[threehams]

Pain is sometimes a symptom of something else. The overwhelming belief that pain is always a symptom of something else has held back research for decades.

"At least initially, a clinician probably will assume pain is a symptom of some underlying condition and prescribe analgesics, while focusing on discovering what the underlying problem might be. But if a cause cannot be found, if early treatments fail to bring improvement, and if pain persists for several months, it may progress to the point where it becomes a disease in itself, that is, an abnormal condition that impairs or disrupts normal bodily functioning (this is almost always chronic pain). Then, regardless of the initiating process, cause, or underlying disease, the clinician must focus on management of the pain condition in order to assist in restoring the individual to a better state of health. This is not to say that all pain is a serious disease. When pain is a disease in itself, however, it requires comprehensive assessment, care planning, and treatment."

From the peer-reviewed source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92517/

[rjurney]

Thank you so much! So much terrible information at the top of this page, really shows the weaknesses of the upvote model here.