Posted on August - 13 - 2010
When chronic pain is ‘paralyzing’
Women’s chronic pain tends to last longer and be more intense than men’s, experts say. STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- A higher proportion of women than men suffer chronic pain
- One possible reason that women sense pain this way is hormones
- Chronic pain patients benefit from psychological help, doctors say
- But some chronic pain patients are resistant to mental health referrals
Thernstrom, 32 at the time, had a couple of doctor’s appointments about it, but went along with a neurologist’s suggestion that it would get better on its own.
“I felt increasingly worried, but somehow not in a way that enabled me to take further action, more in a way that paralyzed me,” she said.