Description
Book SynopsisAs a nation, we are facing an unprecedented opioid crisis that is killing more than 65,000 people a year. It is destroying our families and decimating our neighborhoods. And it is costing us billions. As more and more people are dealing with chronic pain, and as the opioid crisis reaches epic proportions, alternative approaches to understanding pain and its management are necessary. Here, Dr. Akhtar Purvez, a seasoned researcher, pain specialist, and pain advocate, offers basic information about pain and pain conditions and considers how we approach pain from cultural, biological, and medical perspectives. He discusses the latest minimally invasive, interventional approaches like nerve blocks and ablation procedures, and neuromodulation techniques like peripheral nerve, spinal cord, and brain stimulation. The uses of marijuana and associated interventions is reviewed, and Purvez walks readers through the process of assessing pain, finding a doctor who can treat it, and methods for coping with pain through non-medical approaches like meditation. Anyone coping with pain or helping someone who is will find here a ready resource that offers hope and understanding.
Trade ReviewThis groundbreaking book is a comprehensive guide to understanding and managing chronic pain. Chronic pain is a complex condition, but Akhtar Purvez offers a multi-dimensional approach to treatment so that doctors and patients can find the right combination of modalities in order to preserve quality of life as much as is possible. The book is written in an easy-to-understand, conversational style, so it is not just for medical professionals. It is essential reading for anyone whose life is touched by chronic pain—from sufferers themselves, to the doctors who treat them, to those who care for them. -- Toni Bernhard, author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers (2nd edition, 2018) and How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide (2015)
Perhaps the two most important qualities in a pain doctor are knowledge and compassion. Akhtar Purvez has written a book that is very rich in both. I recommend this book to anyone living with pain, or professionals who work with others in pain. It is an important book at this crucial time where new methods for managing pain are urgently needed if we are to overcome the opioid addiction crisis besetting many of our health care systems. -- Vidyamala Burch, co-author of You are Not Your Pain and founder of Breathworks
Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Long Way from Kashmir Chapter One: Medications that Heal--and Kill Chapter Two: The Opiod Epidemic that is Killing Us Chapter Three: On Addiction Management Chapter Four: A Mystery and a Prize Chapter Five: Complex Nature of Chronic Pain Chapter Six: Culture of Pain Chapter Seven: The Stigma of Pain Chapter Eight: Chronic Pain and Depression Chapter Nine: Obesity and Chronic Pain Chapter Ten: Finding the Right Specialist Chapter Eleven: Searching for the Cause of Pain Chapter Twelve: Fibromyalgia Gets Real Chapter Thirteen: Other Pain Conditions Chapter Fourteen: Getting Moving--Exercise and Physical Therapy Chapter Fifteen: Interventional Pain Management Chapter Sixteen Alternative Management Options Chapter Seventeen: Marijuana--The Mystery Drug Chapter Eighteen: Pain in the Courtroom Chapter Nineteen: Co-existing with Pain Chapter Twenty: Toward a Painless Future
