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.

A new book by Professor/Dr. Rothbart says that a recently discovered foot structure which can be effectively treated without drugs or surgery has been proven to be the source of a great deal of chronic muscle and joint pain.

On first reading the book, “Forever Free From Chronic Pain: the pain sufferers guide to getting your life back,” I felt this explanation was fantastical, almost unbelievable. Could a slightly twisted foot really be the reason so many millions of people live in unrelenting pain?

But on a second reading, I began to develop a better understanding of the source of much muscle and joint pain as well as the way to resolve it.

Professor/Dr. Rothbart is a podiatrist and surgeon who spent the better part of his career in clinical practice and research. But in 1991, an auto accident left him with neck and shoulder pain that did not respond to traditional medical therapy.

He sought out alternative therapies and tried countless practitioners, but when continuing pain threatened his career, Professor/Dr. Rothbart finally decided he would have to help himself.

That’s when Rothbart began his research into chronic musculoskeletal pain, or pain of the muscles and joints. His work lead him to the discovery of a very common source of musculoskeletal pain that begins in the foot, but is frequently the source of pain in the knees, hips, back and all the way up to the jaw.

What Prof/Dr Rothbart discovered was an embryological foot structure that forms in about the seventh week of development. That is to say, the foot of the growing fetus does not develop normally.  This embryological foot structure results in lifelong poor posture and that forced poor posture, the doctor’s research proved, is frequently the source of chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Furthermore, the doctor discovered the condition is inherited. Typically, if you have chronic pain and this foot structure is the source, it’s likely one of your parents will have a history of chronic pain. You may also pass it on to your children.

The embryological foot structure he discovered now bears the doctor’s name: Rothbarts Foot.

The therapy Professor/Dr. Rothbart developed involves neither drugs nor surgery. It is, he says, geared toward normalizing the foot, which then automates the correction of poor posture and allows the body to heal without drugs or surgery.

The therapy is done in a unique way. It begins with specialized shoe inserts. As the foot structure is corrected, the foot sends new signals to the brain, literally reprogramming the central nervous system to correct the posture. As the posture automatically corrects, pain ceases. “This is not about managing pain,” says Professor/Dr. Rothbart. “It's about eliminating chronic muscle and joint paint. My therapy reprograms the brain to adopt perfect posture, thus removing the source of pain.”

If, after the initial consultation, the doctor determines you are a candidate for this therapy, he will help you plan a course of action based on your individual case. Regarding the time the treatment takes, Professor/Dr. Rothbart says it varies, but he compares it to the time it takes to correct the teeth with braces.

“It takes time, “ he says. “Typically, the therapy takes from 6 to 18 months. It involves consulting with me or being seen by me 5 or 6 times. Most of my patients find their pain reduced 30, 40, 50% in a week or two.”

“I don’t work miracles,” Professor/Dr. Rothbart says. "But what I can do, when people have this embryological foot structure, is effectively treat it and these people dramatically improve, even if they have concurrent problems.”

Professor/Dr. Rothbart explains that many who have been diagnosed with diseases ranging from fibromyalgia to arthritis and even muscular sclerosis also have Rothbarts Foot Syndrome. “When I normalize the signals being sent to the brain by this embryological foot structure,, the pain gets much better,” the doctor says. “ I haven't resolved the arthritis or lupus or whatever, but the patient feels much better because I have resolved one major source of their pain.

The doctor says that for the most part, traditional medicine focuses on pain management, not resolution of pain.

“One of the reasons I left surgery, ´ Professor/Dr. Rothbart says, “ is because I was so unhappy with the results. I found that many of the patients I gave joint replacements to returned years later with the same pain. “But pain is not the problem,” he says. “Pain is a symptom of the problem. I was treating the symptom. What I wanted was resolution of the cause.”

And the cause, discovered over 40 years of research, is frequently poor posture caused by a twisted foot. If this explanation sounds too simplistic to you, if you don’t believe poor posture could be causing your back or jaw pain, consider this: prior to 1945, correct posture was considered critical to good health. A good deal of medical care involved correcting the posture so that the body could heal itself naturally.

But in 1945, penicillin was discovered, and the entire focus of medical care tuned toward pharmacological treatment. Doctors began to believe, and the public was told, that science could develop “magic bullets’ to cure most anything. There no longer seemed any need for people to be proactive in building good health. And all that information about good posture as the source of good health was lost.

