Managing Pain Before It Manages You » (Third Edition)

Margaret A. Caudill, MD, PhD, MPH, is a board-certified internist and a Diplomate of Pain Medicine. For more than 25 years, Dr. Caudill has worked to improve the lives of people with chronic illness through medical treatments that address both mind and body. She has researched and written extensively on mind-body medicine and lectures internationally on the biopsychosocial treatment of pain. Currently, she is Instructor of Anesthesiology at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center's Pain Management Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

Imagine finding a way to spend less time in doctors’ offices, and to decrease the discomfort, depression, and anxiety associated with chronic pain. Managing Pain Before It Manages You offers just that--a program to help you reduce your pain and learn coping skills to get your life back. Developed over the author’s many years of working with chronic pain sufferers, this program has been proven effective. Program participants report that they have been able to take control of their pain and cut their doctor visits by more than one third! Straightforward and compassionate, this hands-on guide provides detailed information plus step-by-step techniques and activities that help you:

*Understand the causes of chronic pain

*Recognize what increases and decreases your pain symptoms

*Reduce your pain and emotional distress

*Learn effective problem solving

*Make informed decisions about medications and nutritional therapies

*Incorporate relaxation, meditation, and gentle exercise into your daily routine

*Communicate effectively about your pain

*Set realistic goals

New to the Third Edition

Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition includes the latest information on medications and other clinically proven treatment strategies, expanded coverage of specific pain disorders, and a new appendix featuring Internet resources. Plus, readers can download free MP3 audio files of three of the guided relaxation exercises in the book (one hour total).

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Deb Lewis, EdD, RN(Slippery Rock University )
Description:Presented in a workbook format for patients who are living with chronic pain, this book is intended to help patients reduce their pain and develop coping skills to improve their lives. First published in 1995, this is the third edition.
Purpose:The purpose is to help those with chronic pain reduce their pain through mind-body techniques, with an overall goal of restoring healthful living. Pain is a significant national health problem and it is the most common reason individuals seek medical care, with millions of medical visits annually; costing the American public more than $100 billion each year in healthcare, compensation and litigation.
Audience:Although the book is clearly written, it may be too lengthy for persons with low literacy reading skills. However, chapter summaries are helpful and provide a nice synthesis of the information.
Features:The book includes real life techniques and tools that may help patients dealing with chronic pain. It provides an evidence-based approach to describing chronic pain and introducing mind-body strategies to support those seeking to improve their health. Chapters focus on the power of the mind, nutrition, medication, and effective communication. The author includes downloadable audio files and removable worksheet pages that encourage readers to apply the strategies to their own life.
Assessment:This comprehensive overview of chronic pain provides useful strategies. The author includes citations that support the effectiveness of the strategies described in the book. Each subsequent edition has incorporated updated evidence to support the content.

Foreword, Herbert Benson

Preface

Before You Begin: How This Book Can Help You

1. Beginning to Take Control of Your Pain

2. Understanding Pain

3. The Mind–Body Connection

4. The Body–Mind Connection

5. The Power of the Mind

6. Adopting Healthy Attitudes

7. Nutrition and Pain

8. Effective Communication

9. Effective Problem Solving

10. The End of the Beginning

Appendix A. Common Chronic Pain Conditions

Appendix B. Complementary Alternative Medicine

Appendix C. Working Comfortably

Appendix D. Choosing Pain Medicine for Osteoarthritis

Appendix E. Worksheets and Other Materials

Internet Resources

Bibliography

MP3 Audio Downloads:

1. Ocean Sounds: Coupling Breathing with Imagination (20 minutes)

2. Creating a Safe Place (22 minutes)

3. Pain Control Visualization (21 minutes)