Your first response to the title Paintracking might be, “Gee, I don’t want to track my pain. I try to run the other way!” But hold on. What you’ll find is a wonderful book on creating your own plan for more comfort and better living. My thanks to Deborah Barrett for writing this excellent resource! […]

This review was written by Tara White, RN. The Pain Chronicles, by Melanie Thernstrom, is simply the best, most readable, most thorough and enjoyable pain book I’ve ever read. Melanie Thernstrom captures your attention from the first page in her meticulously researched masterpiece. She grabs hold of you, just as pain does; only you don’t want […]

“It would have been easier if I’d been hit by a truck. Then I would have a story for how it began… But I wasn’t hit by a truck, or even a Volkwagen Bug. I was hit by a headache.” So begins the funny and informative Chocolate and Vicodin, told by the excellent story-teller Jennette Fulda. Jennette […]

This book is spectacular! The author Toni Bernhard developed a post-viral illness in 2001, later diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Although she was a serious student of Buddhist meditation already, this experience challenged her body, mind and spirit to its core. What she shares in How to Be Sick is how Buddhist-inspired practices have helped […]

I was excited to read Peter Trachtenberg’s new book, “The Book of Calamities: 5 Questions about Suffering and Its Meaning.” From the subtitle, I was expecting an organized presentation of questions, followed by specific answers. When the book turned out not to be set up this way, I was initially frustrated. However, as I read more, my frustration […]

A reader Mark asks this interesting question about central pain: As one with thalamic pain syndrome, the result of a brain hemorrhage, I’ve been interested in the work of Ramachandran in treating phantom limb syndrome with a mirror box, because it essentially demonstrates the potential of re-interpretation of pain signals for those of us whose […]

A reader Tim asks this intriguing question: I have a chronic pain condition similar to CRPS, along with some nasty allodynia. Most mornings I feel like I’m 120 years old. I’m a big believer in graded motor imagery (GMI). However, I’m one of many people out there who have never seen a visual image in my […]

Working Together When Facing Chronic Pain has just been published. This book is designed for patients and written by their health professionals. I’ve contributed to several of the chapters. The book is available through Amazon. Working Together When Facing Chronic Pain is above all intended to give people suffering from any form of chronic pain food […]

Up to 72% of people undergoing an amputation develop phantom limb pain (PLP). This type of pain is quite difficult to treat with medications or injections. However we do know that mirror therapy achieves excellent results in reducing or eliminating this pain. But how about preventing phantom pain? Dr. Steven Hanling and others at the Naval […]

In the time it takes to watch a 1-hour TV show, you could learn a technique that helps with pain! Researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, taught participants mindfulness meditation for 20 minutes each day, over 3 days. They then tested how using this type of meditation helped people […]