Today, the millions of people suffering from chronic pain stand in testimony to the truth: there is no magic bullet from chronic pain. And Professor/Dr. Rothbart’s research has brought him back full circle to where traditional medicine once stood—pointing toward good posture as the wellspring of good health.

Reading Dr. Rothbart’s new book, “Forever Free From Chronic Pain: the pain sufferers guide to getting your life back,” gave me new insight into why so many people are in chronic pain, and why the traditional medical community is so ill-prepared to treat it. It also gave me hope that for many people, help is finally at hand…or should I say foot?

If you want to explore Dr. Rothbart’s work and see if you might be a candidate for his therapy, you’ll find a vast amount of resources online. Begin with his book web site at Forever Free From Chronic Pain

There you’ll find a vast treasury of information ranging from patient stories to book reviews to interviews with the doctor. Here you can download a free chapter from his book and register for his free newsletter.

At his personal web site, http://rothbartsite.com/ you’ll find more resources, including a blog featuring some of the latest medical research Dr. Rothbart is involved in.

After exploring these resources, if you feel you might be a candidate for the therapy, you can explore the possibility of a long-distance consultation with Dr. Rothbart. In much that same way as many cardiologists now do long-distance consultation, Dr. Rothbart will speak to you by phone, determine if you are a candidate for this therapy and whether or not any tests need to be done. The cost of a long-distance consultation with the doctor, who currently resides in Italy, is 100 Euros, about $125 U.S. Dollars.

If, after the initial consultation, the doctor determines you are a candidate for this therapy, he will help you plan a course of action based on your individual case. Regarding the time the treatment takes, Professor/Dr. Rothbart says it varied for everyone, but he compares it to the time it takes to correct the teeth with braces.

“It takes time, “ he says. “But typically, the therapy takes between 6 and 12 months. It involves consulting with me or being seen by me 5 or 6 times. Most of my patients find their pain reduced 30, 40, 50% in a week or two.”

If you have been going from doctor to doctor, and yet find no relief from your chronic pain, I urge you to look into Professor/Dr. Rothbart's work for yourself.

### 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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• News, Searching the Medical Literature: Two Expert Opinions on Searching, or PubMed and Beyond (creakysites.wordpress.com)

My adventures with chronic pain began when I was injured in an auto accident. As time passed, my treatment from the traditional medical community settled into one dull, grinding message: learn to live with it.

That was a message I simple could not accept.

I believed then, as I believe now, that life is infinitely flexible and plastic. That any of us can change—mentally, physically, spiritually—in an instant. That miracles can and do happen. And I therefore believed that I could do something more than just “learn to live with it.”

I threw myself into reading and trying and doing almost anything I read that promised relief from chronic pain. I learned that there are resources available to us that go far beyond prescription medications and surgery. And I learned that the most important of those resources are inside of us.

Recently I had a conversation with a man who’s traveled the globe studying energy healing. I asked him what, in all his years of study, was the most important thing he had learned. He said, “I’ve learned that the most important thing, and also the hardest thing, is just to get out of our own way and allow our body to heal itself.”

“Allowing, “he said, “not willing, not commanding, not magnetically attracting, but simply allowing is the key to unlocking miracles.”

His words made me remember a story I’d heard from Tanna Boran about her recovery from rheumatoid arthritis. I asked her to write about it for you. Her personal miracle happened when she was 15. It’s my opinion that because she was so young, her mind was not set into fixed patterns of belief, and so she allowed a miracle to happen. Here it is in her own words:

Curious Repercussions of Spontaneous Healing

by Tanna Boran

At the tender age of 15, while watching the Grammy Awards on television one February night, my hands felt stiff. Looking down at them, I saw that my knuckles were swollen and smooth looking, like those of my grandmother who had rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Over the next three months, this stiffness rapidly progressed to full blown physical agony. I had fevers and always felt sick. I couldn’t curl my fingers around my books to carry them between high school classes. I was so stiff after a night’s sleep that I required my mother’s help getting out of bed and starting the hot shower that would provide too little relief.

I told my parents, family doctor, and others involved that I had was arthritis. I didn’t know at that time there were two kinds, but I’d heard my grandmother bemoan her arthritis pain over the years. It seemed pretty obvious to me.

