Almost everyone has experienced some sort of pain or tingling feeling in their lives at one point or another. This pain is usually brought on by sustaining some sort of injury to an area of your body, like stubbing your toe or getting a paper cut. Once the injury heals, the pain usually goes away. In some cases, even after the injury heals the pain does not go away. This is what is understood as chronic pain.
Chronic pain involves pain that typically lasts longer than six months. Even when your body heals the damaged area of your body, the transmitters inside of you still send out messages to the brain telling it there’s a pain to be felt in that location. Many different injuries or surgeries can cause chronic pain, but the following list are the most commonly found to cause long-lasting pain:
- Past injuries or surgeries
- Back problems
- Migraines
- Arthritis
- Nerve damage
- Infection
- Fibromyalgia
This long-lasting pain can show mild to severe symptoms for any duration of time. Some may feel as if their chronic pain comes and goes with little to no trouble while others can’t sleep because it hurts so much. Some of these symptoms include:
- A dull ache
- Throbbing
- Burning
- Shooting
- Squeezing
- Stinging
- Soreness
- Stiffness
If you or a loved one has developed a form of chronic pain and is looking for other treatment options, consider visiting Cross Valley Health & Medicine to learn more about their chronic pain management program.
What is a Chronic Pain Management Program?
In order to treat chronic pain, the first step is to understand its history. Medicinenet describes this as “in order for a structure to cause pain, it must have a nerve supply, be susceptible to injury, and stimulation of the structure should cause pain”.
Let’s take John Appleseed’s left knee for example. Mr. Appleseed’s left knee was injured in a car accident in 2000 and took about nine months to heal. On the 10th month, his knee continued to cause him a tremendous amount of discomfort through pain. For the next year, his knee hurt every single day and begun to limit his daily movement. He finally went to see a Cross Valley Health & Medicine practitioner to seek relief.
The Cross Valley Health & Medicine practitioner will first do a preliminary complete evaluation on Mr. Appleseed in order to understand him as a person, then move to his left knee. Mr. Appleseed’s practitioner will isolate his left knee to be the source of the problem and begin treatment.
Treatment for chronic pain is based upon the kind/cause of your pain along with your age and overall health. From there, your practitioner will recommend lifestyle changes along with possible medications. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the following medications can be used in the treatment of chronic pain:
- Anticonvulsants (medications that prevent seizures) for nerve pain
- Antidepressants such as tricyclic antidepressants
- Corticosteroid
- Muscle relaxers
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen
- Topical products (applied to the skin) that contain pain relievers or ingredients that create soothing heat or cold.
- Opioids (narcotics). Opioids can be addictive, and you can build up a tolerance to them over time. Because of this, healthcare providers usually try other pain treatment options before prescribing opioids.
- Sedatives to help with anxiety or insomnia
- Medical marijuana
Some of these treatment options may require you to sign a contract with the healthcare facility providing you treatment; mostly in the cases of opioids being prescribed to prevent abuse.
Cross Valley Health & Medicine is a primary care practice located in Newburgh NY, allowing for both virtual and in-person appointments. The practice has two medical providers on staff, Doctor Paul Saladino who is dual board-certified in Addiction Medicine and Internal Medicine, and a Christian Plaza who is a family nurse practitioner. Both practitioners are eager to see new patients for the following programs: Addiction Medicine, Behavioral Health Management, HIV/AIDS Care Management, Internal Medicine, Medical Marijuana Certifications, Medication-Assisted Treatment, STD/STI Care Management, and Weight Loss Management. If you are interested in becoming a patient of Cross Valley, please click here to access our online paperwork portal. Visit us online at www.crossvalleyhealth.com or give our office a call at 845-561-7075.