Navigating Life with Chronic Pain

Navigating Life with Chronic Pain provides accessible, comprehensive, and up-to-date information about the challenges patients, family, and caregivers face when confronted by chronic pain. No two pain experiences are the same, so your chronic pain depends on where you have pain, how long you have experienced pain, and how the pain symptoms developed. Everyone needs a customized approach because pain symptoms, other medical conditions, past pain experiences, beliefs about pain, environment, ability to cope with the pain, and financial and social support (like family, friends, and caregivers) are different for every person.

This book aims to provide clear and reliable information about chronic pain, including "what" (definition), "how" (pathophysiology), and "why" (etiology). The authors expertly guide the reader through current approaches to diagnoses, including a review of diagnostic tests, as well as a comprehensive, integrated approach to chronic pain treatment. They demystify the pain evaluation and explain why pain professionals might ask you for detailed and seemingly personal information. Through the use of patient stories, you get real-world experiences and advice on navigating the day-to-day challenges of chronic pain. You will learn how to take control of your chronic pain using a variety of tools, like behavioral, exercise and nutritional approaches, medications, alternative treatments (yoga and tai chi), and injections or surgery.

Robert A. Lavin, MD, MS is Assistant Professor in Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Director of Chronic Pain Management at VA Maryland Health Care Services in Baltimore, MD.

Lindsay Zilliox, MD is part of the Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Sara Clayton, PhD is the Director of Pain Psychology at VA Maryland Health Care Services at a member of the Department of Neurology at the Baltimore VAMC in Baltimore, MD.