It was not so obvious to my family doctor, however, and he admitted me to the hospital for tests. This turned into a surreal weeklong stay, ending with a doctor I’d never met bestowing the RA diagnosis on me as if I'd inherited a sizeable estate. (I suppose for him it was a successful completion to his work.) He essentially told me RA is forever and get used to it.

I was a bit pissed off, to put it mildly. It took only days after the diagnosis for some people to start treating me like an invalid. As if having a serious disease wasn’t bad enough, people acted like I was contagious as well. Another significant person in my life all but accused me of faking the whole thing. I caught on quickly that even if compassion was warranted, I wasn’t necessarily going to get it.

Rage at this treatment and the unfairness of it all welled up in me until one day it broke loose; an impassioned exchange with my Maker ensued. Well, more like a loud dressing down. I informed Him I was too f****** young for this s***. I had a few more choice words for Him, but you get the gist of it. Floors were beaten with fists. Household items were thrown.

After that, I suffered through a truly grueling week of nausea and vomiting. Any movement whatsoever stirred up vertigo-like nausea through my whole body. I spent hours at a time draped over an open toilet. I vomited constantly, even though nothing but bile came up.

And then the RA was gone.

I didn’t think too much about what had happened. Raised in the Catholic tradition, the concept of miracles was nothing new to me, but I didn’t think of my emancipation from RA as a miracle. After all, I’d spent most of my life without RA, so returning to that RA-free life was something I didn’t question. It seemed like a natural course of events. Over the following months and years, though, I was informed otherwise.

For some strange reason, some people were not thrilled that I might not be crippled with pain for the rest of my life. The most common reactions were an incredulous, “But there’s no cure for rheumatoid arthritis!” and a resolute, “Well, you must have been misdiagnosed.”

No offense, but I spent a week in the hospital and surrendered half of my blood supply to establish that diagnosis. Dozens of medical professionals took part in it. If it’s easier to think that a half-dozen doctors and dozens of support staff all conclusively erred rather than a spontaneous healing could occur, you’ve probably seen far too few miracles in your life.

I used to tell my new doctors about the now-gone RA when they took my medical history. I’ve since stopped because none of them were interested or even found it worthy of being noted in my chart.  It’s as if they conclude I must have been misdiagnosed, because if I had it then, I’d have it now. So I stopped mentioning it. No one’s worse for not knowing.

I believe that my natural indignation — which has served me well in my ensuing years — at having at age 15 what I thought of as an old lady’s disease led to a spontaneous healing.  But I also found out some interesting things down the line.

For weeks after the vomiting, all I ate were ice pops and pumpkin seeds.  Years later I read the book, “Eat Right 4 Your Type,” by Peter J. D’Adamo, a book that asserted that certain foods have a medicinal effect for people of particular blood types. And, you guessed it; pumpkin seeds have a medicinal/healing effect for those with my O blood type.

I’d like to think that my intuition led me to the food that would be my medicine. Supposedly O blood types are the ones who get RA and other autoimmune diseases as well.

I never discovered what the ice pops were about, but I still like them today. And I know that spontaneous healing is possible, because I experienced it. Even if others don’t believe.

_________

Tanna Boran is a life coach, writer and metaphysician, as well as an accidental advocate for caregivers. You can read her blog at http://www.AudaciousAbundance.com and learn about her practice at http://www.DivineRelationshipCoaching.com.  You can also follow her on Twitter at  http://www.twitter.com/CoachTanna

### 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.

I believe if I gathered up all the money I've spent on books, on heat wraps, on massage therapy, on over-the-counter remedies, on infra red light wands and what-not, I could pay cash for a Rolls Royce. I expect it's much the same for you, so I'm happy to be able to share my experience with shopping for pain relief on eBay.

I'm a huge eBay fan. It's one of the first places I look when I need…well, just about anything. Every time I mention this, people ask me if shopping on eBay is safe. I can only say that since 2002 I've made hundreds of purchases and only one auction, for a $5 trinket, went bad. The seller accepted my payment and promptly disappeared from eBay. But every other auction, many of them for items costing more than $200, had a happy ending.

I'm careful whom I buy from. I avoid new sellers with no feedback, for instance. And my experience has been that most eBay sellers are people working hard to provide honest and accurate descriptions of their items, pack them well and deliver them quickly. Over all, my experience has been great and I've saved a whopping big amount of money!

