Ren has been treating chronic pain in his Real Life family practice now for four years and has taken several advanced courses in its management. His talk focussed on the nature of chronic pain, why traditional pain medications frequently don't work, some of the newer medications and non-pharmacological methods of alleviating chronic pain. He also focussed on helping both patients and caregivers accept the realities of chronic pain and set realistic goals for themselves to achieve maximum health even in the presence of pain.
My favorite part was when he quoted General George S. Patton, Jr, who saw thousands of soldiers who had been wounded in combat. He once stated that Pain is like an enemy.
"You keep moving around and the enemy cannot hit you. Same way with pain. The quicker you break away from the pain, the quicker you will drive the pain out of your system. You sit too long and you will not be able to move."
Well, Ren's talk certainly helped me think differently about pain. And judging by the discussion afterwards I think it helped others in the audience. Thanks, Ren. IM me or Ren if you would like a transcript or copies of the slides.
At the end of his session, Ren referred to a booklet called American Cancer Society's Guide to Pain Control, and we put the wrong URL up on the slide. Here is the correct one:
https://www.cancer.org/docroot/PUB/PUB_0.asp?productCode=F9637.00
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