The first, Long-Term Opioid Therapy – What Are the Effects?, brings us the results of Dr. Forest Tennant's ground-breaking study. He evaluated 24 chronic pain patients from 30 to 79 years old who had been using opioids for 10 to 35 years, and "concluded that the significant improvements in quality of life and physical functioning from opioid therapy are so positive they outweigh any negative complications, which can be easily managed."

Almost all of the patients (22 of 24) said their pain had permanently decreased over time. And the vast majority (20 of 24) felt their opioids still provided the same relief as when they started treatment. All of the patients reported one or more functions or activities they can do now that they couldn't do prior to beginning opioid therapy (i.e., get out of bed everyday, take walks, shop or visit friends).

The article details the patients' diagnoses and gives further information, and I encourage you to read the rest of it. While the study was small and obviously needs to be repeated with a larger group, this is marvelous news, and I for one and very grateful for Dr. Tennant's work and the participation of his subjects.

I have to say that I find HealthCentral's sites to be generaly decent, but the Chronic Pain Connection is outstanding. I encourage you to visit and subscribe to the newsletter.

Next, in One Patient’s Experience with Savella for Fibromyalgia, Richards brings us detailed feedback from one of her contacts, Brenda, who has been taking the new drug for seven weeks. Many of us have heard of Savella, but so few have had an opportunity to try it or know anyone who have that this article is very helpful in making a decision as to whether or not to ask our physicians for it. After reading about Brenda’s advice regarding insurance experiences, dealing with side effects, and positive results, I for one will be talking to my neurologist about a trial pack.

I still miss my laptop!

And I have a pretty nice setup, but can’t help drooling at this: the Ergopod 500. I’m not about to look at the prices, though!

This book is one the best I’ve ever found for those of us who have chronic illnesses, but want to continue working. It goes beyond the standard “coping tips” to talk bluntly about pacing yourself, searching for a job, keeping a job, negotiating with your employer for accommodations, and being self-employed. Topics like “when do I disclose a disability/illness?” are covered by authors who have extensive personal experience building their careers despite chronic illnesses.

The title does refer specifically to women, but I think the book can also be very useful for men. Likewise, there’s no reason to limit readership to people with autoimmune diseases.

I’ll be buying copies to send to some of my friends. I don’t plan to let mine out of my sight! I hope to get a copy of the accompanying workbook soon, as well.

Joffe’s blog, Working With Chronic Illness, is also good reading.

I get notices from the Giveaway of the Day and Game Giveaway Of the Day sites each day as to what they have available that day. They make arrangements with various software publishers to distribute commercial software absolutely free in return for advertising. The catch is that the software must be downloaded and installed within the 24-hour period of the giveaway.

I’ve been watching the site for a year or so, I think, and have downloaded and tried quite a few pieces of software. I’ve never found any malware in any of them, although I believe I’ve read mention of people getting unwanted software installed in a bundle because they didn’t pay enough attention to what they were agreeing to during an install.

Getting back to my point, today’s giveaway is a nifty utility that will magnify a portion of your computer’s screen, enabling you to better make out tiny print or small details. I didn’t have one of these installed on my machine until about nine months ago, and I wouldn’t want to live without it now. There is a free utility built in to Windows, but it isn’t quite as robust as some of the other products on the market. The description for this one says:

Magic Lens Max is a real-time, intuitive and advanced screen magnifier and desktop viewer to zoom, rotate, enhance, view and capture any area of the screen display. With built-in highly optimized resampling and enhancing filters, Magic Lens Max quickly generates high-quality lens view with clarity in various situations. It also lets you viewing in different color mode or through separated color channels.

As I type this, there’s another 22 hours and 55 minutes left to download and install Magic Lens Max. Why not give it a whirl?

(Yes, it’s a Windows app. Aren’t we the only ones who need such crutches?)

Oh - while I don’t find today’s free game offering terribly interesting, I have found some of the games to be very useful distractions on days that involve too much pain to do anything and I can’t focus well enough to read. Popping bubbles or whatever is a perfectly mindless pursuit, and very conducive to zoning out and get my head away from the pain for a bit. I don’t do “twitch” games, or anything that requires a lot of dexterity or is completely tied to speed. If I was that dextrous and/or fast, I’d be doing something more useful than playing computer games.

The worst thing, to me, about having a non-stop multi-year headache isn’t necessarily the pain. Or the way it tends to disrupt intimate relationships, empty all financial reserves, and sabotage the best-laid career plans. It’s not even the endless barrage of (albeit well-meaning) suggestions for “cures” from everyone you meet, most of which you’ve already tried anyway (except for the colon cleansing and the Jews for Jesus conversion).

No, it’s the emotional suffering – from all the guilt and the shame, of patients like me thinking it’s our entire fault, and maybe all in our heads.

She also mentions a good site for anyone who has problems with migraines, Robbins Headache Clinic.