New medications are coming on line that offer women in pain hopeful options for pain management. For Grace has co-signed a letter that requests Medicare to expand its policy to make new non-opioid medications for moderate to severe acute pain available to patients. As it stands now, many people—especially those on Medicare—are still being forced to start with opioids, even if they or their providers don’t want that to be the first option. The letter asks CMS to add newly approved non-opioids to the list of drugs that are eligible for coverage under the NOPAIN Act, and to clarify how oral treatments will be handled moving forward.
For Grace is proud to be a signee on a letter that encourages Congress to maintain pain research levels despite the current climate of cut-backs. The letter, lead by the US Association for the Study of Pain (USASP), asks Congress to protect the overall pain research budget at the National Institutes Of Health (NIH) and to ensure that the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative includes a specific appropriation for FY2026 comparable with that of FY2025 - and will be shared with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for review.
When you take a drug or use a devise for your pain management, do you ever wonder how it got to you? What research went into it or who was behind it? Well, you should because that could make all the difference as to whether that therapy works or not. Check out Women In Pain Nation leader Cynthia Toussaint's latest "Hot Take" interview as she sits with Pain Patient Advocate extraordinaire Tom Norris about his work to get more patient's engaged in medical research trials and advisory boards. Sure sounds like a win-win for better days ahead!
Take a look at For Grace's June Story of the Month as we continue to explore the connection between chronic pain and social isolation, with a focus on the caregiver POV. John Garrett has been a caregiver to a woman in pain for 43 years and he's experienced every conceivable part of that journey. Included in that millieu is profound isolation which, in this sharing, he breaks down into three categories. Despite the loneliness that comes with caregiving, Garrett says he wouldn't do it any other way, as caring for someone you love can be "an incredible high."
