The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
-
The prevalence of pain and pain undertreatment in older persons, along with the many potential detrimental consequences of undertreated pain, pose a substantial burden to the individual, their family, and society. An accurate pain assessment is the foundation for treating pain; yet, thorough pain assessments and regular reassessments are too often neglected. Older adults typically present with multiple pain etiologies, making it all the more imperative that a comprehensive assessment is conducted. ⋯ Following an unsuccessful attempt at self-report from a nonverbal older adult, the potential causes of pain should be explored. Direct observation can then be used to identify behaviors suggestive of pain, and the patient's response to an analgesic trial can be observed. A pain behavior tool can also provide useful information suggesting the presence of pain.
-
Evidence of support for sensory changes during minor depression and sadness is scarce and the neural mechanisms are unclear. We assessed central pain processing engaged in nociceptive C-fiber polymodal activity by examining the perception of a non-noxious unpleasant burning sensation induced by a thermal grill illusion, in 26 nonpatients with minor depression (19 females) and 28 healthy subjects (18 females), between 19 and 61 years old and pain free at the study. Controls were also subjected to induction of transient moods. Subjects with depression reported increased pain perception; this increase was more pronounced for the affective dimension of pain (unpleasantness) than for its sensory dimension (intensity). The perception of pain unpleasantness, pain intensity, and overall pain showed positive and linear correlations with depression levels measured by Zung's and Beck's scales. In controls, sad mood induction only increased the scores assigned to negative mood-describing adjectives; the perception of pain intensity, unpleasantness, and overall pain were significantly increased following sad, but not neutral or elevated, mood inductions. Yet, pain intensity and unpleasantness were correlated linearly and reciprocally to positive, instead of negative, mood-describing adjective scores. Thus, there is a central thermal hyperalgesia in subjects with minor depression and sadness. ⋯ There is a central thermal hyperalgesia in subjects with minor depression, probably associated with an enhanced central processing of nociceptive C-fiber polymodal activity at anterior cingulate cortex, that is predominately expressed as an increased unpleasantness and that could be in part counteracted by behavioral therapies leading to mood elevation.
-
Review
Pharmacological management of persistent pain in older persons: focus on opioids and nonopioids.
Managing persistent pain is challenging, particularly in older adults who often have comorbidities and physiological changes that affect dosing and adverse effect profiles. The latest guideline issued by the American Geriatrics Society in 2009 is an important clinical resource on prescribing analgesics for older adults. This guideline helps form an evidence-based approach to treating persistent pain, along with other current endorsements, such as the relevant disease-specific recommendations by the American College of Rheumatology, the European League Against Rheumatism, and Osteoarthritis Research Society International, as well as opioid-specific guidelines issued by the American Pain Society, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. ⋯ Combining analgesics that have multiple mechanisms of action with nonpharmaceutical approaches can be beneficial in providing pain relief. Nontraditional analgesics are also considered on a case-by-case basis, and a few of these options are weakly recommended. Therapies should be initiated at the lowest possible dose and slowly titrated to effect, while tailoring them to the therapeutic and side-effect responses of the individual.
-
The purpose of this study was to determine the types of nonverbal cues that informal family caregivers use to evaluate pain in loved ones with dementia. Moreover, we sought to determine the extent to which caregiver characteristics such as mood, empathy, and sex are associated with caregiver ratings of patient pain. Long-term care home residents with dementia were filmed while at rest and while they were engaging in discomforting movements (eg, routine transfers). Informal caregivers (ie, family members) observed the videos of their loved ones and rated the amount of pain that the patients were expressing. Contrary to expectations, caregiver ratings of pain were not related to any specific pain behaviours, suggesting that nonverbal pain cues were either disregarded or not noticed by the caregivers. The total number of pain behaviors expressed by patients was related to caregiver ratings of pain intensity only among caregivers who spent relatively more time with the patient each week. Caregiver empathy, mood, sex or other demographic characteristics were not predictive of caregiver ratings. Instead, it appears that caregivers relied on context in making the pain determinations. ⋯ Informal caregivers (ie, family members) of persons with dementia who reside in long-term care facilities do not generally take into account specific pain behaviors when evaluating pain in their loved ones. Interventions designed to help caregivers become more attentive to specific pain cues might be important to pursue.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effects of lidocaine patch on intradermal capsaicin-induced pain: a double-blind, controlled trial.
This study evaluated the effects of topical lidocaine on skin sensation and on intradermal capsaicin-induced pain and hyperalgesia. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled methodology was used. After baseline sensory testing, a placebo patch and a lidocaine patch were randomized to the volar aspect of the left or right forearm for 4 hours. The right forearm patch was removed, the sensory testing was repeated, and capsaicin was injected intradermally at the site. Pain scores were measured at the time of injection and every 2.5 minutes for 10 minutes followed by measurement of the hyperalgesic area to von Frey hair and stroking, flare response, and repeat sensory testing. At the completion of the testing on the right forearm, the left forearm patch was removed and the procedures described for the right forearm were repeated for the left forearm. There was a significant reduction in cool sensation, warm sensation, and touch thresholds in the lidocaine but not placebo patch arm. The lidocaine patch had no significant effect on hot pain or mechanical pain thresholds. Intradermal capsaicin resulted in a significant decrease in hot pain and mechanical pain thresholds; however, lidocaine was unable to significantly reverse the thermal or mechanical hyperalgesia induced by capsaicin. The lidocaine patch did not reduce flare area, nor areas of hyperalgesia or allodynia. This study suggests that the sodium channels and the capsaicin receptors function independently to control peripheral terminal depolarization. ⋯ The sodium channel and the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) receptor coexist on peripheral terminals of unmyelinated fibers. This study showed that activation of the TRPV1 receptor can depolarize the fibers in the presence of sodium channel blockade. This suggests that the sodium channel and TRPV1 receptor function independently in depolarizing the fibers.