So what sort of things do I buy on eBay for chronic pain relief? Here's an example of something I purchased this week. The item is a brand new book with an enclosed CD containing music designed to entrain the brain waves and alter the listener's perception of pain. This is the listing that was on eBay. Notice that the original publisher's price of this book is $17.95 , but the eBay seller has listed it for "buy it now" for $1. And Here's the notice that I bought this  item for a mere $1. My total payout to the seller for the book and postage, which I paid through my PayPal account, was $4.99

I was delighted with the book when it arrived. It was brand new. In fact, it was still sealed in the publisher's plastic wrapper . And both the book and CD contained valuable information.

What sort of things will YOU look for on eBay? For starters, I recommend looking for almost any pain relief item you see advertised on TV. Anytime anything is sold through TV, a large number of items are returned. Many of those returns are still brand new, unwanted only because the buyer realized they couldn't afford the item. Those returns are frequently sold on eBay at greatly discounted prices.

For example, a few years back, when a device for back pain called "The Wave" was being sold on TV for $60 plus shipping, I purchased one on eBay for $15 plus shipping.

To search eBay, I simply type "chronic pain" or "pain relief" into the search bar (without the quote marks) and see what comes up.  I've done that now and input some of the results into this blog post, so you can see some of what's available You can click on any of the links below to visit eBay and look for your own bargains in pain relief.

REVERSING CHRONIC PAIN - PETER A. LEVINE MAGGIE PHILLIPS (PAPERBACK) NEW

US $15.67 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 2:52:23 PST Buy It Now for only: US $15.67 Buy it now | Add to watch list

100 Questions & Answers About Chronic Pain by Charles L. Raison, Paperback, NEW

US $23.88 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 3:05:06 PST Buy It Now for only: US $23.88 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Chronic Pain in Small Animal Medicine by Steven M. Fox, Hardcover, BRAND NEW

US $87.44 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 7:53:07 PST Buy It Now for only: US $87.44 Buy it now | Add to watch list

100 Questions & Answers About Chronic Pain by Charles L. Raison, Paperback, NEW

US $17.36 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 7:54:07 PST Buy It Now for only: US $17.36 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Managing Chronic Pain by John D. Otis, Paperback, BRAND NEW

US $36.62 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 7:56:06 PST Buy It Now for only: US $36.62 Buy it now | Add to watch list

The Psychological Management of Chronic Pain: A Treat..

US $189.50 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:31:15 PST Buy It Now for only: US $189.50 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Mayo Clinic on Chronic Pain by Jeffrey Rome, Mayo Cl...

US $4.50 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:46:11 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.50 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Managing Chronic Pain by John D. Otis, Paperback, BRAND NEW FREE P&H

US $43.23 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 9:05:14 PST Buy It Now for only: US $43.23 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Mayo Clinic on Chronic Pain: Lead a More Active and Productive Life With...

US $0.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 11:39:01 PST Buy It Now for only: US $2.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

SUBLIMINAL FIBROMYALGIA AID-FM FMS CHRONIC PAIN RELIEF-BRAINWAVE MIND TECHNOLOGY

US $12.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 12:27:10 PST Buy It Now for only: US $12.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Recrafting a Life: Coping with Chronic Illness and Pain

US $31.01 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 12:53:31 PST Buy It Now for only: US $31.01 Buy it now | Add to watch list

ISABELLA'S HERBAL HOT PACKS COMFORT MINI FAN HOT PAC CHRONIC PAIN MINKY OLIVE

US $29.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:03:09 PST Buy It Now for only: US $29.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

ISABELLA'S HERBAL HOT PACKS COMFORT MINI FAN HOT PAC CHRONIC PAIN MINKY PURPLE

US $29.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:03:13 PST Buy It Now for only: US $29.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NEW Chronic Pain and the Family - Silver, Julie K., M.D

US $13.78 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:15:27 PST Buy It Now for only: US $13.78 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Evidence-Based Chronic Pain Management, (EDT), Hardcover, BRAND NEW

US $207.91 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 14:13:24 PST Buy It Now for only: US $207.91 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Pain by Beverly E. Thorn, Paperback, BRAND NEW

US $43.13 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 14:14:40 PST Buy It Now for only: US $43.13 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NEW - Chronic Pain For Dummies

US $7.89 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 14:44:04 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.89 Buy it now | Add to watch list

100 Questions & Answers About Chronic Pain by Charles L. Raison, Paperback, NEW

US $20.10 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 14:48:42 PST Buy It Now for only: US $20.10 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Freedom from Chronic Pain: The Breakthrough Method of P

