Living with pain: Hunting for health online
Article from U.S. News and World Report containing more good advice (from the MLA) for healthcare consumers looking for information online:
So how can you weigh whether you’re getting good information? Check four criteria. First, who sponsors the site? Consider whether the person or organization has a stake in your taking any particular advice. Second, how current is the information? Medical knowledge grows and changes, so a recent publication or revision date is key. Third, can the source of the info be traced, and can the material be easily identified as fact or opinion? And fourth, is the site comprehensible by a general audience or are the discussions highly technical?
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September 11th, 2006 at 4:51 am
I suffer from chroic pain in myleft foot/ankle area caused by (5) lower lumbar surgeries. The surgeries have led to massive scar tissue build-up at the root of the S1 nerve. I take several pain meds including oxycontin and Lyrica. The combination provides some relief but at times I feel like a zombie so I have to be real careful to limit its in take if I plan to drive.
I am retired military (22) years. United States Navy, made it thru Vietnam and worked in the Defense Industry (militaryaircraft design and producton) and fully retired last May.
My wife of (44) years is a retired school teacher and she and I are now able to travel and do alot of the things we could not do while working and raising our (2) sons. We have learned not to plan too far ahead because I never know when a realy “bad bout of pain” might hit me.
Most of the time we just delay our trip or attendance to a function until I know I can enjoy it by taking my meds. She does a lot of our driving.
Anyone that suffers from this same type of pain, let’s share some little ’secrets’ of how we deal with it.
Paul
September 11th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Paul, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m guessing you found this site while searching online for consumer healthcare information about pain management. One thing you might try is to contact a medical library near you (perhaps at a university or hospital). The medical library may be able to find some literature that you could then discuss with your doctor in looking for new ways to manage your pain.
If you would like to email me directly (and privately) at david[dot]rothman[at]gmail[dot]com to let me know where you live, I’d be happy to help you find a good medical library near you.
If any readers would like to suggest especially good consumer health information resources on pain management, I will make certain that Paul gets them. Thank you in advance.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Hi David, I hope you don’t mind be being so bold as to post the Medworm latest news page on pain (with RSS feed)?
http://www.medworm.com/rss/search.php?qu=pain&t=Pain&r=Any&o=d&f=c
It often has some interesting articles on pain management, some of which may be of interest to Paul.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:37 am
I just created a new page on Chronic Pain that is probably more relevant:
http://www.medworm.com/rss/search.php?qu=%2Bchronic+%2Bpain&t=Chronic+Pain&r=Any&o=d&f=c
(the RSS feed for the page will automatically populate sometime in the next few hours)