If you suffer from chronic pain, if you've gone from doctor to doctor collecting diagnosis after diagnosis, yet no  treatment or therapy has helped you, you owe it to yourself to learn about Rothbarts Foot.

Professor/ Dr. Rothbart says Rothbarts Foot is a common cause of chronic muscle and joint pain, yet this condition is little-known. Most doctors have not heard of it and are incapable of diagnosing it as the source of pain.

Professor/ Dr. Brian A. Rothbart is giving away a FREE REPORT which explains what Rothbarts Foot is and identifies major symptoms that can help you determine if Rothbarts Foot could be the source of your chronic pain.

Click HERE to get your FREE REPORT titled, "Could Undiagnosed Foot Abnormalities Be The Surprising Cause Of Your Chronic Muscle And Joint Pain?"

I urge anyone suffering from chronic pain that does not respond to treatment to get their own copy of this  report. With all the advances in research, it's a certainty that your doctor can't "know it all." Your best defense against pain is educating yourself.

Millions of people wake up each day to pain and other symptoms from diseases and conditions that have not yet been diagnosed. Marianne Genetti is trying to do something about that. She founded "In Need Of Diagnosis," a non-profit organization committed to helping undiagnosed patients find appropriate doctors and resources.

Genetti plans to work with other nonprofit groups to create a database of symptoms. It's hard to believe that in this age of supercomputers, someone hasn't already done something like this. But in fact, there's nothing like it anywhere.

With all the billions of dollars spent on medical care and research each year, very little of it goes into diagnosing. And that's despite the fact the about forty percent of all illnesses are misdiagnosed. According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fatal illnesses are misdiagnosed in 20 out of every 100 cases.

In May of 2008, the National Institutes of Health launched an Undiagnosed Diseases Program to study some of the most difficult undiagnosed cases. As it only accepts 50 to 100 patients per year, it does little to address the crying need for proper diagnosis for millions of people in the United States alone. Marianne Genetti hopes her organization will help fill the gap by collecting information that may advance the medical communities knowledge.

Genetti was motivated to start In Need Of Diagnosis after her own struggle with a serious and undiagnosed lung problem. She recognized the need for a national database of symptoms, as well as the need to encourage undiagnosed patients to be more aggressive in asking their doctors for more tests, information and input. In Need Of Diagnosis is a young organization. It is in need of volunteers and donations. If you are in need of help and support in finding a proper diagnosis for chronic pain or any other health-related issue, I encourage you to visit In Need Of Diagnosis at their web site, http://www.inod.org

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain.  You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.

You're not alone. Millions of people need help. And millions are being denied help because they have the misfortune to be without adequate insurance or private funds. And for that sin, they are made to suffer.

I know what it's like to be disabled and denied adequate care. In 1989, I was the innocent victim in an auto accident caused by a driver that sped away. As we waited for the ambulance, my husband stroked my hand and assured me, "Don't worry about anything. We've got good insurance."

Months later, having overcome two incompetent doctors who misdiagnosed and mis-treated me, I finally found a doctor that sent me for the right tests, made the right diagnosis and prescribed the right therapy. Each day, for four weeks, as I entered the therapy clinic, that doctor would ask me how I was doing and encourage me. I felt he cared. And after being abused by two careless doctors, that made a world of difference to me.

But on the fifth week, when I entered the clinic, the doctor, seeing me, turned abruptly away. I called after him, but he went into his office and shut the door.

When I approached the desk to sign in, a clerk came out and told me she needed to speak to me privately. In her office, I was told that my health insurance provider had declared bankruptcy. If I wanted further care, I had to make a cash deposit of fifty thousand dollars. I was stunned. She was emotionless. It was made perfectly clear to me that my relationship at that clinic was over.

Back home, I called the number I had for my insurance company. The woman that answered that number told me XYZ Insurance Company was no longer in business. A brand new company, XYZ-Z. was now enthroned. At the same address. Using the same employees. And the same phone number. In fact, everything was the same except one thing–I no longer had health insurance. And because I didn't have the cash, I no longer had medical care.

