Link Between Chronic Pain, Insomnia Alleged

Do you suffer from insomnia? What about chronic pain? Unlike other forms of pain, chronic pain never goes away. Insomnia is the inability to sleep for more than a few minutes or short period of time, and being unable to relax and rest your mind.

In a recent press release, health care professional at PAINWeek 2007 believe there is a link between chronic pain and insomnia. Can improving one condition have the pleasant side effect of improving the other? Health professionals at PAINWeek believe it can. PAINWeek is an annual forum for medical professionals to gather and learn about the latest research and treatments for pain and related conditions.

No one really knows what causes insomnia. It could be from fear, stress, anxiety, medications, herbs, depression, caffeine, or a multitude of other reasons. It's important to try to determine the cause of insomnia. If someone is not getting adequate rest, it makes sense that their body becomes "out of synch," and they might be at risk for pain.

Like insomnia, chronic pain can come from many different sources. While a lot of people have pain now and then, chronic pain is a different type of pain. Normal pain tells our body that something is wrong. A broken bone, cut, scrape, fall, or any number of reasons could cause it.

Chronic pain keeps telling you that something hurts, even when there is no physical sign of that pain. It might mean that the bone you broke 10 years ago and has completely healed, still hurts! Some people that have chronic pain don't have any physical injury that they can point to as the cause of their pain.

Researchers at the National Institute of Health National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIDS) believe that chronic pain occurs when someone has "lower-than-normal levels of "endorphins in their spinal fluid." They've conducted experiments using acupuncture, and monitoring or trying to change stress levels to see if this might help with chronic pain.

Polls were conducted at PAINWeek and the results are interesting. Nearly all of those who were polled believe that chronic pain could be reduced if their patients improved how well or how long they slept. Nearly all of the people who were polled said that they thought people who had insomnia would not have nearly as many sleep problems if their pain issues were resolved or controlled.

Adding to the problem, over 81 percent of the attendees at PAINWeek said that more than 50 percent of their patients with chronic pain and insomnia probably are depressed, too!

According to the NIDS various treatments may help people who suffer from chronic pain. Those treatments include acupuncture, relaxation and medication therapy, biofeedback, and behavior modification.

Sources:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-08-2007/0004658926&EDATE=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chronic_pain/chronic_pain.htm

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