Pain Management at Ground Zero

West Virginia continues to lead the nation, and world, in drug overdoses, which makes one ponder as to what is being done at the “ground zero” of the opioid epidemic to save and improve lives. Where else but where it’s “worst” should some of the possible solutions come from? In 2016, an...

Matching Disease Mechanisms With Interventions

The clinical ideal is to match known, objectively identified mechanisms of disease with the known mechanisms of an intervention (drug or nondrug). Of course, we are far from this ideal as our knowledge of disease mechanisms is very elementary in some cases, especially in pain, and our knowledge of...

Examining the Psychedelic Side of Ketamine

Ketamine is abused as a club drug due to its potent hallucinogenic properties. What we know of the drug’s adverse events/side effects/toxicity in high dose and frequent use come from this cohort of abusers, with most of the data coming from Japan. We will examine the neurocognitive effects (euphoria...

Pain Pathways Made Simple

In order to successfully clinically manage pain, it is essential to begin with an understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for its generation. A skillful approach based upon better knowledge concerning the anatomical structures, pathways, and events that result in pain is more likely...