Vicki Rackner, MD, a Seattle-based surgeon, puts pain in perspective in an article appearing online at Parent Care www.parents-care.com– the leading resource for long-distance caregivers. Dr. Rackner (also known as Dr. Vicki) offers tools that help patients get the health care they want and deserve through her services at Medical Bridges. A guest author for Parent Care, she provides subscribers with insights on becoming health care advocates for their elderly parents.

“You best serve those close to you in pain when you transcend fear, stay calm and develop a thoughtful and systematic approach to their pain,” she says in the article. “You want to do the right thing. Sometimes the starting point is understanding pain in a new way. Looking at a problem in a different way can in itself be healing.”

She likens pain to the warning lights on a car’s dashboard. “Pain is your body’s way of saying, ‘Pay attention,’ Dr. Rackner says. “Although pain often feels like the unwanted intruder, it’s your ally designed to serve you and protect you. Pain draws your fingers from a hot stove, alerts you to a blackberry bramble in your arm or encourages you to give away the ill-fitting shoes you so love.”

To best help a loved one in pain, you must first understand how the person – a mother or father, perhaps – addresses pain. “Just as each of us has a style of dressing, so, too, each of us has a style of addressing pain signals,” she observes. And Dr. Rackner outlines five types of pain personalities: The Strong Stoic, The Worried Well, The Ostrich, The Victim and The Ideal Patient.

“I believe that response to pain is shaped in childhood and is largely unalterable,” she says, pointing out that caregivers and those being cared for may have different pain personalities, which can lead to conflict. Some loved ones may dismiss the pain as nothing (The Strong Stoic), deny there is pain (The Ostrich), worry about pain (Worried Well), or play the pain for all it’s worth (The Victim).

Dr. Rackner gives role-playing scenarios on how caregivers can deal with each pain personality. The goal, she says, is to move your loved one toward being The Ideal Patient (the person who responds to the dashboard warning lights).

“The way in which the pain style is understood and managed can literally make the difference between life and death,” according to Dr. Rackner.

About Dr. Vicki and Medical Bridges:
Vicki Rackner MD, founder of Medical Bridges, is a board-certified surgeon and Clinical Instructor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She left the operating room to help caregivers and their loved ones enjoy optimal health. She's an author, speaker, consultant and frequent media guest.

About Parent Care, Inc:
Parent Care is the leading information provider to the country’s seven million long distance caregivers and their employers. Its low cost subscription service provides each subscriber with an 8 – 10 page report on services in the county where the seniors live. It helps caregivers assess their parents’ needs, identify/evaluate service providers to assist them and anticipate future needs. The reports are complemented by seasonal information, monthly interactive articles, weekly chats, daily tips and 24/7 senior news.

Parent Care, The Parent Care Report and The Parent Care Channel are registered trademarks of the firm.

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