In Conversation: How to Understand Chronic Pain

Chronic pain, a disease process that is so complex that we are only just beginning to understand its triggers, has recently been gaining recognition as a medical condition on its own. But how does living with chronic pain feel? And how do the body and brain deal with it?

Aching, dull, gnawing, burning, sharp, shooting, piercing…

These are just some of the words people tend to use to describe their pain.

Now imagine you had to endure a bit of this every waking day until you don’t know what it’s like to go about your day without this baseline of pain slowly depleting your mental and physical energy in the background.

That is the reality for many people who deal with chronic pain.

Some days may be great, some days bad; the signs may not always be visible and it may be an inward battle hidden behind gritted teeth and forced smiles.

But how does chronic pain become, well, chronic?

In the latest installment of our In Conversation podcast dedicated to Pain Awareness Month, Medical News Today dives into the science behind chronic pain with Dr. Hilary Guite and Dr. Tony L. Yaksh, professor of anesthesiology and pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, as Joel Nelson, longtime psoriatic disease and arthritis patient and advocate, shares his personal journey with pain. - Read entire article by Yasemin Nicola Sakay/MedicalNewsToday