Finding a way to control your pain is important so that you can go on living your life to the fullest. No matter if your pain comes from arthritis, cancer or cancer treatments, fibromyalgia, an injury, or surgery, controlling the discomfort and pain is a must. It can also affect how your body heals and recuperates too. So what is the best way to approach pain management?
The first step you should take is making an appointment with your primary care provider. They may find the cause of the pain and be able to address the matter with medications. If they aren’t able to find the cause or the cause is more than they are able to handle, they may refer you to a clinic that can manage your pain.
A pain management clinic will have a staff of different specialist that you’ll be able to access. They will be specialized in arthritis, cancer, fibromyalgia and many other things that can be a cause for pain. They will work together to create a pain management plan approach that will address your issues while keeping your best interest in focus.
In addition to having a complete exam and blood drawn, as well as CAT scans, CT, MRI, and/or X-rays, you will need to provide a complete medical history to the pain management clinic. This includes your own history as well as your family history. The information from all of this will give the specialists a foundation to work from.
They will also need you to explain your pain to them. But to give them a full explanation, you should have a thorough understanding of pain yourself. Experts explain pain is an unpleasant sensory experience that can have an effect on you emotionally as well.
It is important that the emotional suffering is addressed as well as the sensory aspect of pain so that it can be eased completely. This is why you’ll be interviewed by the pain management clinic’s staff behavioral specialist as well as one or more of the other specialists.
Pain Is Experienced Differently With Everyone
Pain is a real thing and it is physical. Nobody can argue that. However, pain must be measured to each person independently and specifically because each of us has a different perception and tolerance of the pain.
What our brain perceives as pain is indisputably emotionally charged according to many experts. Meaning that those who are afraid of pain, anxious or depressed may experience pain different and more severely, than the person that has pain without those emotions.
Treating Body And Mind
It is important to approach pain both emotionally and physically and a pain management clinic is able to do that all under one roof. They address patients as human beings, individual people. Even while chronic pain medication is effective and it is important for pain management, it is not the only tool that a pain management clinic has available.
There are many different medications that can be prescribed for pain such as benzodiazepines and opioids. However, they are not always the best option for every patient. Each of those treatments can bring different problems, especially when used for a long period of time. And that alone is a point in the favor of a pain management clinic – they will use many other options for pain management.
A pain management clinic will offer different types of therapy that are focused on the body as well as the mind. Having a good balance mixture of therapies for the body and the mind are key in a person recovering and regaining their life. Some of the other types of therapy that a pain management clinic will offer are cognitive behavior, meditation, physical therapy, and relaxation therapy.
Audrey has been a Freelance Writer for 8 years. She lives with her husband of 38 years in a small North Texas town. They have 3 grown children, 5 grandchildren. They find antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, and resale shops to be a necessity as they restore their 100-year-old house they live in.