US $5.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 16:18:03 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

COBROXIN ORAL SPRAY FOR CHRONIC PAIN STAGE 2 PAIN KILLER

US $2.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 16:28:39 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide To Practical…

US $186.36 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 16:30:35 PST Buy It Now for only: US $186.36 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Defeat Chronic Pain Now!:.., Galer, Bradley S. and Ar 9781592334070 NEW Book

US $22.87 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 17:19:59 PST Buy It Now for only: US $22.87 Buy it now | Add to watch list

COBROXIN TOPICAL GEL~FOR CHRONIC PAIN

US $2.31 (5 Bids) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 17:34:46 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

RELIEF OF CHRONIC NECK, BACK, ETC. PAIN

US $100.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 18:25:06 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

HANDBOOK FOR FIBROMYALGIA & CHRONIC MUSCLE PAIN REVISED & EXPANDED 2000 3RD ED.

US $11.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 19:59:32 PST Buy It Now for only: US $11.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

New Cures for Chronic Pain by Charles E. Argoff, Paperback, BRAND NEW FREE P&H

US $22.55 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 20:35:13 PST Buy It Now for only: US $22.55 Buy it now | Add to watch list

COBROXIN HOMEOPATHIC CHRONIC PAIN ORAL SPRAY exp 03/ 2012

US $7.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 21:02:13 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Cobroxin Oral Spray for Chronic Pain, Orange, 1 oz

US $2.25 (3 Bids) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 22:36:55 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Hypnosis for Chronic Pain Management Workbook NEW

US $35.13 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 23:37:26 PST Buy It Now for only: US $35.13 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Conquering Chronic Pain After Injury, Arnold, Paperback, BRAND NEW FREE P&H

US $16.51 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 1:53:16 PST Buy It Now for only: US $16.51 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NEW - Chronic Pain For Dummies

US $7.94 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 4:14:49 PST Buy It Now for only: US $7.94 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NEW Chronic Pain: The Natural Way of Healing - Natural

US $5.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 4:27:28 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Take Charge of Your Chronic Pain: The Latest Research, Cutting-Edge Tools, and A

US $4.82 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 8:19:07 PST Buy It Now for only: US $4.82 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Coping with Chronic Pain by Nelson Hendler, MD and Judith Alsofrom Fenton

US $2.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 11:49:26 PST Buy It Now for only: US $2.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

The Pain Cure: The Proven Medical Program That Helps End Your Chronic Pain

US $2.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 15:33:22 PST Buy It Now for only: US $15.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Healing Chronic Back Pain: 7 Steps to Perfect Posture N

US $40.50 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 16:20:38 PST Buy It Now for only: US $40.50 Buy it now | Add to watch list

BioBeam 940 Infrared Light Chronic Pain Relief FDA NEW

US $174.99 End Date: Monday Feb-06-2012 20:28:55 PST Buy It Now for only: US $174.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

REUMOFAN PLUS 30 TAB Osteoporosis Muscle Pain Osteoarthritis Chronic Rheumatism

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Validate Your Pain! Exposing the Chronic Pain Cover-U

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The Gunn Approach to the Treatment of Chronic Pain: Int

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The Truth About Chronic Pain: Patients And Professional

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Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain by Roger Gittines...

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When the Pain is Real!! Fibromyalgia: The Chronic Muscle Pain Syndrome

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Mayo Clinic on Chronic Pain by Mayo Clinic 1999

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Chronic Pain and the Family: A New Guide

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### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain. Stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscriber box in the upper right corner.

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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• Doctor Admits Pain Studies Were Frauds, Hospital Says (nytimes.com)
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This concept isn't always so easy for Westerners to accept. When I was first injured, I would have thought the idea ludicrous. The source of my pain was obvious-I'd been in a serious auto accident. Case closed.

But when traditional medicine failed to help me heal, I began exploring alternative medicine. The more I read, the more I learned about the number of ways that our beliefs and ideas impact our body. I began to understand that the rage I held inside–rage against the man that recklessly caused the accident, rage against the doctors that carelessly misdiagnosed me, rage against the insurance company that closed and left me stranded–all that boiling rage was standing in the way of my recovery.

It wasn't easy to let go of that rage. After all, it was completely justified. All those people had caused me to suffer, yet they had moved on with their lives without so much as a slap on the hand. I wanted justice, and knowing there would be none left me filled with fury.

