Maryland | Clearway Pain Solutions (2024)

FAQs

How hard is it to get a chronic pain diagnosis? ›

Making an accurate chronic pain diagnosis can be difficult. Multiple clinically relevant chronic pain types, with additional specific diagnoses, make it hard to determine the cause of a patient's chronic pain symptoms. In addition, different types of chronic pain share the same symptoms.

Give the doctor more detail than saying you're “always” in pain, or “sometimes” in pain. Try something like: "I always feel some aching pain in this spot, but it's worse in the early mornings and it lasts about an hour."

Simple Ways to Better Communicate with a Patient in Pain

I follow the Golden Rule in how I treat my patients, and I teach medical students do so the same: do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. It is simple but often forgotten amid the daily complexities of being a physician.

Quality sleep, a healthy diet and effective stress management are three lifestyle factors that can minimize pain. Patients can be proactive at improving these three, with guidance from their physician.

Trigeminal neuralgia or tic douloureux is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal or fifth cranial nerve. It is one of the most painful conditions known.

Acetaminophen is generally a safe option to try first for many types of pain, including chronic pain.

One newly popular treatment is called pain reprocessing therapy, which takes a behavioral approach to eliminating pain.

If you feel that your doctor or nurse-practitioner is consistently ignoring what you have to say, even if your symptoms continue to progress, find another primary care practice.

What pain level is considered severe? ›

There are many different kinds of pain scales, but a common one is a numerical scale from 0 to 10. Here, 0 means you have no pain; one to three means mild pain; four to seven is considered moderate pain; eight and above is severe pain.

Speak directly with your doctor about why they've prescribed you certain medications and why they won't prescribe you others. Some additional reasons why your doctor might not prescribe pain medications include: Drug-seeking or disruptive behaviors from patients. Personal beliefs and values.

Self-report. Self-report is the most reliable source of information on pain. Use it with all older people, including those with a cognitive or communication impairment.

Unacceptable pain levels are determined by the patient, who is asked by the clinician to establish a comfort–function goal—the pain level at which he believes he'll be able to perform essential activities of recovery or living (see Pain Control, December 1999 and October 2001).

1 to 3: Mild and minor pain that's noticeable and possibly distracting. 4 to 6: Moderate to moderately strong pain that's enough to disrupt your normal daily activities. 7 to 10: Debilitating, intense pain that prevents you from living a normal life.