“It's a bit of an invisible disability so he'll run around all sorts of things and then all of sudden say I can't walk anymore, or pick me up I'm hurting," said Ronan's father Scott Milne.

“We're not sure if it's the pain or the medication but he has major meltdowns and then says I'm sorry I can't stop being crazy."

The underlying cause of Ronan's pain is polyarticular juvenile arthritis. He requires a cocktail of treatments each week, including chemotherapy.

Many adult sufferers of ongoing pain struggle to keep their symptoms under control.

Leading Australian and international pain experts will participate in a symposium and forum for people suffering with pain in Canberra on Sunday [MARCH 17].

Pain Australia chief executive Lesley Brydon said many people did not realise that chronic pain was a disease in its own right, caused by changes to the nervous system.

“Pain is where depression was 40 years ago. Forty years ago we thought that depression was just people being weak and unable to cope, but we now know that it's a severe biological illness with a biological origin and it is treatable both by self-management, medical and other techniques," Ms Brydon said.

“We've got to take that leap of understanding that we've done with depression and we certainly need a whole of government approach to do that. We need a community awareness campaign."

A national shortage of specialists has led to long waiting times for the treatment of chronic pain.

After several years of trying, the ACT Health Directorate recently recruited a specialist to head its Canberra Hospital pain unit. The new director is due to begin work in April.

The unit's average waiting time to see patients is 252 days .

“There just aren't enough pain specialists to fill these roles. They have the same problem in Victoria and in Queensland," Ms Brydon said.

Ms Brydon said people who attended the forum would learn useful techniques for managing their pain.

“What they will get is an understanding of the latest knowledge about pain and how powerful the role plays in interpreting pain and managing it. And they will learn some very basic techniques that can be applied to help them to manage their own pain," she said.

“It may not be possible to get rid of their own pain altogether, but it is possible to modify it and control it to a large extent by applying self-management techniques. This includes things like meditation but also exercise plays a very important role."

The consumer pain symposium had been made possible because experts who were coming to Canberra for a scientific conference of the Australian Pain Society had agreed to participate.

The symposium was being organised in collaboration with ACT consumer organisations.

Tickets cost $20, or $10 for concession holders. People interested in attending can register online at: www.trybooking.com/CDTE .