Chronic pain an issue in Gainesville, health leader says

More than a third of area residents are currently in pain and have been in pain for more than three months, according to a non-scientific poll conducted by area health-care leaders in recognition of a statewide Power Over Pain campaign.

“That statistic says the problem is much larger than anyone predicted, and the likelihood that people are going untreated is fairly large,” said Robert Yezierski, Ph.D., director of the University of Florida’s Comprehensive Center for Pain Research and local chairman of the Power Over Pain effort.

Volunteers at the Suwannee River branch of the Florida Area Health Education Centers randomly asked citizens at supermarkets and other public places to respond to eight questions related to pain.

Forty-eight of the 130 people questioned — about 37 percent — indicated they are presently experiencing pain that has lasted longer than three months. Of the respondents, two were under 18 years old, 104 were between the ages of 18 and 59, and 24 respondents were 60 or older.

The results were released in conjunction with findings from the Florida Pain Initiative, which revealed that Floridians are substantially more likely to suffer from chronic or recurrent pain than the national average.

In Florida, 735 households were randomly selected to participate in a telephone survey commissioned by the Florida Pain Initiative and conducted by Susan Schuler and Associates of Tampa. About 75 percent of respondents said they suffer pain on a monthly basis, compared to 57 percent of respondents to a national survey.

“Based on local statistics, more than a third of those surveyed have experienced or maybe are presently experiencing pain that has lasted for three to six months,” Yezierski said. “This would qualify them as people with chronic pain, which is the leading cause of disability in this country today. In fact, more people are disabled by pain than cancer and heart disease combined.”

Pain is a consequence of conditions such as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and stroke, but it can have an even greater impact on a patient’s quality of life than the primary illness, Yezierski said.

“People may not know where to find help, and they might not be aware of the scope of treatment alternatives,” Yezierski said. “Often, pain control is a matter of patients exploring treatment options and finding a routine that might not work for everyone, but it works for them.”

People should learn the three Rs of pain — reaction, rights and responsibility, said Yezierski, who directs the pain research center under the auspices of UF’s McKnight Brain Institute. He recently stressed the importance of pain-awareness initiatives at a reception attended by notables including Alachua County Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, Gainesville Mayor Thomas Bussing, state Sen. Rod Smith and Win Phillips, UF’s vice president for research.

“Our message is once people react to pain, they have rights to education, rights to proper treatment, and they also have the responsibility to work with a health-care professional to manage their pain,” Yezierski said. “Often a doctor will write a prescription for pain medication, and when that doesn’t do the job, people think they have no option but to live with their pain. Multidisciplinary strategies are the most effective in treating pain, and for some people this can include complementary and alternative approaches, such as yoga, meditation and massage therapy.”

Officials found that young people are not insulated from pain, especially after they received about 150 entries from students participating in an art and essay contest to raise awareness. “When we talk about pain, we must not forget the impact it can have on our children,” Yezierski said.