Keep in mind, please, that I had done everything society told me to do. I worked hard. I took care of my health. I paid through the nose for good health care, not a bare bones policy, but the high-priced spread that covered everything. But when I finally needed that policy, they pulled the rug out form under me, even while they went on selling insurance from the same building using the same employees.

That is why the United States needs to provide national health care–the same level of national health care that every citizen of every other industrialized nation in the world receives. And I'm not the only one that thinks so. I've spoken with many health care professionals who agonize over their inability to help good people heal and return to a quality of life.

Over at Salon, you can read an article by Ford Vox, an M.D. who works as part of a team that, as he describes it, tries "to put lives back together after disabling injury and disease." In his article, Dr. Vox describes the horror of having the resources of healing at hand, but not being able to apply them to people whose insurance has lapsed or been used up, or to people unfortunate enough to live in states with no commitment to adequate health care.

Millions of people on both sides of the table, pain patients and health care professionals alike, are clamoring for health care reform, for a system that, as Dr. Vox says, "does not trample on basic human rights." Add your voice to the clamor. Let your elected officials know that health care is a top priority issue for you, and that you will not sit back quietly as they once again let insurance companies thrive while we suffer.

Here is where you can contact your representatives: HOUSE http://www.house.gov/writerep/ SENATE http://www.senate.gov/ WHITE HOUSE  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ And while you're at it, use the comment box to add your voice to this blog. The more you speak up, the more likely you'll be heard!

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain.  You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.

Inside, I found an article titled, "Honey And It's Many Benefits." The brief article began with some historical references to honey being used as a curative, then gave a list of diseases and conditions that can be cured by a mixture of honey and cinnamon. (Their words.)

The second item on the list read, "Arthritis: A study at Copenhagen University had remarkable results by mixing a cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder before breakfast. The combination greatly reduced pain throughout the body."

How I wish that statement were true! Sadly, it is not.

Because it purportedly came from a seemingly trustworthy source, a health magazine referencing a University study, I initially believed the statement that honey and cinnamon reduce the pan of arthritis. The only thing I questioned was the amount of cinnamon being recommended.

I knew that cinnamon in sufficient quantity is a blood thinner. And it seemed to me that taking a teaspoon of cinnamon every day might have serious consequences. So I began a search for the original study from Copenhagen University to confirm the amount of cinnamon.

To my surprise, Google showed me a list of almost 2000 web sites that had published the exact list of "conditions cured by honey and cinnamon."  The magazine had simply lifted it, in total, from one of those sites. A much deeper search showed me that the original source of this oft-repeated article was the Weekly World News, a now-defunct newspaper known for it's reportage on Big Foot sightings, alien abductions and photos of water stained walls seemingly marked with the image of Jesus. The Weekly World News has never been known as a source for legitimate medical research.

A still-deeper search eventually turned up a statement from the information manager of Copenhagen University stating that the University had never conducted such a study and that their name had unfortunately been used to give a feeling of authenticity to spurious advice.

I was furious! I try to be very careful of anything I read on the internet. After all, people can and do say anything. But I'm a little more casual about information I read in printed books and magazines. That's because when I was writing for magazines and newspapers, they all used fact checkers to verify details like "a study at Copenhagen University." Clearly, it's not like that anymore.

I'm appalled that a magazine presenting itself as a trusted source for health information would print a list taken from the internet without doing even a cursory investigation into the veracity of the material. I'm sure someone at the publication decided, "Honey and cinnamon can't hurt anyone, and it might help." But cinnamon, as I've noted, has blood-thinning properties. Neither I nor the publisher of that magazine has any way of knowing what might happen if someone taking prescription blood thinners added a daily teaspoon of cinnamon to their diet.

I learned a good lesson from this incident. I learned that I have to double-check ALL information before I act on it, not just the information I find on the internet.

And I learned that this new magazine isn't serious about being my "most trusted resource for information on living a healthy life." If they were really serious, they'd be making every effort to be sure the information they publish is accurate. My advice  is to check and double-check everything you hear and ready before you act on it, no matter what the source. Your health is just too important!

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain.  You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.

This article, "Phoney Chronic Pain Advice" as sited by the How To Cope With Pain blog in their July Pain-Blog Carnival.

