Chronic Pain Health Center

Individuals may have chronic and persistent pain even without an obvious cause or preexisting condition. Chronic pain symptoms vary from person to person depending on cause, age and other factors.

Symptoms may include headache, pain in the lower back, pain in the neck, arthritis pain, cancer pain, neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to the peripheral nerves or to the central nervous system) and psychogenic pain (pain not due to a past injury or disease).

A person can have two or more co-existing chronic pain conditions. Such conditions include chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, IBD, interstitial cystitis, temporomandibular joint dysfunction and vulvodynia. However, there are multiple possible causes of pain that persists. Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting more than 12 weeks. It is often severe and not easily managed.