October 19 to 23 is China Analgesia Week. Pain has been listed by modern medicine as the fifth most important vital sign after body temperature, pulse, whistle and blood pressure. About 3 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain Recently, Auntie Shen was unable to go out because of knee pain. Originally, she thought that joint pain was a normal phenomenon as she got older. It was not until recently that she went to the hospital when the pain became unbearable and seriously affected her activities. In fact, there are still a few patients who suffer from chronic pain like this, but most people are unwilling to treat it or do not receive adequate treatment because they lack a proper understanding of chronic pain. In fact, the problem of pain, because of its prevalence and multiplicity, has become a topic of common concern worldwide. The prevalence of chronic pain is 7% to 50%, and based on a global population of 6 billion, approximately 420 million to 3 billion people suffer from chronic pain. Chronic pain has become another major killer that seriously affects human life and quality of life after cardiovascular diseases and tumors. Among patients attending hospital outpatient clinics, 2/3 of them have suffered from pain, yet most of them do not realize that pain should also be seen by a doctor in time. Chronic pain is a disease Chronic pain is usually pain that continues for more than one month after the acute tissue injury has subsided, or pain that recurs for more than three months. Chronic pain can be a symptom of an internal organ disease; it can also be the main symptom of certain diseases, such as muscle and joint pain, neck and shoulder pain, low back pain, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine, etc. The causes and pathogenesis are intricate and complex. Chronic pain can cause damage to the human body as if it were a “moth” in the body: severe pain can cause a series of functional changes in the body such as shock; chronic pain can often make patients suffer from pain, increase blood sugar, blood pressure, and increase negative cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events; chronic pain is the cause of illness, disability, and death for many people. In addition to seriously affecting people’s physical and mental health, pain can also cause a great burden on people financially. Research shows that the average weekly loss of productive time due to pain in the UK is 4.6 hours, while in the US, the annual loss of productive time due to pain is$61.2 billion. Therefore, chronic pain should never be viewed as simply a symptom; most chronic pain is a disease in itself. Examples include arthralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and post-herpetic pain. Learn how to describe pain Having some understanding of your pain before going to the hospital can help you have better communication with your doctor. For example, the following: the location of the pain: head, neck, shoulder and back, limbs, chest, abdomen, perineum, etc.; surface or deep, such as scalp pain or intracranial pain, abdominal wall pain or intra-abdominal pain, etc. Initial factors of pain onset: what was the first time the pain occurred? Time of pain onset: how long has it been since onset? Nature of pain: pinprick-like, tearing, bursting, shooting, knife-puncture, drilling pain, throbbing pain, throbbing pain, electric shock, radiating pain, crushing pain, girdle-like pain, colic, soreness, boredom, twisting pain, tightening pain, burning pain, icy cold pain, etc. Pain pattern: daytime pain/nighttime pain; active pain/resting pain; preferring to press/refusing to press; preferring cold/preferring heat; continuous/intermittent; triggering/no triggering. Concomitant symptoms: profuse sweating, nausea and vomiting, near-death feeling, nervousness, fear, change in blood pressure and heart rate, etc. Treatment status: To which treatments or medications are effective or ineffective? 5 tips to relieve chronic pain For long-term chronic pain, the American Geriatrics Society gives 5 tips to help relieve chronic pain. 1. The most important thing is to relieve the pain: Whenever you feel pain, finding pain relief is as important as determining its cause. 2, for mild to moderate pain, first consider using some pain medication. However, be sure to use the exact dose labeled on the medication instructions to ensure the safety of the medication. 3.For severe pain, analgesics can be used: analgesics have a definite pain-relieving effect on relieving moderate to severe pain. However, due to the differences in the patient’s constitution and individual response to drugs, the selection of such drugs must be guided by a doctor and the efficacy of the drugs must be determined. 4.Use comprehensive pain relief means. Non-pharmacological treatment often refers to health education, rehabilitation training, and other related programs. These methods can be used in combination with pharmacological treatment. 5.Patients with pain should take the initiative to receive relevant health education. As patients, they must learn as much as possible about pain self-care, such as strengthening physical exercise to improve body resistance; personal hygiene and keeping the room clean to reduce the triggering factors of chronic pain, etc.