Pain Management

$100 billion are spent for medical expenses, lost wages and lost productivity, according to National Institutes of Health, and it’s all because of pain. This proves that things are not what they seem, where certain individuals look perfectly healthy, but suffer from such a pain inside. To add insult to the injury, they are sometimes labels as “addicts” by some people and even physicians because there are some addictive drugs are used to tolerate pain.

Glenda Dysktra, the assistant manager of PainAid, had several experiences about it. Starting as a volunteer for American Pain Foundation, she endured painful instances where she could no longer move, leaving her unproductive. And Dystktra is not alone. In fact, there are 76 million of Americans suffer from various kinds of pain and diseases, according to the said foundation.

Dykstra, together with Susan Sanford of Urbandale – a person who had similar experience with Dykstra led a program to trigger the consciousness of the residents of Iowa about pain management. These two friends were assigned by American Pain Foundation’s Advocacy Workshop.

“It’s an invisible disability,” Sanford said about chronic pain. “It’s a hidden epidemic. We’re hoping to bring about more awareness of what a huge issue this is,” Sanford contends.

 To read the entire article, go to:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/INDIANOLA01/711140417/-1/SPORTS09