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In March of 2009, Doctor Scott S. Reuben, a prominent anesthesiologist and former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts, was accused of faking studies that were published in several anesthesiology journals betweenn1996 and 2008.

Dr. Reuben had been a paid spokesperson for Pfizer and the company paid for some of his research. Pfizer's Celebrex and Lyrica, as well as Bextra and Vioxx, which have since been withdrawn from sale-received positive reports from Dr. Reuben. He also claimed positive findings for using the antidepressant Effexor XR, from Wyeth, as a painkiller.

Wyeth said it wasn't aware of any financial relationship between its company and the doctor. In a press release, Pfizer claimed it had no prior knowledge of Dr. Reuben's alleged actions and were disappointed to learn of the accusations.

Dr. Reuben, now 50, has been accused of falsifying data for more than a decade. In one case, he forged the signature of another doctor on some reports. The journal Anesthesia & Analgesia is reporting articles containing the questionable data go back to 1996.

Reuben had been a high profile and much-respected researcher. He championed the use of anti-inflammatory drugs known as COX2 inhibitors and claimed his studies showed reduced post-surgical pain and dependence on steroids and addictive drugs.

Dr. Reuben's studies affected the type of pain relief offered to millions of people around the world. Because his data was so widely relied upon by other researchers, the integrity of an untold number of related studies is now called into question. Clinical trials of drugs that relied on data from Reuben's work may have to be repeated as a result of this scandal.

In addition, many doctors relied on his studies when determining what prescriptions to write for their patients. Two of the COX2 inhibitors he reportedly falsified favorable data for, Pfizer's Bextra and Vioxx, became some of the most widely prescribed pain killers. They were removed from the market in 2006 after evidence showed they increased the risk of fatal strokes and heart attacks. Vioxx was further discredited when it became known that some studies signed by professors and medical researches claiming they had written the findings were actually written by Merck employees.

Fraud in the handling of drug research affects everyone participating in the use of prescriptions for health care, both medical professionals and patients. It is undoubtedly troubling for doctors who must rely on published studies to stay informed about new developments in pain care. It's troubling and also dangerous for patients who rely on their doctors.

I was personally involved as a patient advocate for an elderly woman whose doctor suggested, after reading a study, that she try Vioxx for her arthritis pain. During a nightmarish two-month trial of the drug, she suffered from many side effects. Her condition became so severe it was necessary to place her in a nursing home for the last month. When her doctor finally ordered her to stop taking Vioxx, all negative symptoms withdrew and she was able to return to caring for herself in her own home. Her doctor, a deeply caring practitioner, told me he had a hard time assessing that Vioxx had been the problem "because all the reports on it have been so favorable."

As a pain patient, you must always be aware that studies can be faked and doctors, no matter how well intentioned, can be misguided. They can also make mistakes. Always keep in mind that YOU are the only expert on your body and it's condition. If your body is not responding well to a drug, that's not a fault in you. That's the wrong drug–no matter what any study says.

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information, motivation and understadning to people livingw ith chronic pain. To keep in touch with her, use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

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My doctor recommended weekly injections. I stalled him by trying an 8-week course of a brand new product, transdermal B12 patches. I thought using them would be much less traumatic than closing my eyes and blindly stabbing a needle into myself.

But Kathi Harris, a reader of Pain Health News, chimed in through the comment box and told me she'd been giving herself weekly injections for years. "The first time I tried to do it," she wrote, " I sat there holding the syringe over my leg for like 20 minutes before I got up enough nerve to stick myself. Then I started laughing so hard, I pulled the needle back out before I actually injected myself…LOL! After the first time, I've never hesitated to give myself that shot. Really, after you've made yourself do it once, you'll never be scared to do it again!"

8 weeks later I reported to my doctor for new blood tests to see how I was doing on the transdermal patches. Alas, they didn't work for me. My B12 level was even lower! "You're risking nerve damage," my doctor said. "You need weekly injections. It's possible to do it at home. Do you think you could handle that?"

I thought of what Kathi Harris had written and said, confidently, "Sure I can! After I make myself do it once, I'll never be scared to do it again!" My doctor nodded. "That's good," he said. "It will save you a lot of time if you don't have to drive all the way over here ever week. And save you a lot of money, too."

