Chronic Pain: The Essential Info That Can Matter

If you have dealt with chronic pain for a long time, and have made many medical appointments and doctors’ visits to try to find relief, then you are already very familiar with how a routine doctor’s visit traditionally goes.

Chances are your general practitioner will:

• Ask you a few standard questions
• Conduct an examination
• Make recommendations for next steps based on this basic info
• Make recommendations based on their experience with past cases that initially seem similar to yours 

While this is good practice for a myriad of medical problems, chronic pain can be a little bit trickier. 

Because the source and cause of chronic pain can vary so widely from individual to individual (and can have multiple contributing factors), it’s imperative to start with a consultation that dives deeper than the basic questions to pinpoint the root issue and the treatment. 

So to find a faster and better route to relief, start by contacting a client-oriented and experienced interventional pain management physician.

Be sure you have the following information ready so that you and your doctor can dig deeper to find real and long-lasting solutions. 

Your Complete Medical and Personal History

What operations, procedures, and past medical problems have you had? Any information that entails past issues can be helpful, from:

• Old sports injuries
• To seemingly routine operations
• To a history of mood disorders, like depression or anxiety

Any of these issues can impact or exacerbate your pain and may play a role in determining the best treatment. Take a list any medications you are currently taking.

The In-Depth Details of Your Pain

At your first general doctor’s visit, you may have covered where your pain is located and how long you have experienced chronic pain. Still, with an interventional pain management physician, it’s time to go deeper.

• How often does the pain occur?
• Is it constant or sporadic?
• Have you identified any activities, motions, or other factors that cause the pain to be better or worse?
• Is it isolated to a specific area, or does it spread?
• And does it always feel the same – such as a dull ache or a piercing pain – or does it change? 

Pay attention to your pain. Keep track of how it progresses and changes in the days before your interventional pain management physician.

You need to provide as much information as possible on these potentially key details that will help determine the best treatment. 

Your Life and What’s Important

With chronic pain, your life is put on hold. You have trouble taking on the activities you once enjoyed, or being productive at work, or even spending time with loved ones.

So let your physician know what you’ve missed, and what you want to get back! If you want to feel energized and active again, then taking potent prescription pain medications like opioids may not be a good fit for your treatment.

If you need to work regularly, then an invasive surgical procedure with a long recovery time likely isn’t right for you. 

By working with an interventional pain management physician who listens to the details to come up with the best treatment plan, you can ensure that your life can get back to normal as quickly and as efficiently as possible. 

Resources

• Image attribution
• Webmd.com
• Healthline.com
• Ninds.nih.gov
• Medlineplus.gov