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Treatments For Pain

Overview

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There are three keys to treating chronic pain:

  • The method should be adequate to control pain.
  • The treatment should be provided continuously to keep pain under control.
  • Depression and other emotional aspects of living with pain should be treated. They can amplify the perception of pain.

Treating pain may involve many techniques and approaches including pain medications.

Medications

The most common treatment for chronic pain involves the use of analgesic medications -- drugs used to treat pain without resulting in loss of consciousness. Different medications are used for different degrees and types of pain. Doctors start with the mildest medicine. They only move on to heavier drugs if the intermittent drugs don't work.- ending in opiates (narcotics) such as morphine.

Pain medications can be delivered into the body in a variety of ways. If a particular method is difficult for you, it is likely the drug comes in another form with a different delivery method. If a different method isn't currently available, an alternative means of drug delivery can be made by a compounder.

All medications have the potential to cause side effects, especially when taken over a long period of time. However many side effects resolve as your body adjusts to the medications. Working closely with your doctor, most side effects can be adequately managed.

If alertness becomes a problem, you can decrease the dosage, understanding the trade off.

It's a myth to think that taking an opiate makes you addicted to it. People who take them for pain don't desire more.

Other Medical Alternatives

Pain caused by a condition such as cancer can be treated by treating the health condition. For instance with surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. The same techniques can also be used to relieve pain, incraese comfort and/or improve the patient's quality of life when curative therapies are no longer given.  In addition, cancer pain may be treated with hormonal therapy and treatment with bisphosphonates.

Non-Medical Alternatives

There are a variety of non-drug therapies can be used to treat pain either with or without pain medications. In addition to therapies such as massage and acupuncture, soothing music and spirituality have also been shown to be helpful to reduce pain.

NOTE:

  • If you don't get the pain relief you want, seek a Pain Specialist.
  • If pain is accompanied by depression and/or anxiety, there are treatments available.

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