So a nurse came in, gave me a few simple instructions and watched me take my first stab at injecting myself. Sure enough—I can do it! But only because I had it on good authority that someone much like me had already done it.

By being a positive role model, Kathi Harris helped me overcome some fears and move on with my life. That life has changed dramatically since 1989, when an auto accident turned me into a chronic pain patient. There were days, months, even a whole year when I didn't think I'd ever get better.  When I didn't think I could live with it another day. I just couldn't see a brighter future for myself.

But then I began reading books about people that had overcome impossible odds to achieve a life worth living. They'd overcome cancer, blindness, abuse, imprisonment, disability and illness of every kind. I read every book I could find in my local library about people who'd faced every situation that can stop a human being dead in their tracks—and overcome it. With those positive role models before me, I found the courage to overcome my fears and fight for a life worth living.

That's why I write Pain Health News. Because if you know that I overcame crippling pain and deep despair, you'll know it's also possible for you.

That's why you should add your own thoughts and comments to Pain Health News,  just as Kathi Harris did. You never know who is looking in on these pages. You never know what they struggle with or what they fear. You never know how just one positive comment or suggestion from you can turn a life around and point it in a new direction. What you can know is that when you reach out and make even the smallest effort to contribute advice, information and personal experience, someone, somewhere is helped. And you did it!

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to share information, motivation and conversation with people living with chronic pain. To  stay in touch with her, use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

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All right, I admit I made most of that up, but the title is true. Pain Health News really is  included in the March Pain Carnival at the "How To Cope With Pain" blog.

A blog carnival is a round up of related blogs and posts, so blog carnivals are a great way of helping people with related interests and issues find each other. Dealing with chronic pain can be lonely, depressing and confusing. Each of us needs all the help and support we can get, but those ingredients aren't always so easy to find. That's why I'm so pleased to be included with the other good sites working to provide places where people with chronic pain can find understanding and resources.

Check out the March Pain Carnival at "How To Cope With Pain" to see all the articles included.  I promise—no cream pies in the face!

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information, motivation and understanding to people dealing with chronic pain. To stay in touch with her, please use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

Fast-forward more than 20 years. It's 2007. Blancarte, now 48, is bitten by a brown recluse spider.  Knowing the spider's bite is deadly poisonous, Blancarte's family rushes him to the hospital where he spends 8 months in physical therapy.

During one of the therapy sessions, a nurse notices a muscle spasm in Blancarte's leg. She notifies Blancarte's doctor, who orders tests that show that the once-dead nerves in Blancarte's legs are now reacting to stimulus.

Five days after the tests, Blancarte is walking. Doctors reportedly say they are mystified.

I've worked with paralyzed men in pain support groups. For the first few years of being paralyzed, all of them expect something– some doctor, some operation, some miracle, something– will happen to let them walk again. After 20 years of being paralyzed, no one expects that. Not the person that is paralyzed. Not their families, or doctors or therapists or ministers. No one.

And yet, for unknown reasons, the dead nerves in David Blancartes legs suddenly regenerated.  And he walked.

Every week I hear from people who are struggling with depression because they have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus or some other painful disease. And they have been told there is no hope for a cure. Every week I hear from people that are still suffering terrible pain even years after a back injury. They no longer hold out hope for a cure. These people often say the same thing. " All I can see is myself getting older and being in even more pain. And I get so depressed."

I want those people, and you, to know about David Blancarte. He is living proof that what we can only call miracles can and do happen. He is proof that no one, no matter how many degrees they have, no matter what they've experienced, no matter what they think they know, can predict the future.

David Blancarte is proof that no one has the right to assume that the end of his or her story has already been written. He is proof that there is always reason to hope, and even to expect that life will bring us the most amazing, unpredictable and unexplainable circumstances, often when we least expect it. David Blancarte is the reason you should push through even the bad days with a smile on your face and bright plans for the future.

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information, motivation and understanding to people living with chronic pain. To stay in touch with her, please use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

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Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson and daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, fell during a lesson on a beginner's ski slope in Quebec. She hit her head. After falling, she got up, walked around, talked to people and declined treatment.

