About the Book
If you constantly struggle with confounding pain you may have Central Pain Syndrome (CPS) and not know about it. Doctors are often reluctant to tell you that your pain may be due to Central Pain - since it is a condition that is difficult to explain and rationalize. Intense chronic pain, widespread and varied, that appears to be treatment-resistant, and often accompanied by burning, numbness, stiffness, itching, or pins-and-needles, may very well be CPS. What you may have believed was Fibromyalgia might actually be CPS - though this is not of major consequence since the treatment options for both are essentially the same. CPS, however, is not due to inflammation or injury to a muscle, tendon, bone or joint. Central Pain Syndrome is a disorder of the Central Nervous System (i.e., the brain, brainstem and spinal cord) due to a prior violation; e.g., spinal surgery, brain injury, herniated disc, pinched nerve, stroke, etc. If you have been suffering from intense pain for a longtime, with weird sensations and discomfort, from different parts of the body, that comes and goes - accompanied by growing emotional distress - you should read this book: especially if all of this started a few months after you had a neck injury, spinal surgery, concussion, a tumor or infection. There are many who actually suffer from CPS without realizing it is CPS that is responsible for their confusing and confounding misery. This is a self-help book for all of those whose lives have been impacted by Central Pain Syndrome (CPS) - written by a layperson who has been living with CPS since 2011. CPS, though deemed not life-threatening, is, unquestionably, life altering, and not so for the better. CPS can be so crushing that it affects not only those suffering from it, but all of those around them. This book is to help everybody within that 'circle of pain' which surrounds CPS. CPS is infuriating. CPS has been associated with pain so off the scale that it has been referred to as 'indescribable' - way beyond that of a dentist accidentally hitting an unnumbed nerve. The pain and discomfort of CPS, so real though it maybe, is not due to any treatable injury, inflammation or infection! This can be very hard to come to terms with. But, it is real pain. CPS is an after-effect of some trauma that happened previously to the brain, neck or spinal column. This trauma, probably due to the intensity, duration and volume of the initial pain, causes the central nervous system to malfunction. That is what CPS, currently said to be incurable, is all about. This book tries to explain everything to do with CPS, as well as discussing all relevant treatment options for the symptoms and strategies for coping with this debilitating condition. There is also a chapter on the 'Pain-Brain Connection', a topic that all of those affected by CPS should come to terms with since it explains so much of what transpires with CPS. CPS, like its twin, fibromyalgia, is, not as yet well studied or understood. CPS tends to be a taboo condition - often overlooked and unspoken by doctors, though it is known that there are millions who suffer from CPS. This book will help you become an expert on CPS - and seek treatment that best helps you, given that the symptoms of CPS will always be specific to you.
About the Author: Anura Gurugé was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1953. Though he has lived in the U.S. (mainly in New Hampshire), the second time around since 1985, he is, however, very much a 'Brit' at heart. He started computer programming in 1969, and went to work for IBM when he was twenty. He made a career in computer networking, writing for pay, a handy hobby for nearly four decades. This is his 27th book as a sole author, in addition to over 375 technical publications. He has a Master's in computer science, two dogs, one a Golden the other a Harrier, three ol' British cars of dubious reliability, too many interests, and a reawakened passion for photography. His website is guruge.com, and he blogs incessantly at nhlifefree.com.
