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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 5-year trial of acupuncture therapy in the Finnish NHS is surveyed. In total 348 patients attending Halikko Health Centre in SW Finland were treated with needle-stimulation for a wide variety of chronic pain syndromes. The mean number of acupuncture sessions was 5 in the primary series and 41% of patients received more than one series. An analysis of results showed significant relief of pain (more than 40% reduction on the visual analogue scale) in myofascial syndromes affecting the head, neck, shoulder and arm. Osteoarthrosis of major joints, and backache, responded less favourably. In total 65% of those patients who had taken analgesics before acupuncture therapy, either stopped totally or reduced their dose considerably. Those with headache could significantly more often reduce their drug intake than those with arthritis or osteoarthrosis. More results and discussion will be published in part II later in this Journal.
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PMID:Long-term treatment of chronic pain with acupuncture. Part I. 288 34

The Functional Assessment Screening Questionnaire (FASQ) is a 15-item checklist which was developed for primary care populations and may serve as a questionnaire method for evaluating disability which is associated with chronic pain. One hundred fifty-eight patients completed the FASQ as part of an initial multidisciplinary evaluation of chronic pain. Reliability was reaffirmed through split-half and alternate-form methods. Responses were examined to explore relationships to aspects of disability. Although job functions were not directly assessed, the scores of employed vs unemployed respondents differed significantly. Findings were related to Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scale scores but appeared to reflect a separate phenomenon. Scale 1 (Hs) was the most useful scale for predicting level of reported impairment. Nonparametric methods showed levels of functioning varying significantly by site of pain complaint. Patients with back pain reported the most difficulty; those with head pain and genital pain reported the least difficulty. An internal structure appropriate to chronic pain populations was discerned, with two general factors measuring either physical-motoric or cognitive-social aspects of disability. Aside from constraints associated with the use of self-report methods, the FASQ may be helpful as part of efforts to portray pain-related disability.
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PMID:The Functional Assessment Screening Questionnaire: application for evaluating pain-related disability. 293 Mar 45

Certain psychic structures which are represented in special configurations of MMPI scale values--the 'neurotic triad' and the 'conversion V'--are said to be typical of chronic pain patients. But considering the problems of reliability and validity of MMPI scales and new theoretical reflections regarding psychosomatic disorders, the diagnostic information given by these scale-based descriptions seems to be low. The present study examines the MMPI patterns of patients suffering from chronic headaches (N = 45) and chronic low back pain (N = 45) in comparison with a control group (N = 33) to obtain more relevant diagnostic information. Both pain groups claim to have strange bodily sensations accompanied by anxiety. Headache patients as well as low back pain patients tend to deny feelings of anger and aggressiveness. In comparison with the control group all pain patients adapt themselves to their immediate social environment to a much higher degree.
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PMID:Psychosomatic aspects of chronic pain: a new way of description based on MMPI item analysis. 294 31

In a group of about 1000 patients with chronic pain, approximately 4% had pain of very prolonged duration--25 years or longer. These subjects were similar in general to other chronic pain patients but they did differ significantly in the following: a higher incidence of face and head pain, greater dependency on analgesics and sedatives, more frequent diagnoses of depression, and a greater elevation of nearly all clinical MMPI scales.
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PMID:Ancient pain. 294 56

A 53 year old woman with chronic back pain and headaches also was considered to have a reticular formation generated "absence status." Both the chronic pain and the absence status were relieved by electrical stimulation in the mesothalamic reticular formation. The various psychologic and physiologic factors contributing to the patient's illness were analyzed and presented to demonstrate the progression of the illness. The discussion considers electrical "mini-discharges" in the reticular formation as the generator of the absence status and associated chronic pain. Therapeutic reticular stimulation electrically "jams" the reticular "mini-discharge" generator and thereby alleviates the absence attacks and pain.
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PMID:Seizure control by mesothalamic reticular stimulation. 308 46

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of beta-endorphin (beta-EP) were measured in 9 migraineurs with interparoxysmal headache (MIH), in 13 patients with major depression in an active phase (5 suffered from MIH), and in 16 age-matched controls. beta-EP was measured by specific RIA after gel-chromatography. While beta-EP levels of depressed patients (58.5 +/- 21.0 fmol/ml, M +/- SD) were similar to those of controls (65.8 +/- 26.6), those of migraineurs (15.0 +/- 11.1) were significantly reduced (p less than 0.01). In depressed patients also suffering from MIH, beta-EP concentrations (22.8 +/- 7.2, p less than 0.05) were half those reported in depressed patients without pain problems. The reduced CSF beta-EP levels in patients whose headache and depression coexist support the notion that this neuropeptide is concerned with chronic pain, independently of the affective state.
Cephalalgia 1985 Jun
PMID:CSF beta-EP in headache and depression. 316 Apr 71

