General Health Information

Chronic pain has this one undeniable fact: More often than not, it is
untreated or under-treated. In a survey last year by the American Pain Society,
only 55 percent of all patients with non cancer-related pain and fewer than 40
percent with severe pain said their pain was under control. Chronic pain is
second only to respiratory infections as a reason to seek medical care. Yet
because physicians often do not take a patient’s pain seriously or treat it
adequately, nearly half of chronic-pain patients have changed doctors at least
once, and more than a quarter have changed doctors at least three times.