Word: chronic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...none of the circuitous posturing and preening of public officials, who cannot give you the time of day without saying that time is a topic of great concern to them, as it is to all Americans, and that they have long devoted themselves to finding a solution for the chronic problem of time shortage. Governor Ventura just says it's 12 o'clock...
Antidepressants have been used for the past 20 years as adjuvants in pain relief. The most effective appear to be the tricyclics, and they're prescribed for a broad spectrum of pain, including headaches, arthritis, chronic low-back pain, fibromyalgia, cancer pain and diabetic nerve pain, though they can in some people lower blood pressure, create confusion and cause constipation and urine retention...
Although an estimated 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, only 26% of those battling moderate to severe pain are referred to the proper specialists. This doesn't mean other doctors can't treat pain effectively, but the complexity of diagnosing the condition and designing a treatment for a specific patient, especially prescribing possibly addictive narcotic-based painkillers, can make this a difficult and tedious task if a physician isn't well versed in pain management...
...Chronic pain is generally defined as persistent pain, like daily migraines, or pain that continues after an injury heals or fails to heal. Everyday aches and pains don't count. "A patient's complaint of 'Oh, doctor, my aching back!' isn't enough to just pull out the prescription pad and write for conventional narcotic meds," says Dr. Russell Portenoy of New York City's Beth Israel Medical Center, president of the American Pain Society, a professional group. Instead, he urges a comprehensive assessment of the pain's characteristics, including its causes and impact on the patient's activity...
...Most chronic pain sufferers are all too familiar with different classes of medications. According to a poll taken for the American Pain Society, 91% of chronic pain sufferers have tried at least an over-the-counter medicine, 60% have been prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, and 42% have used narcotics or opioids, the big guns of pain relief...