"My Pain Feels Like..." - Pain Perception is as Individual as Pain Patients

AsiaNet 54541

AACHEN, Germany, Oct. 8, 2013 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

    - A new website helps pain patients to better express and explain how their

pain feels like

     Pain can appear in many forms and affects people in different ways. One

kind of long-lasting or chronic pain results from  a damaged nerve that sends

incorrect pain messages to the brain. This pain is called neuropathic pain or

nerve pain.

     Over 26 million people worldwide suffer from neuropathic pain[1] but only

40-60% of patients achieve adequate pain relief.[2]  

     The majority, approximately 60%, of neuropathic pain is localised[3]

(localised neuropathic pain, LNP) and is often described as a burning,

shooting, lancinating, electric shock like.[4] But more frequently patients are

trying to describe their pain in their own words by using their individual,

often very pictographic language.

     A correct and early diagnose is crucial to find the right treatment.

Therefore patients need to describe their symptoms in as much detail as

possible to their doctor.

     At the new website http://www.mypainfeelslike.com patients find a

questionnaire that helps them to describe in detail how their pain feels like,

how it affects their life and where the pain is allocated.

    "My pain feels like…" has been developed by Grunenthal GmbH in

collaboration with the Montescano Pain School, Italy. For more information

please visit http://www.grunenthal.com

    About Grunenthal

    The Grunenthal Group is an independent, family-owned, international

research-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Aachen, Germany.

Building on its unique position in pain treatment, its objective is to become

the most patient-centric company and thus to be a leader in therapy innovation.

Grunenthal is one of the last remaining five research-oriented pharmaceutical

companies with headquarters in Germany which sustainably invests in research

and development. The research and development costs amounted to a preliminary

of about 26 percent of revenues in 2012. Grunenthal's research and development

strategy concentrates on selected fields of therapy and state-of-the-art

technologies. We are intensely focused on discovering new ways to treat pain

better and more effectively, with fewer side-effects than current therapies.

Altogether, the Grunenthal Group has affiliates in 26 countries worldwide.

Grunenthal products are sold in more than 155 countries and today approx. 4,400

employees are working for the Grunenthal Group worldwide. In 2012, Grunenthal

achieved preliminary revenues of Euro 973 mn. More information:

http://www.grunenthal.com.

     References:

    1 Pal M et al (2009). Vanilloid receptor antagonists: emerging class of

novel anti-inflammatory agents for pain management. Curr Pharm Des 15:1008-26

    2 Dworkin RH, O'Connor AB, Backonja M, et al (2007). Pharmacologic

management of neuropathic pain: evidence-based recommendations. Pain;132:237-51

    3 Mick G et al (2012). What is localised neuropathic pain? A first proposal

to characterise and define a widely used term. Pain manage 2(1), 71-77

    4 Woolf C et al (1999). Neuropathic pain: aetiology, symptoms, mechanisms,

and management. Lancet; 353:1959-64

    Contact: Jeanette Hubsch, Grunenthal Europe & Australia

    Phone: +49-241-569-1487,

    email: jeanette.huebsch@grunenthal.com

    SOURCE: Grunenthal GmbH