Table of Contents

1. The Enormity of the Problem
2. What Is Pain, Anyway?
3. The Genetics of Pain
4. Gender and Pain
5. Children in Pain
6. The Mind-Body in Pain
7. Opioid Wars - Part I
8. Opioid Wars - Part II - Proposed Solutions
9. How the Immune System Cranks Up Pain
10. Marijuana - The Weed America Loves to Hate
11. Beyond Opioids - Western Medicine
12. Beyond Opioids - Complementary and Alternative Medicine
13. Exercise - The Real Magic Bullet
14. The Way Forward

About the Author

Judy Foreman is a nationally syndicated health columnist who has won more than 50 journalism awards and whose columns have appeared regularly in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News and other national and international outlets. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College, served in the Peace Corps in Brazil for three years, and received a Master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of
Education. From 2000 to 2001, she was a Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. From 2001 to 2004, she was a Lecturer on Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has also been the host of a weekly, call-in radio show on Healthtalk.com. In
2014 she was the recipient of the American Pain Society's Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award.

Reviews

"The shadow pain casts and the toll it takes on individuals and society are revealed in this remarkable book by nationally syndicated health columnist Foreman, who chronicles the genetics of pain, types of pain receptors, and the effect of hormones and gender on pain and pain relief... this work is thoughtful and thought-provoking reading for the medical community, policymakers, and patients, especially in light of the F.D.A's recent call for tightening
regulations in the administering of pain medications." --Publishers Weekly starred review
"Finally, a scientific and empathetic book that sensibly sorts out the problems and possibilities of adequately controlling pain. What a relief!" --Booklist
"Encyclopedic in scope... Foreman's text underscores the fact that pain really is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon that requires more research. If we continue head-in-the-sand policies, we will remain a nation in pain." --Kirkus Reviews
"A Nation in Pain comes to life with people who are dying or who wish they were dying. But Foreman's account goes beyond its emotional appeal and makes some rigorously reported arguments about the failure of the palliative care enterprise in America." --The Weekly Standard
"Judy Foreman has provided a masterful chronicle of the commonest of human miseries -- chronic pain. The author delves into neurobiological mechanisms and notes the failure of our educational system to prepare physicians to deliver adequate care, including the perils of ignoring benefits of non-traditional (non-Western) therapies. This is a book for everyone; scientists and sufferers, physicians and their educators." --Joseph B Martin, Lefler Distinguished
Professor of Neurobiology and Dean Emeritus, Harvard Medical School
"A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health Problem is an extensive and eye opening look into the world of pain from the heart and soul of someone who understands what it is like to live with pain. Judy Foreman explores the anatomy of pain guiding us through treatments both conventional and unconventional and the debate that many of them ignite. I found it refreshing and honest while making a strong point that we need to do a better job at managing
chronic pain." --Penney Cowan, Founder, American Chronic Pain Association
"The experience of chronic pain forges new alliances and A Nation in Pain provides insights, knowledge, critiques, questions and comfort for readers -- be they individuals impacted by pain, those who care for them and those who might benefit from this thoughtful and comprehensive treatise. I am one of those individuals." --Philip Pizzo, MD, Former Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine, David and Susan Heckerman Professor of Pediatrics and of
Microbiology and Immunology
"The great majority of books written on pain in the past decade provide simplistic recipes based on untested remedies. Judy Foreman's new book, A Nation in Pain, attacks the complexity of chronic pain, and thoughtfully provides a realistic approach to optimal pain management. Her research on this topic, including interviews with pain patients and pain scientists, provides a wealth of personal and professional expertise and experience. This book
will be a valuable asset to patients, physicians and professional organizations wanting an encyclopedic and unbiased treatise on the very difficult topic of chronic pain." --Don L Goldenberg, M.D., Chief of
Rheumatology, Newton-Wellesley Hospital; Professor of Medicine, Tufts University
"This is a book that has been waiting to be written. Tens of millions of Americans suffer from chronic, unrelenting pain, yet until now they've had nowhere to turn to understand how pain arises or what to do about it. Whatever the source of pain -- and there can be many -- it can come to dominate the sufferer's life and be soul-destroying. Foreman has written a superb analysis of this most distressing of medical conditions. Many people will thank her for it."
--Marcia Angell, M.D., Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and former Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine
"In this book, Judy Foreman, an award-winning health columnist has beautifully narrated the saga of chronic pain--how it happens, how far it can go; why it happens, why it happens to you, and why it happens to you more than the others; and why the suffering is often endless... I would recommend this book for everyone: those in pain, those healing pain, those learning pain, and those policing pain relievers (the drugs and the people who prescribe them)."
--R. Goyal, British Journal of Anaesthesia