chronic disease
The mystery of persistent Lyme disease meets the enigma of long Covid
Lexey Swall for STAT
Over 10 million people in the U.S. have chronic symptoms of Covid or Lyme disease. But how do you know which you have? Long Covid and chronic lyme disease can cause a litany of similar symptoms, including body pain, intense fatigue, and brain fog. And they're both slippery diagnoses, leaving patients uncertain if an infection truly was the source of their problems.
"We have to come up with a plan to care for these patients, a plan to do the research that's needed. It ain't going to go away," said John Aucott, director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center. Even to an expert like him, long Covid, post-treatment Lyme, and other post-infectious conditions "all look remarkably similar," he said.
Read more from STAT's Isabella Cueto and contributor Alia Sajani.
reproductive health
People have been writing about IUD pain for years. Is anything changing?
The first story I remember reading about the pain involved in the insertion of an intrauterine contraceptive device was a 2021 article in the Washington Post that described how many women find the process "excruciating." Readers submitted descriptions of pain "that left them bedridden for days or sprinting to the bathroom to vomit," wrote reporter Caroline Kitchener. More publications cataloged this phenomenon over the next few years, with HuffPost, Mother Jones, Teen Vogue, Undark, the New York Times, and others publishing stories that all essentially said: Hey! This has always been pretty painful. Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?
The issue gained even more momentum on TikTok, where people posted videos documenting the pain they experienced during insertion. Some providers began offering sedation to patients as pain management for the procedure. And last month, federal health officials finally seemed to get the message. The CDC updated its guidance to advise physicians to counsel all patients on the pain that could occur during the procedure and on pain management, recommending lidocaine either as an injection or a topical gel, cream, or spray.
It's a step toward taking the pain reported by women and other marginalized groups more seriously. But challenges remain — this month, Manhattan's Planned Parenthood clinic stopped offering sedation for IUD insertion this year, citing budget problems. And as columnist Lisa Jarvis pointed out last week in Bloomberg, IUD insertion isn't the only procedure that regularly causes people discomfort or pain at the gynecologist's office. Ever had a pap smear?
disability
Paralympic athlete study offers clues to manage neuropathic pain
If your nervous system is damaged or doesn't work as usual, there isn't a simple fix for the neuropathic pain you may feel. It's not as well understood as the type of pain from breaking an arm or stubbing a toe, but it's no less painful. Neuropathic pain can feel at best like pins and needles, or it could feel like one is "burning alive" or "being eaten alive by acid," as Paralympian triathlete Lauren Parker of Australia identified it.
Up to 70% of the 15 million people across the globe who have spinal cord injuries experience neuropathic pain. A study published last month in BMJ Open Sport and Exercise is the first to describe it as this population experiences it. The research, which included Paralympians and recreational athletes, found that both groups struggle to describe their chronic pain.
"We need to get closer to understanding exactly what types of movement may best influence neuropathic pain symptoms," study author Kendra Todd said to STAT's Timmy Broderick. Read more.
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