Reasons to Visit a Pain Management Doctor Q&A

A pain management doctor is a professional who evaluates your pain and treats a wide variety of pain issues. A pain management doctor helps treat sudden pain problems, like headaches, and all sorts of long-lasting, chronic pain, such as lower back pain. The types of pain treated typically fall into three main categories: tissue injury, such as arthritis; nervous system disease or nerve injury, such as a stroke; and a mix of nerve injury and tissue injury, such as back pain.
 
Osteoarthritis, which is wear-and-tear arthritis in large joints, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is arthritis felt in small joints, like the wrists and fingers, are disorders that cause pain due to tissue injury. Stroke, spinal cord injury, neuropathy (nerve pain from shingles or diabetes), and multiple sclerosis, are nervous system disorders that cause pain. Mixing pain disorders involves back pain, neck pain, and even cancer.
 
On your first visit, your pain management doctor will go over your pain management symptoms and ask a number of questions. Here are some questions they may ask: Where exactly is your pain? What does the pain feel like? How often do you get pain? When do you feel pain? Is your pain worse sitting, laying down, or standing? What makes you feel better when it comes to medications? Do you have any other symptoms of your pain, like loss of bladder or bowel control?
 
At your first visit, your pain management doctor will examine your past medical records, and prior diagnostic studies (X-ray, CT, or MRI). It is recommended that you bring any prior diagnostic studies to your first appointment. A doctor normally will perform a thorough physical exam at your first appointment.
 
Your doctor will also recommend that you start a pain journal to track pain patterns. The journal should also include a rating scale and will help your pain management doctor measure the pain you are experiencing: 0 – you are pain-free; 1-3 – you have nagging pain; 4-6 – you have moderate pain that affects your daily activities, hobbies, and work; 7-10 – your pain is so bad that you can’t take part in daily activities.
 
The next step is for a pain management doctor to start planning out a pain management plan so that you can start enjoying life again.

There are two types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain stems from a medical condition or injury and is commonly short-lived. Chronic pain, which normally lasts longer than a few months, continues beyond the time expected for healing. Pain can be anything from a sharp stab or a dull ache and can range from mild to extreme. Patients report the feeling of pain in one part of their body or it being more widespread.
 
There are scores of studies that suggest a person’s emotional well-being can directly impact the experience of pain. Understanding the cause and learning effective ways to manage and cope with your pain may help improve your overall quality of life. Pain management strategies normally include a multi-disciplinary approach that involves pain medications; physical therapies, like hydrotherapy, exercise, and heat or cold packs; mind and body techniques, like acupuncture; and community support groups.

There is pain-free, mild pain, moderate pain, and severe pain. Severe pain is typically disabling, where a patient is not able to perform daily activities, and they may also have difficulty maintaining social relationships. Severe pain also affects a patient’s sleep. Severe pain may also be excruciating and in rare cases, it may cause a patient to be possibly delirious, even bedridden. If you have severe pain, it is crucial to see a pain management doctor who can identify the underlying causes and develop a pain management strategy.

Pain can happen in all sorts of areas of the body and common complaints include back pain, neck pain, testicular pain, headaches and migraines, lasting pain in scar tissue, and muscle pain. Neurogenic pain stems from damage to the nervous system and nerves and can be painful. For patients, pain is described in all sorts of different ways: throbbing, stinging, stiffness, squeezing, shooting, burning, and aching.

Pain can also lead to other health complications, like anxiety, fatigue, depression, mood swings, and insomnia. American Pain and Wellness can help treat your pain, so contact us through our website and let us help you enjoy life again. We have convenient locations to serve you in Allen, TX, and Plano, TX. Contact us for more information or request an appointment online. We serve patients from Allen TX, Plano TX, Fairview TX, McKinney TX, Parker TX, Lucas TX, Frisco TX, Richardson TX, and Collin County Texas.