Some interesting facts about pain

Here are some really interesting facts about pain provided by Dr. John Clark of the Calgary Health Region Chronic Pain Centre.

Pain is one of Canada’s most serious health problems. Pain impacts emotional, physical and psycho-social well being of individuals/ families; our health care system and our economy.
People with severe chronic pain are 4 times more likely to be hospitalized, are 6 times more likely to suffer from clinical depression, and require 4 times the number of medical consultations than people without pain. Inadequately controlled pain is a patient safety issue associated with delayed healing; and increases in length of stay, disability and suffering (CCHSA, 2003). Statistics Canada (2005) estimates a cost of $10,000 to $14,000 per year per patient to treat chronic pain and $12.5 billion in lost productivity.

Despite known best practices that adequately address pain, pain remains under-treated in three out of four patients (Brookoff, D.,2001; Chapman, 2004). Approximately, 26% of adult Calgarians (200,000) experience chronic pain, of which 3% (30,000) suffer severe disabling pain (CPHS, 2001). Due to the aging population, the number of people in Calgary and Alberta with moderate or severe chronic pain is projected to increase by approximately 20% over the next 10 years.

The Canadian Pain Society Waitlist Task Force recently concluded that there is deterioration in health related quality of life and psychological well if patients wait for 6 months or more for treatment of chronic pain and that measures should be taken to ensure that wait times for chronic pain treatment should be no longer than 6 months.

Are we there yet?

Do you ever just get so excited about something you want it to be done and over and finished and complete? Yeah, that's me. When I've latched on to an exciting project, with incredible support, I just want to go. Just ask Hal - who keeps talking about how grass doesn't grow under my feet!

But honestly, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has emailed their support to us regarding writing this play. There is an incredibly large population of people out there in pain, surrounded by people who love them but don't understand what they are going through. We hope we can touch even just one of those lives.

If you have a story you're willing to share, please comment and let us know. We have several months of research ahead of us, both in person and via computer. But I know that from the amount of positive feedback we have received already, there are lots of people willing to help us.

And we will keep you posted as to how things are going and any new developments in this exciting new project.

Deb

In the beginning

There was an idea. There is always an idea. The problem is whether one can germinate the seed into something...be it a novel, a short story, a play, a TV show... The other problem is getting other people to believe in the idea.

Well, I had the idea to write a play about chronic pain. It's something that's not understood and literally thousands of people suffer in silence. They suffer while those around them think it's all in their heads or that they're malingering. They lose their lives figurately, by not being able to work, to care for themselves, to play with their children or have relationships with their husbands and wives; and they lose their lives literally, when they think they can no longer cope.

And finding supporters was much easier than I thought it would be. There are hundreds of caring professionals out there that dedicate their lives to helping people with pain. But there are also hundreds of people that have been touched by pain themselves or know someone who has been touched by pain. I mean, think about it. Pain is universal. No matter where you go on this planet, everyone feels pain.

This blog is dedicated to the sufferers and their friends and families, and the people who try and help them. It will track the making of the play. All of us who are involved, and there are so many, will comment, and hopefully some patients may add their comments as well. If we can touch the life of just one person, we will have reached our goal.

Deb