Spot Dx — Sudden swollen ears and joints
Lesley is a 53-year-old optometrist who presents with three months of pain and swelling affecting both ears. Test your clinical know-how by taking the quiz…
Tag: Pain
Cold clue to a curious rash
Jen, aged 67, enjoys an active retirement. A former health professional, she focuses on improving her health as she ages, and is physically active —…
34 medical groups demand BMJ retract ‘irresponsible’ and ‘misleading’ guideline on chronic spine pain
More than 30 pain medicine societies are calling on The BMJ to retract a clinical practice guideline that advises against interventional procedures for chronic spine…
Most non-interventional back pain treatments are useless: systematic review
Only 10% of non-interventional treatments for lower back pain are likely to provide any relief, and those effects are small, a systematic review has found.…
Near-total relief ‘ambitious but achievable’: New advice raises the bar for migraine treatment success
Actual days per month with migraine symptoms is a better target for treatment success than the long-accepted standard of a 50% reduction in migraine days,…
An alternative to opioids? Optimism over new ‘non-addictive’ analgesic
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first new drug for moderate to severe acute pain in 25 years. Called suzetrigine, the first-in-class…
Doctors and functional disorders — how I escaped heartsink
There is a term in medicine that has always made me feel uncomfortable. It gets used less now, but you still hear it: heartsink —…
‘It was emotionally difficult for them’: Emergency doctor treated by friends and colleagues after 10 metre fall
Dr Fraser Bliesner has experienced first hand the miraculous impact of a pain team after a shocking 10m fall onto concrete just weeks before he…
‘I was told it would be like a period’: Women shocked at pain of medical abortion
Nearly half of women responding to a survey on the pain of medical abortion reported it was worse than anticipated, with some accusing providers of…
Tapentadol the most used opioid in Australia, study finds
Tapentadol has overtaken oxycodone as the most prescribed opioid in Australia, according to research that shows its use increased fivefold between 2015 and 2022. The…
