The Holy Grail of Central Pain

Okay, so we understand that Central Pain is a serious problem. We agree that its victims desperately need help. Available painkillers do little to nothing to alleviate pain resulting from nerve injury. For many, many victims of Central Pain, existing drugs are completely ineffective.  

Pain messages are carried across the gaps between nerves by chemicals called neurotransmitters. We don’t know which specific neurotransmitters carry pain signals. If we did, then we could stop pain signals from ever reaching the brain. It is an absurdly simple and at the same time a maddeningly complex problem.

Science understands how to conduct the sort of experiment needed to track down neurotransmitters, the problem is that this type of research is expensive and can take a long time. Once the neurotransmitters are identified, then scientists can work toward a way to stop them from conveying pain signals to the brain. A medicine that stopped pain neurotransmitters would help everyone, not just Central Pain victims, and revolutionize medicine. The best way to work toward a solution to Central Pain is to encourage research, in fact just about the only serious way, is to make funds available. 

What’s a practical way to get something done? It’s called political activism. As trite as it may sound, a grass-roots political effort can move mountains.If you live in the United States man who holds the keys to your hope for the future is Senator Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Resources, Education. This Senate committee, under the Appropriations Committee, oversees the National Institute for Health (NIH), and directs allocation of government funds for medical research. The full membership of the committee is:

• Tom Harkin (D), Iowa, Chair
• Robert C. Byrd (D), West Virginia
• Daniel K. Inouye (D), Hawaii
• Ernest F. Hollings (D), South Carolina
• Harry Reid (D), Nevada
• Herb Kohl (D), Wisconsin
• Patty Murray (D), Washington
• Mary L. Landrieu (D), Louisiana

• Arlen Specter (R), Pennsylvania, Ranking Minority Member
• Ted Stevens (R), Alaska
• Thad Cochran (R), Mississippi
• Judd Gregg (R), New Hampshire
• Larry Craig (R), Idaho
• Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R), Texas
• Mike DeWine (R), Ohio

With the shift of balance in the Senate, Tom Harkin is now the chair of this subcommittee, and Arlen Specter is the ranking member. As far as I can tell, the makeup of the committee has not been decided so far. I'll update the information on the full membership of this committee when it becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to write to Tom Harkin and the senator representing your home district to ask for additional funding for basic pain research.

Arlen Specter Chairman (Pennsylvania)
Thad Cochran (Mississippi)
Judd Gregg (New Hampshire)
Larry Craig (Idaho)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas)
Ted Stevens (Alaska)
Mike DeWine (Ohio)
Tom Harkin, Ranking Member (Iowa)
Fritz Hollings (South Carolina)
Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Harry Reid (Nevada)
Herb Kohl (Wisconsin)
Patty Murray (Washington)
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)

Senator Specter states on his Web site that he will only respond to contact from his constituents, the residents of Pennsylvania. If you live in Pennsylvania, please contact him. If you know anyone who lives there, ask them to contact him on this issue. Or write to him anyway and hope that someone at least reads your letter. You should also contact the other Senators on the committee and ask them to help make funding available for researching the treatment of pain. If you live in another country that conducts medical research, please contact members of the government in your country that can help.

The next step after asking the government for help is to contact pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs. These companies generate tremendous amounts of money with opiates, painkillers that are addictive and have other side effects. Anesthetics pose additional risks on every surgery. A medicine that could stop pain neurotransmitters would be of benefit to everyone. Imagine if every drug company devoted 1% of their profits from the sale of their own painkillers to basic pain research within their own companies. It would take time to achieve breakthroughs, but in time they would surely recover their investment many times over. 

Health care providers and insurance companies should get behind this movement as well, as this new class of painkiller would bring down the costs of health-care, and make it much more effective. No more would we have the specter of terminal cancer patients, drugged out f their heads during the final months and begging for more morphine, since we would have a drug which actually took care of their pain and left them clear of mind to arrange their own affairs. Write your senators and representatives. Write to the media. Write to the drug companies. These are the people who can make the end of pain a reality.