This content was extracted from Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Intractable pain (also known as intractable pain disease/IPD) is a severe, constant, relentless and debilitating pain that is not curable by any known means and which causes a house-bound or bed-bound state and early death if not adequately treated, usually with opioids and/or interventional procedures. It is not relieved by ordinary medical, surgical, nursing, or pharmaceutical measures. Unlike the more common chronic pain, it causes adverse biologic effects on the body's cardiovascular, hormone, and neurologic systems. Patients experience changes in testosterone, estrogen, cortisol, thyroid hormones, and/or pituitary hormones. Both men and women require testosterone, however many doctors neglect to test women for low testosterone. Untreated intractable pain can cause death.