Author: Dr. David Johnson, PharmD, BCPS

Understanding RLS: Beyond ‘Just a Feeling’ Restless Legs Syndrome — formally recognized as Willis-Ekbom Disease by neurological societies to honor its original describers — is a neurological sensorimotor disorder affecting 5–10% of American adults, making it one of the most common neurological conditions in the population. Despite its prevalence, RLS remains systematically underdiagnosed: patients often … [Read more…]

Epilepsy and the Challenge of Adequate Seizure Control Epilepsy affects approximately 3.4 million Americans and is defined by the tendency to experience recurrent unprovoked seizures — episodes of abnormal, synchronized electrical discharge in the brain that produce changes in consciousness, movement, sensation, or behavior depending on the brain regions involved. Despite the availability of more … [Read more…]

The Shingles-to-PHN Progression: Understanding Why Pain Outlasts the Rash Herpes zoster — commonly known as shingles — affects approximately 1 million Americans annually, caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus that has remained dormant in dorsal root ganglia since a childhood chickenpox infection. For most patients, the painful acute rash resolves within two to four … [Read more…]

What Is Neuropathic Pain and Why Is It Different? Neuropathic pain is a distinct category of chronic pain that originates not from tissue injury or inflammation but from dysfunction or damage within the nervous system itself. Unlike nociceptive pain — the protective alarm signal that alerts us to injury — neuropathic pain is generated by … [Read more…]

CIPN: The Complication That Follows Patients After Cancer Treatment Ends Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects 30–70% of patients during treatment with neurotoxic chemotherapy agents and persists as a chronic condition in 30–40% of cancer survivors — producing burning, tingling, numbness, allodynia, and balance impairment that accompanies survivors for years to decades after chemotherapy ends. Balance dysfunction … [Read more…]

Migraine: Neurological Disease Demanding Better Prevention Migraine affects 39 million Americans and ranks as the second leading cause of years lived with disability globally. For patients with four or more migraine days monthly, preventive pharmacological therapy is clinically indicated to reduce attack frequency, severity, and duration. Yet migraine remains dramatically undertreated — only about 40% … [Read more…]

CKD and Neuropathic Pain: A Common Clinical Intersection Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 37 million Americans and produces neuropathic pain as one of its most prevalent and disabling complications — uremic neuropathy affecting 60–100% of patients with end-stage renal disease. The disease processes causing CKD (diabetes, hypertension) are simultaneously among the most common causes of … [Read more…]

Veterans and Chronic Pain: Scope and Prevalence Chronic pain affects 40–50% of veterans receiving VA healthcare — substantially higher than the 20–30% civilian prevalence. Post-9/11 veterans bear an especially severe burden: explosive blast injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan produce polytrauma simultaneously causing traumatic brain injury, peripheral nerve damage, amputations, and complex regional pain syndrome — … [Read more…]