Pain:  It impacts each and everyone one

Pain can be a constant for people living with arthritis. It impacts each and every one of us no matter if we have Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ankylosing Spondylitis. For some, pain can be occasional, sharp and annoying or a dull throb. For others it’s a hot coal that burns day and night. That’s called chronic pain. But living in pain is far more reaching than the pain itself. It can be devastating.

Pain affects our personalities, our relationships, and our outlook on life as well as our quality of life, our social lives, and our livelihoods. Every aspect of our lives revolves around our disease and the pain of it. It is easy to be positive and optimist when everything is under control. BUT, relentless pain wears a person down making us short tempered, depressed, lethargic, and those are only the psychological effects.

Many CAPA members have identified pain as a significant issue. For this reason CAPA has formed a committee to address the issue. Our approach begins with educating members, the public and ourselves through links to the following websites and moves forward to networking opportunities with groups, institutions, and organizations that share common objectives. However, your input on the direction we have chosen is all-important – we need your guidance. Your feedback on the websites is important too. What do you think of the sites? What have you learned by visiting the sites? How does the information improve your ability to manage your pain? What’s missing?

http://www.canadianpainsociety.ca/
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/24/46/10410
http://www.painfoundation.org/downloads/Notebook.pdf
http://www.pain.com/sections/consumers/pain_support/pain_tools/

CAPA’s new committee was established to support you. Tell us what you'd like us to address. We welcome your guidance.