Los Angeles Chronic Pain
Support and advocacy information for individuals dealing with chronic pain.
Author: paintom
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Tokenism in Clinical Trials Research: How I Approach It as a Person with Lived Experience
Seeing the Problem for What It Is Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of examples where people like me were brought into research projects to check a box. We were there for appearances’ sake, not because our voices were wanted or needed. That’s tokenism. And it doesn’t just feel wrong—it weakens the research itself. When…
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Patient Safety in Chronic Pain Care: What’s Being Missed—and What Must Change
From medication errors to unsafe dismissals, chronic pain patients face silent dangers that deserve urgent attention. Living with chronic pain is hard enough—navigating unsafe healthcare makes it even harder. For many of us, every doctor visit is a gamble: Will we be heard or ignored? Helped or harmed? Whether it’s being abruptly taken off pain…
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Protecting Your Rights and Raising Your Voice in Politics with Chronic Pain
How people living with chronic pain can safeguard their protections, share their stories, and influence state and national policy. Living with chronic pain is more than just managing symptoms. It is also about protecting our rights and making sure policymakers hear our voices. The truth is, decisions that affect our care, our access to treatments,…
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HEAL Pain Research Priorities – Patient Summary (2025)
Shaping Pain Research Together — With and For Patients On average, it takes 17 years for clinical trial results to reach routine practice. That’s not just a statistic—it’s a warning. This number comes from health policy research reviewed and confirmed across multiple studies. One of the most cited estimates is from Dr. Eugene Balas and…
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Sharing Your Chronic Pain Story
Living with Chronic Pain: Reflections and Realities When you live with chronic pain, you carry more than the pain itself. You carry the stories, the looks, the doubts, the isolation—and the small victories too. Telling that story can feel risky, but it’s one of the most powerful tools we have. I’ve learned over the years…
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Telling Your Story About Living With Chronic Pain
Living with Chronic Pain: Challenges, Choices, and Hope Living with chronic pain is not just a diagnosis; it is a life you carry every single day. Each of us has a story that includes medical challenges, everyday struggles, small victories, and hopes for the future. When we tell those stories, we open doors. We connect…
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Humor as a Tool for Managing Chronic Pain
Chronic Pain Management: Insights and Reflections When you live with chronic pain long enough, you learn quickly that it doesn’t just sit in your body. It weaves into your mind, your emotions, your spirit. And while I’ve tried every therapy, medication, and strategy under the sun, one of the most surprising tools I’ve come to…
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Anger and Chronic Pain: A Volatile Companion
Living with Chronic Pain When living with chronic pain, anger often lurks in the background. It can flare up quickly—sometimes with good reason, sometimes seemingly out of nowhere. Anger isn’t just an emotional reaction; it’s part of the way our brains and bodies cope with an ongoing assault. But if we don’t recognize and address…
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The Virtue in the Wreckage: What Stoicism Taught Me About Pain, Power, and Purpose
Living Better with Chronic Pain When I first heard the phrase “the obstacle is the way,” I thought it was a clever slogan—something you’d see on a motivational coffee mug, or an ill-fitting tee shirt. But like so many things that seem simple, it stayed with me. It echoed through the toughest years of my…
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From Patient to Partner: Reclaiming Life Beyond Pain
Living Well with Chronic Pain On average, it takes 17 years for clinical trial results to reach routine practice. That’s not just a statistic—it’s a warning. This number comes from health policy research that’s been reviewed and confirmed across multiple studies. One of the most cited estimates is from Dr. Eugene Balas and colleagues, who…
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Budget Pressures Meet Pain
Step Therapy, Prior Authorization, and What California’s Budget Means for People With Chronic Pain Co-author: Victoria Killian, BCPA, PCM, CDME Living with chronic pain is already a full-time job. Fighting for care shouldn’t be another one. If you’ve lived with pain for any length of time, then you’ve probably had to fight tooth and nail…
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What Is PWLE? And Why the Terms We Use Matter
Putting People With Lived Experience at the center of research, guidelines, and health care One of the most common phrases I hear in patient engagement circles is PWLE — short for People With Lived Experience. What that really means is simple: people whose personal experiences with illness, chronic conditions, or caregiving make them experts in…
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PWLE vs. Stakeholders: Where Do They Fit in Clinical Trial Research?
Putting People With Lived Experience at the center of research, guidelines, and health care. When I first entered the world of clinical trial research, I heard the term “stakeholders” over and over. It was the word everyone used—sometimes loosely, sometimes with precision. But over time, I realized that the phrase could blur the most important…
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What Do We Mean by “People With Lived Experience” (PWLE)?
Putting People With Lived Experience at the center of research, guidelines, and health care. When we use the term PWLE – People With Lived Experience – it’s not just another acronym in health research or advocacy. It’s a way of honoring real lives, real stories, and real expertise that comes from walking through illness, injury,…