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What is idiopathic pain? And when does it become chronic? These are two terms that have been used to describe my migraine headaches.
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Chronic idiopathic pain has been defined by some pain experts as pain anywhere in the body of unknown cause that is present at least once a week for the last three months. Idiopathic means there's been no known injury, disease, or other cause of the pain. There may be a specific cause of the pain but no one has been able to pinpoint what it is.
Scientists who conduct research on pain and pain management point out that not all experts agree this is the most accurate or best way to define chronic pain. But it was a starting point in gathering information for some studies.
Three months' duration of painful symptoms does seem to be the cut-off point used by most physicians. This is based on research and publications put out by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
The frequency of that pain tends to vary from center-to-center and study group-to-study group. For example, some researchers use pain that occurs at least once a month for more than three months as chronic pain. Others look at how long the pain lasts (more than 24 hours) at least once a week for the last three months as the definition of chronic pain.
Whether pain is daily, weekly, lasts more than an hour or affects more than one place in the body, definitions vary according to who is measuring pain and why the information is being collected. Most likely you will have to ask the physician who made the diagnosis and labeled your pain as chronic what criterion he or she is using.
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