TY - JOUR T1 - February Focus JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 90 LP - 90 VL - 57 IS - 535 AU - David Jewell Y1 - 2007/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/535/90.abstract N2 - ‘What's in a name?’ asks Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’. (In passing I learnt from the internet that this may have been one of Shakespeare's jokes, since The Rose was the rival theatre, known for its less than adequate toilet facilities). The authors on page 92 ask the same question, discussing the advances in the management of chronic pain. They argue that the problem here is the lack of robust diagnoses (and names) to describe the many patients suffering from chronic pain, so that we look for causes rather than get on to relieve the symptoms. The need to do so is emphasised in the longitudinal study on page 109, looking at patients with multiple regional pain syndromes. The pain was associated with more fatigue, worse general health and poor sleep. A possible approach is explored on page 101. Here the pervasive effects of chronic pain … ER -