of pain patients experience and the different treatment strategies for managing the condition. Specifically, the guidelines recommend Lidoderm® (lidocaine patch 5 percent), a targeted topical patch applied directly to the skin, for the first-line treatment of neuropathic pain associated with PHN (or postherpetic neuralgia). Other therapies listed as first-line treatment options included gabapentin, opioid analgesics, tramadol and tricyclic antidepressants.

It’s estimated that pain costs Americans approximately $100 billion each year due to lost wages and healthcare expenses. It’s also the leading cause of more than 50 million lost workdays each year.

This story was provided by the North American Precis Syndicate.