Pain Care News

When should you see a pain specialist?

1.  Your pain just won't go away.

If you have pain that is not getting better with usual treatments you may want to see a pain specialist who can help you determine what the cause of your pain may be and design a treatment program that gets you going again.  Pain specialists are trained to evaluate complex pain problems and treatment options that you may not have considered.

2.  You are taking more and more medications to treat your pain and it isn't helping.

Over time many medications become less effective at decreasing pain.  This effect is called tolerance and is very common.  It does not mean you are addicted to the medication you are using but appears to be caused by a very complex system of changes that take place when your body is exposed to the same medication over long periods of time.  A pain specialist can help review the medications you have been using and usually find alternatives that can help manage your pain more effectively.

3.  You want to know if you have any alternatives to surgery.

Many patients have pain that can be quite severe but prefer to avoid surgery if at all possible.  A pain specialist can evaluate your pain, review the treatments that you have already tried and determine if you have any nonsurgical treatment options.  In many cases a pain specialist will have non-invasive or minimally options for you to consider.  Newer procedures are allowing physicians to treat more and more complicated pain problems without undergoing complicated surgical procedures.

4.  You have been getting better but your progress has stopped or stalled.

In many cases patients make excellent progress with physical therapy, over the counter medications and changing the ways in which they normally do things at home or at work.  Sometimes however, these treatments are not enough to get you back to doing the things you really want to do.  In many cases a pain specialist can evaluate your problem and determine if you are a candidate for a minimally invasive procedure or a change in medications that can get you over the hump and back to your previous level of functioning.

5.  You want to stop taking medications and find other ways to control your pain.

Over time many people find that the medications they use for pain become less and less effective or that the side effects from medications are just not worth the pain relief they get from the medications.  A pain specialist can review you medications and help design a program to decrease or completely eliminate your medications and approach the pain using other techniques.  These techniques may include nerve blocks, physical therapy, minimally invasive surgical procedures or even alternative techniques such as acupuncture or hypnosis.

For more information email us at paincareassociates.com