Los Angeles Chronic Pain
Support and advocacy information for individuals dealing with chronic pain.
Category: Uncategorized
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The Roles Patients Can Play in Research—and How Their Voice Can Improve the Science
When we talk about clinical research, most people think about scientists, doctors, and labs. But patients have a critical role too—not just as study subjects, but as partners and team members shaping the very science itself. Our voices bring lived reality into spaces that otherwise risk being abstract, disconnected, or incomplete. My Journey into Patient…
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From Stained Lab Coats to Shared Tables:
Incorporating People with Lived Experience Into Research For much of the past century, the public imagination has often reduced science to caricature: a solitary figure in a stained white lab coat, locked away in a laboratory, performing experiments for their own sake—like a character in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. This outdated stereotype suggests research as…
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September Is Pain Awareness Month: What the Numbers Tell Us and What We Can Do
Every September, we stop to recognize Pain Awareness Month. For those of us living with chronic pain, it’s not about one month. But this is our chance to shine a light, share our stories, and push for better understanding and care. The U.S. Pain Foundation’s most recent reports show just how urgent this work is.…
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What Does This Mean to Me as a Chronic Pain Patient?
When I first started working alongside researchers, I often wondered: Do they really want to hear my perspective, or am I just here to check a box? A new study caught my eye because it tested whether patients, caregivers, peer support specialists, and scientists could come together as true partners in shaping research. The study,…
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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…