But book after book, scientific study after scientific study, told me the same story. Our brains react instantly to our thoughts and emotions, releasing millions of combinations of chemicals in instant response to everything that passes through our mind.

I knew I had to find a way to release my rage, and with much work and over time, I did. Since then, I've continued to study brain function, hypnosis and what some call emotional or energy medicine. And a couple of years ago I came across a field of energy medicine called EFT, emotional freedom technique.

EFT is a way of tapping into and resolving painful emotions by tapping on your body. It's one of the first techniques I turn to when I need physical or emotional help. I consider it my first aid kit. But a few weeks ago, even though I needed help badly, I seemed helpless to help myself.

I was getting ready to go to a 4-day seminar on internet marketing when I slipped and twisted my knee. Nothing seemed broken or torn, so I wasn't overly concerned. And I knew, from years of physical therapy, how to care for it.

But after the first day of the seminar, I was a wreck. To walk, I was shifting all my weight to the right, to protect my left knee. Doing that put my spine out of whack, and I now had a nagging backache as well as a throbbing knee. I knew I'd better start using a cane to keep me standing straight while my knee healed. So that night, on the way home from the seminar, I stopped at a drug store and bought a spiffy blue cane with a comfortable handle.

I instantly felt more comfortable walking, but as I left the drug store, something came trailing behind me. It was a swarm of negative emotions and fears that followed me home, settling on me like little black flies, biting and pinching me. I tried to brush them away, but as I fell asleep, they invaded my dreams. I got little rest that night.

The next day, I walked into the seminar with my cane and was again overwhelmed with painful emotions. Everything I'd been though in the past came alive again. I vividly remembered using first a walker, and later a cane. I remembered people making unkind remarks and ridiculous assumptions when I was slow crossing a street or moving through the grocery store. And the more I remembered, the more my knee throbbed and the worse I felt.

I didn't make it through the last day of the seminar. And all the next week I was so worn out from pain I could barely get my work done. Mail and housework piled up, making me feel more stressed, more afraid, more angry at myself for not taking control of the situation and doing—- well, doing what? My knee needed time to heal. Wasn't I using a knee brace, a cane, exercise and infrared heat? 

Wasn't I doing everything I could? I was not. And I knew it. I purposely wasn't using EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, to resolve the leftover feelings that damn cane had awakened. Worse, I didn't know why I wasn't using EFT. Some part of me seemed stubbornly resolved to stay in turmoil.

I've seen this in other people, this digging in and accepting pain without doing everything we can to resolve it. I don't know where it comes from or why we do it. I just know it's common.

I knew I had to motivate myself to move forward. But it took me a few days to come up with enough motivation just to motivate myself! To do that, I used a technique I learned in NLP (nuerolinguistic programming). I made a list of things I badly wanted to do, things I would not be able to do if I didn't get out of the unresouceful state of mind I was in.

When the pain of potentially missing out on those events became greater than the pain of making myself take action….I took action. I started using EFT to tap into my emotions and resolve them.

I'd clearly been shown there was a lot of leftover fear and anger from that auto accident that needed to be put to rest. There were lots of new fears, too, fears about the economy, about growing older and declining, as well as lingering grief from the death of my dearest friend last November.

I'm still working my way through some of those issues. My knee is getting better. And I have a better understanding of how deeply our emotions stay buried, not just in our minds but in our bones and muscles and nerves.

There are many ways of resolving emotional pain. I have used EFT effectively, as well as hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming. There are also techniques like Reiki or Rolfing or massage therapy that release emotional pain though physical work. And when the right person is available, therapy with a psychologist or mental health counselor can be a blessing.

The challenge is not to find a method of healing emotions-there are many– but simply to motivate yourself to take a step emotional healing. Don't be afraid to try a technique, or as I did, many techniques. Unlike surgery or drugs, no harm can come from these gentle forms of therapy. When one is right for you, you will feel it. And feel, too, how much physical pain is lifted when emotional pain is released.

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide news, information and motivation to people living with pain.  You can stay in touch with her by adding your email address to the subscribe form located in the upper right corner. For an eye-opening look at EFT, read this very interesting article  at  Emofree about demonstrating EFT to a group of doctors, and how it was used on stage for pain from a broken wrist. or this one–Did Karen’s physical scars disappear as she did EFT on her emotional scars?

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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.