In these days of COVID-19 and telemedicine, dealing with chronic pain remains a hot topic. It appears that more and more organizations are leaning towards use of Virtual Reality (VR) as a treatment for chronic pain, patient centricity and are actively asking people with chronic pain to actively participate in decision making, not only about their treatment but also where research should be focused.
Top of the list of new items is the fantastic new book, “VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine” by Dr. Brennan Spiegel. https://www.amazon.com/VRx-Virtual-Therapeutics-Revolutionize-Medicine/dp/1541699769/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dr+brennan+spiegel&qid=1605294228&sr=8-1
Dr. Spiegel explains how Virtual Reality (VR) works, how VR is being used in the present and how he expects VR to be used in the future. His plain talk discussion of VR makes for a very enjoyable read and discusses this up and coming therapeutic on a level that everyone will understand. I highly recommend that everyone (living with chronic pain or not) read this book. It provides a clear window into the future of medicine and is “full of hope and magic!” Also, I would like to personally thank Dr. Spiegel for mentioning me and my use of VR in this book!
Please check out Dr. Spiegel’s virtual book signing with Chevalier’s Book Store https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/ in Larchmont! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hkmqk-F99g
I also had the privilege of being interviewed by Cynthia Toussaint on The Mighty. https://www.facebook.com/ChronicIllnessOnThemighty/videos/391055222038096/ I really enjoyed getting to know Cynthia and we had a great interview!
I have been honored to participate in several symposiums in the last month, presenting my personal journey https://painmanagementalliance.org/ and thoughts about patient centricity (https://2020.frontiers.health/agenda/session/342860) and insurance coverage.
Many thanks to Denis Silber (basilstrategies.com and VR for Health.com.) http://www.basilstrategies.com/about-denise-silber/for the invitation to participate in this important discussion on Frontiers Health, and to Amy Goldstein, Alliance to Advance Comprehensive Integrative Pain Management (AACIPM),(https://painmanagementalliance.org/about-us/team/team-bios/)for her invitation (and Dr. Ravi Pasad https://annualmeeting.painmed.org/item/411-ravi-prasad-phd-stanford-university-school-of-medicine for recommending my being included on this panel. (I also thank Carolyn Noel of AACIPM for her technical assistance and encouragement.)
The ACPA https://www.theacpa.org/ support groups via Zoom continue to have 15 or more people attending. We are trying to keep the weekly Tuesday night group to 2 hours but last Tuesday we set a new record of 3 hours and 10 minutes. Thanks to everyone for their patience and understanding!
Our telephonic support group under the auspices of WellConnected/Covia https://covia.org/services/well-connected/ continue to have up to 10 attendees from across the United States. Due to the pandemic, we will continue to provide this support through the holidays and the break in WellConnected scheduling.
We continue to survive during the quarantine. We are praying for the world and everyone’s health and safety.
Stay well. Stay safe.