The current study investigated the utility of the Back Pain Classification Scale with chronic, intractable low back pain and headache patients. Subjects consisted of 50 chronic low back pain and 50 chronic headache patients referred to a university based Pain Center for evaluation. Data indicated that subjects were a representative sample of severely intractable chronic pain patients typically referred for Pain Center evaluation and treatment. Each was administered the Back Pain Classification Scale as part of a thorough physical and psychological/behavioral evaluation. All subjects were classified by blind review of medical records into one of two categories: (1) presence of psychopathologically based pain complaint with little or no pathophysiological findings and (2) presence of pathophysiologically based pain complaints with little or no psychopathological findings. Subjects were also independently classified from blind review of their scores on the Back Pain Classification Scale into one of these two categories. Findings revealed that the Back Pain Classification Scale accurately predicted the actual classification of 80% of the low back pain patients (i.e., 30% above baseline prediction rate) and only 60% of the chronic headache patients (i.e., only equal to the baseline prediction rate). Furthermore, the scale was found to be most accurate in predicting low back pain patients with primary psychopathologically based pain. It was concluded that the Back Pain Classification Scale was an empirically valid instrument to use with chronic low back pain patients, but not with chronic headache patients. This lack of utility with chronic headache patients was also viewed as support for the construct validity of the scale. Wider use of the scale with chronic low back pain patients was suggested.
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PMID:Cross-validation of the Back Pain Classification Scale with chronic, intractable pain patients. 316 34

Antidepressant drugs have been used successfully in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. Clinical trials have supported the use of these drugs for pain and the depression that often accompanies pain syndromes. Although the exact mechanisms of action have not been clearly elucidated, it has been suggested that these agents have analgesic properties independent of their antidepressant effect on mood and behavior. Pain patients without concomitant depression experienced pain relief with antidepressant therapy; these patients represent the most convincing evidence that antidepressant drugs have a direct analgesic effect. Studies presented in this paper support the clinical efficacy of antidepressant medications in the treatment of patients suffering from headaches (migraine, tension, and mixed types), diabetic neuropathy, arthritis, and facial pain. These data also suggest that antidepressant drugs may be effective in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia, back pain, and pain from mixed etiologies; however, data for these pain syndromes are less clear, and, thus, further testing is required.
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PMID:The future for antidepressants: treatment of pain. 332 Nov 36

In the present study of 253 patients with chronic pain syndrome we have made a multidimensional approach. All patients have been included in the study independent of coexisting states of anxiety or depression. We included criteria for diagnosis, duration, generability and intensity of pain, anxiety and depression, psychosocial stressors and social functioning. Using this system we have evaluated the antipain effectiveness of clomipramine and mianserin in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. By use of the Melancholia Scale 16 patients (6%) had a major depression, and by use of the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, 72 patients (28%) had a generalized anxiety disorder. The results showed no statistically significant difference between the three treatments, when using a visual analogue scale (VAS 10 cm with cut-off score 2 cm) for severity of pains as outcome criteria or the results of VAS and Global Clinical Impression Scale using the criteria of reduction of 50% or more between the pretreatment and posttreatment scores. By use of all the assessments it is possible to make an improvement curve for each patient expressed by the area under the curve, and not even there we found a difference between the three treatments. Clomipramine and mianserin were significantly superior to placebo in the topographical pain subgroup with headache using area under the improvement curves as criteria (p less than 0.05). When the 60-item General Health Questionnaire was used to identify minor psychiatric morbidity 44% was found. We can use this as a measure of quality of life. Our results have indicated that placebo-controlled studies are still needed in this field of research.
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PMID:Discomfort or disability in patients with chronic pain syndrome. 333 90

The literature concerning the behavioral treatment of chronic pain other than headache was reviewed with particular emphasis on those studies being published since the most recent reviews from 1982. In general, the quality of these studies is much better than those included in the previous reviews. Several studies used broad outcome measures and many studies employed control conditions. The critical examination indicates that the operant program is effective in increasing activity levels and in decreasing medication consumption, and probably also in improving reported levels of pain and mood. Relaxation, in the form of biofeedback, showed mixed results. However, progressive relaxation and relaxation used as a coping strategy, proved to be useful especially in controlling pain ratings. No additional studies of pure 'cognitive' methods were found and the multimodal studies continued to be methodologically problematic. It was concluded that there is substantial evidence for the efficacy of some behavioral treatments for chronic pain. The comparative work suggests that relaxation may be a particularly valuable tool in remediating reported pain intensity. One question is which methods are most effective and economical and it remains for future research to find an answer. The data also suggest that treatment gains tend to be maintained and that patients continue to use assigned techniques although at a lower rate than recommended. Finally, it was pointed out that rehabilitation seldom leads to 100% improvement. Consequently, the need for prevention was stressed.
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PMID:Behavioral remediation of chronic pain: a status report. 351 89


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