Kentfield, CA, psychiatrist Stephen Raffle, MD, has made several presentations and lectures for law offices and firms. In his time as a psychiatrist, Stephen Raffle, MD, has also spoken to many patients with chronic pain to understand their experiences.
Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons a person decides to visit a medical professional. Some studies estimate that 20 percent of adults worldwide suffer from chronic pain, and 7 percent of American adults say that pain interferes with their daily life. Chronic pain increases opioid addiction and suicidal tendencies. Those with Lyme disease see a 28 percent increase in suicide and mental disorders post-infection.
To help chronic pain patients, doctors use pain maps. Pain maps are an anatomical diagram of the human body with many different common pain sites, such as the neck, lower back, and shoulders. The patient rates the pain intensity by site, giving doctors and psychiatrists an overview of the symptoms. Descriptions of pain are subjective, which leads to misdiagnoses.
Sometimes health data tracking algorithms exacerbate the problem. They automatically flag patients with large amounts of controlled substances. For example, cancer patients were flagged 20 percent of the time because they see multiple specialists. Therefore seem suspicious to the algorithm.
