You’re in for a treat. Amy Baxter, pediatric emergency physician, pain researcher, and device manufacturer, is the CEO and Founder of Pain Care Labs. We talked about:

Pain is inevitable, it’s life. Unnecessary pain is wasteful and it sucks.
Doctors’ superpower is writing prescriptions. While lots of research has been done about non-pharm pain, doctors aren’t familiar with it.
Public policy doesn’t support non-drug solutions. It funnels people to doctors and medication.
Attitude and attention impact pain. If you focus on life rather than pain, the pain can be more manageable. We’re in control.
The 1-10 pain scale has limited value unless you’re evaluating what’s not working for acute pain.
We could teach our kids about pain differently. Think, dancers and other athletes.
While cannabis may be helpful for chronic pain, it’s not a panacea, especially for young brains.

We learned about TENS units, Buzzy, the Meissner Corpusle, the thalamus (the brains CPU/microprocessor), the Schmidt Sting Pain Scale, the IKEA bias,  beta nerves and mechanoreceptors, and more. My head spins.

I think the most important lesson I’ve learned from Amy is that it’s not about the pain, it’s about what we want to do with our lives and how we manage the challenges we face that get in the way, including pain. Let’s take control. It’s the most powerful tool we have.

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Episode Notes

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Find FULL TRANSCRIPT at the end of the other show notes or download the printable transcript here
Contents with Time-Stamped Headings
to listen where you want to listen or read where you want to read (heading. time on podcast xx:xx. page # on the transcript)

Introducing Amy Baxter 00:52. 1

Health is fragile 03:02. 2

Unnecessary, wasteful pain 04:33. 2

Pain research: so much about drugs 11:00. 3

Physician superpower: writing prescriptions 15:33. 4

The Thalamus: Our brain’s CPU 19:01. 5

Perceptions of pain: attitude and attention 25:12. 6

The Pain Scale: a mixed bag 29:11. 6

Pain: What we teach kids? 34:40. 7

Pain management: People vary so much 39:18. 8

Pain and cannabis 44:31. 9

Public policy and pain. We can do better. 48:47. 10

Pain management: what works for you? 52:19. 11

Pain is not my enemy 58:01. 12

Reflections 1:02:05. 13
Links
What Works for Pain
Buzzy: Drug Free Pain Relief
Amy Baxter at TEDMed: Needle Pain Awareness

Amy Baxter at TEDX: Pain, empathy and public health

Health Hats blog post: How Many Words for Pain?

Health Hats Podcast with Melissa Reynolds: Fibromyalgia. Managing Pain. Doing the Work.
Meissner Corpusle
Dr. Bob Odell, Jr., Neuropathy and Pain Centers of America
Vaso-Occlusive Episodes in Older Children with Sickle Cell Disease: Emergency Department Management and Pain Assessment
Schmidt Sting Pain Index
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain

Credits
Music by permission from Joey van Leeuwen, New Orleans Drummer, Composer
About the Show
Welcome to Health Hats, empowering people as they travel together toward best health.