Pain
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There is evidence that both tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors can relieve chronic pain. There are a number of possible mechanisms for this phenomenon, recent studies suggest that this may be due to an analgesic rather than antidepressant effect.
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Although it has often been suggested that chronic pain patients who are receiving workmen's compensation or who have litigation pending are less likely to benefit from treatment, the results of outcome studies of this question conducted by various pain clinics have been inconsistent. We hypothesized that poorer outcome in such patients may be related to the fact that they are less likely to be working and that the inconsistent results in the literature may therefore be explained by variability among studies in the percentages of patients who are receiving compensation (or who have litigation pending) who are also working. ⋯ In additional analyses, only employment significantly predicted long-term outcome, whereas compensation and litigation did not. Our results suggest that it would be valuable to redirect attention away from the deleterious effects of the 'compensation neurosis' and toward the roles of activity and employment in the treatment and rehabilitation of chronic pain patients.
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One hundred out-patients, referred to a multidisciplinary pain clinic for the management of chronic pain, were questioned regarding their sleeping habits and were grouped according to whether they reported 'good,' 'fair' or 'poor' sleep. All patients were administered questionnaires to measure illness behaviour, depression and anxiety. Information was also obtained regarding the site, intensity and quality of pain as well as amount of general activity. 'Good' and 'poor' sleepers were found to differ on most measures, particularly depression, pain intensity, activity levels and hypochondriasis. These findings suggest that reported sleep disturbance may provide an index of impairment and act as an indicator of psychological disturbance in chronic pain patients.
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Seventy-one patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the lower extremities were studied during a 3-year period. Of the 27 patients managed by conservative means, 11 (41%) showed signs of improvement 3 years after the onset of syndrome. Of the 43 patients treated by sympathetic nerve blocks, 28 (65%) experienced progress at the 3-year evaluation. Data suggest that early treatment with repeated sympathetic nerve blocks appears to improve the long-term outcome.