well it's all right doin' the best you can

[doctorhouse_tm]

This is a good read.

Chronic pain seen altering how brain works.

Brain scans of people in chronic pain show a state of constant activity in areas that should be at rest, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, a finding that could help explain why pain patients have higher rates of depression, anxiety and other disorders.

Re: DepressionOf course we'

Comments

[bravotwozero]

Excuse me?

Greg...you're worrying me.

[doctorhouse_tm]

I...don't be worried.

[bravotwozero]

Honey, if there's something that's keeping you up, of course I'm going to worry. I'm your wife, that's what I'm supposed to do.

Is there something I can do to help?

locked

[doctorhouse_tm]

I can't stop seeing him. I don't know why. I feel like I'm going crazy.

*locked*

[ynez_castillo]

One stupid fucking stupid mistake of mine caused an entire chain reaction that sealed my fate.

I hear you, Greg. That was an interesting article, even if the study had a small sample size.

Sometimes I wonder if my brain wasn't broken before my accident. I can't remember the last time I felt normal.

Re: *locked*

[doctorhouse_tm]

It was a small sample size. I would be curious to see if that was the same result when given over a wider range of subjects.

You honestly can't remember? Or is it just...you think you must have been normal at a later point than you can?

Re: *locked*

[ynez_castillo]

I don't think I was ever normal, but there were times when I almost felt like it.

Re: *locked*

[doctorhouse_tm]

Even when you were a kid?

[sewing_on_ears]

From a doctor's perspective, though, we're always in that impossible position - how do you tell a drug addict from someone genuinely in pain? Particularly when the same person can be both?

And from the patient's perspective, how do you separate pain from addiction? How do you separate symptom from cause?

[doctorhouse_tm]

You can't. And often they are. Addicts are suffering too, from something a lot of the population doesn't understand. People don't realize that it's not like most addicts wanted to get in the position in the first place...something in their head or life forced their hand.

Pain and addiction go hand in hand...you can't. As long as I'm in pain, I'm going to be an addict. The pain's not going away anytime soon.