Pain
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Comparative Study
Adolescent chronic pain: patterns and predictors of emotional distress in adolescents with chronic pain and their parents.
Adolescents with chronic pain also report severe disability and emotional distress. A clinical sample of 80 adolescents and accompanying parents were investigated to first measure the extent of distress, and second to investigate the relationships between adolescent distress, parental distress and adolescent coping. Measures of pain intensity, anxiety, depression, disability and coping were obtained from adolescents. ⋯ There were no clear predictors of parental anxiety or depression but the specific pattern of parenting stress was best predicted by the younger age of the adolescent, the greater the chronicity of the problem, and the greater the extent of adolescent depression. These findings suggest that emotional coping is a critical variable in the distress associated with adolescent chronic pain. It is argued that adolescent emotional coping may best be understood within a relational context of seeking emotional support.
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Case Reports
Some cases of severe post-mastectomy pain syndrome may be caused by an axillary haematoma.
Post-mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is experienced by 20-65% of patients who undergo breast surgery for cancer. The etiology of this chronic neuropathic pain syndrome is unclear and most likely multi-factorial. Symptoms may be mild, not requiring treatment, or severe, considerably restricting quality of life. ⋯ In these cases the symptoms were completely relieved by the aspiration or formal drainage of an encapsulated haematoma in the axilla. The removal of a minimal amount of blood brought instant improvement suggesting that pressure within the haematoma could be an etiological factor. An axillary haematoma, which may not be clinically obvious, should be considered as a possible cause of PMPS.