Treating Chronic Pain as a Disease and Not a Symptom

Viewing chronic pain as a disease and not a symptom of some underlying condition is a notion that is gaining traction in the medical field.  Melanie Thernstrom, a chronic pain sufferer and journalist has written a wonderful book: The Pain Chronicles, which highlights the experience and complexity of living with chronic pain.  Read more about chronic pain as a disease and not a symptom in this recent New York Times article: Giving Chronic Pain a Medical Platform of Its Own by Tara Parker-Pope

Medicine in the Age of Twitter

Dr. Pauline Chen poses an interesting question in her NY Times article, Medicine in the Age of Twitter: Does online social media help or hinder patient-provider communication? If you haven't heard about Twitter, it is a new social media platform that allows users to communicate via short, 140 characters or less, "tweets" to other users. I am intrigued about the possibilities of connection, but am wary of the lack of human touch. What do you think?