I'm sure everyone, including Richardson, thought she was O.K. They all probably said, "She just fell." But two days later, she was dead from a blood clot that developed between the brain and the skull.

I took a fall myself last year and hit my head. I was carrying groceries into the house when a paper bag began to rip. Grabbing to support it, I lost my balance and fell flat on my face on the concrete sidewalk. I was stunned and dazed. But by the time my husband came out of the garage and around to the front door, I was standing.

I told him I'd fallen. He asked if I was O.K. "Yeah," I said. "I just hit my head." And we went inside.

Two weeks later, I realized I might have had a concussion from that fall. Immediately after I'd fallen, I'd had a headache. My vision had been slightly blurred. And only in retrospect was I able to assess how fuzzy my thinking had been all that week. So fuzzy that I hadn't even thought to go to the doctor.

I was very lucky and I knew it. Many years ago, while a student, I worked part time in a hospital where I'd seen a young man die from a situation similar to Natasha Richardson's. That day, a doctor told me sadly that too many people think a person that gets up and walks around after a fall is O.K.

Every blow to the head, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and especially in children, he told me, must be checked out by a doctor to be absolutely certain there is no internal bleeding. "Never assume "just" a bump on the head," that doctor told me. "That word, "just." kills people."

I think the word "just" killed Natasha Richardson. That word "just" kills a lot of people. When I was injured in a car accident and wound up as a chronic pain patient, I heard that word, "just", over and over.

In the emergency room, a doctor told me, "You're lucky. It's just a bump on the head. You could have been killed."

Later, in my family doctor's office, I heard, "You're lucky it's just soft tissue damage. You could have broken a lot of bones."

At a specialists, I heard, "You can't possibly be in that much pain. It's just pulled muscles."

Time and time again, my complaints and symptoms were declared insignificant with one wave of the word "just."

In my case, it wasn't "just" a bump on the head. I had a blood clot on my brain that could have killed me. It wasn't "just" soft tissue damage and pulled muscles. I had sprained hands, ruptured disks, torn ligaments and a host of other injuries. Because they went untreated, I spent years in disabling pain.

There are so many dangers for pain patients, like risks of drug addiction and overdose, risks associated with hospitals and surgery, risk of misdiagnosis, but perhaps the highest potential for risk comes from one simple little word. That word is "just," Don't say that word. Don't let others say it to you. Check things out. Get second opinions. And remember that just being able to walk and talk isn't necessarily the measure of perfect health.

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Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information, motivation and understanding to people living with chronic pain. To keep in touch with her, use the subscribe form in the upper right corner.

Your Symptoms Are Real: What to Do When Your Doctor Says Nothing Is Wrong Do I Need to See the Doctor? A Guide for Treating Common Minor Ailments at Home for All Ages

As reported in The Journal of Pain published by the American Pain Society, researchers in a Chicago-based program set out to determine how effective mind/body self-care techniques were in helping adults cope with chronic pain.

The study documented the experiences of seventy-eight people age 55 and older as they used the internet to access a variety of online pain management tools. Researches assessed changes in pain intensity as well as the subject’s ability to better manage their pain.

The subjects in the study were divided into intervention and comparison groups. The intervention group used online tools at least once a week.

A website the intervention group was given access to guided visitors through such pain coping techniques as deep breathing exercises, relaxation techniques, journaling about their feelings and experiences, creative visualization exercises and positive thinking exercises.

Online instructional materials such as videos, worksheets and illustrations guided the subjects through the various modules in the online program and encouraged them to participate in developing coping strategies.

At the end of the study, researches evaluated the experiences of the intervention group and the comparison group. They concluded that the intervention group using online tools showed significant improvements in pain intensity as well as the level of interference in daily activities the subjects attributed to pain.

Researchers also concluded that the subjects using online support tools showed improved confidence in their ability to use self-care techniques for managing their own pain.

The researchers concluded that online intervention offers a viable means of empowering older adults with chronic pain to learn self-care techniques and integrate those techniques into their daily lives.

From my own experience in organizing self-help support groups, I know that the average person suffering chronic pain gets very little help in learning to manage it. My hope is that this study will lead health care providers and insurance companies to develop online programs teaching pain management techniques and provide easy and affordable access to them.

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain.  You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.

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