An estimated 45 million Americans suffer from some form of chronic pain, says Stamatos in his new book that offers a comprehensive look at the causes of pain. He wrote it, along with co-author Jane O'Boyle, from the consumer's point of view. The anesthesiologist lays out a program for fighting pain in layman's terms that includes everything from acupuncture, physical therapy, diet, exercise and psychological counseling to the new synthetic narcotics, cox-2 inhibitors and steroid injections. He embraces all the standard medical treatment options for battling pain, but goes beyond that. He believes a multidisciplinary approach is the way to tackle the problem.
Every chronic pain is a combination pain and requires a multiple treatment plan.
You have to figure out the pieces of the puzzle and solve those pieces individually. We break it down into different kinds of pain. There's bony pain throughout the back, and then there is also myofascial pain in the muscles. Chronic pain causes depression. You can't do pain management without taking all the agents of pain into account.