New photo Scientists seek ways to finally take a real measure of pain

American doctors is pushing for the development of a device that measure a patients pain called a 'pain-o-meter' to evaluate relief measures.

Currently the National Institute of Health uses questions like whether their pain is 'stabbing or burning', estimating on a scale from 1 to 10 and even emojis.

But the system is often imprecise and subjective and is said to contribute - at least in part- to the opioid addiction crisis that killed 49,000 people in the country in 2017.

The 'pain-o-meter' or POM is a potential answer to improving assessment and management of pain in acute and chronic pain patients. 

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 American doctors is pushing for the development of a device that measure a patients pain called a 'pain-o-meter' to evaluate relief measures. Here, arthritis sufferer Sarah Taylor having her pupils tracked with the device to see how they react when she's in pain

NIH-funded scientists have begun studies of brain scans, pupil reactions and other possible markers of pain in hopes of finally 'seeing pain' so they can better treat it. 

Patient Sarah Taylor struggled to make doctors understand her sometimes debilitating levels of pain, first from joint-damaging childhood arthritis and then from fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body.

'It's really hard when people can't see how much pain you're in, because they have to take your word on it and sometimes, they don't quite believe you,' Ms Taylor said.

Now scientists are using the device to look into Sarah's eyes to track how her pupils react when she's in pain and when she's not.

There also isn't a way to determine what kind of pain someone has - to decide whether opioids are necessary or whether the pain, like Sarah's, is better suited to nerve-targeting medicines. 

The growing drugs crisis sweeping across the US is deadlier than gun violence, car crashes or Aids.

Dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl was the biggest driver - which killed more than 29,000 people that year.    

The growing drugs crisis sweeping across the US is deadlier than gun violence, car crashes or Aids. Dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl was the biggest driver - which killed more than 29,000 people that year (stock image)

There also isn't a way to determine what kind of pain someone has - to decide whether opioids are necessary or whether the pain, like Sarah's, is better suited to nerve-targeting medicines.

'We're not creating a lie detector for pain,' stressed David Thomas of NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse, who oversees the research. 'We do not want to lose the patient voice.'

It's early-stage research, and it's not clear how soon any of the attempts might pan out.

'There won't be a single signature of pain,' Thomas predicted. 'My vision is that someday we'll pull these different metrics together for something of a fingerprint of pain.'

Children's National Medical Center is testing an experimental device that aims to measure pain according to how pupils react to certain stimuli. 'If we can't measure pain, we can't fix it,' said Julia Finkel, who invented the eye-tracking device, pictured here with Sarah Taylor

One recent morning, Sarah climbed onto an acupuncture table at Children's National, rated that day's pain a not-too-bad 3, and opened her eyes wide for the experimental pain test.

'There'll be a flash of light for 10 seconds. All you have to do is try not to blink,' researcher Kevin Jackson told Sarah as he lined up the pupil-tracking device, mounted on a smartphone.

The eyes offer a window to pain centers in the brain, said Finkel, who directs pain research at Children's Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. 

Acupuncture needles are applied on Sarah Taylor's back. She uses a combination of medications, acupuncture and lots of exercise but the 17-year-old struggled to make doctors understand her sometimes debilitating levels of pain, first from joint-damaging childhood arthritis and then from fibromyalgia

OPIOIDS IN AMERICA: BY THE NUMBERS

Opioid prescriptions are going down across the US, but overdoses are not.

Last year, the rate of opioid overdose deaths hit a record high, with around 200 Americans dying every day, according to new figures, published by the DEA earlier this month.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar insists the tide has turned this year.

However, doctors warn the boom in prescriptions flooded the market with unused pills, some of which may have made it onto the black market. 

An in-depth analysis of 2016 US drug overdose data shows that America's overdose epidemic is spreading geographically and increasing across demographic groups.  

Drug overdoses killed 63,632 Americans in 2016. 

Nearly two-thirds of these deaths involved a prescription or illicit opioid. Overdose deaths increased in all categories of drugs examined for men and women, people ages 15 and older, all races and ethnicities, and across all levels of urbanization.

The Orange County Health Agency found that there has been an 88 percent of drug overdose deaths between 2000 and 2015.

Half of those deaths were due to accidental prescription drug overdoses. Seven out of every 10 overdose deaths between 2011 and 2015 involved opioids.

Source: CDC, Orange County Health Agency 

This is because some pain-sensing nerves transmit 'ouch' signals to the brain along pathways that also alter muscles of the pupils as they react to different stimuli. 

Finkel's device tracks pupillary reactions to light or to non-painful stimulation of certain nerve fibers, aiming to link different patterns to different intensities and types of pain.

Consider the shooting hip and leg pain of sciatica: 'Everyone knows someone who's been started on oxycodone for their sciatic nerve pain. And they'll tell you that they feel it - it still hurts - and they just don't care,' Finkel said.

'The problem is that an opioid like oxycodone brings some relief by dulling the perception of pain but not its transmission - while a different kind of drug might block the pain by targeting the culprit nerve fiber.

Certain medications also can be detected by other changes in a resting pupil, Ms Finkel said. .

So far, scientists at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital found MRI scans revealed patterns of inflammation in the brain that identified either fibromyalgia or chronic back pain.

Other researchers have found changes in brain activity - where different areas 'light up' on scans - that signal certain types of pain. Still others are using electrodes on the scalp to measure pain through brain waves.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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News Pictures Scientists seek ways to finally take a real measure of pain

You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!

TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
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Weight: 8st

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Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”

Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”

kim cattrall

Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb

SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.

Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
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