What to Expect on Your First Visit to a Pain Management Specialist?

A pain management specialist identifies and addresses various pain disorders. A pain management physician deals with acute pain, like headaches, and chronic pain, like lower back pain. Patients are usually seen at a pain clinic and can be sent home the same day. Pain management physicians use medication and surgical techniques to alleviate pain at its source.

Who is the Pain Management Doctor? 

Pain management physicians deal with different forms of pain. A pain management specialist focuses on three broad categories of pain. One is acute tissue damage pain, such as arthritis. The second one is nerve pain from injury or stroke. The last one is tissue-nerve injury pain, such as back pain.

Pain Management Doctors Background

Over nine years of medical education is ready for pain management doctors. Medical school gives them a wide range of knowledge. Four more years of clinical training in anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, or neurology ensue. Pain management is the focus of their last year of training. Certification by the American Board of Pain Medicine then ensues.

Different Treatment Techniques

Your primary care physician can prescribe simple pain medications and physical therapy. For complex pain treatment, visit a pain management physician. A pain management specialist is trained to treat your condition systematically.

First-line pain relief treatment options are anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, and nerve block injections or spinal injections. Non-surgical pain relief therapies like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators (TENS) can deliver low-voltage electrical currents to the areas of pain.

Second-line treatment involves advanced methods like viscosupplementation or radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) interferes with pain signal conduction through heat or chemicals. It is used for treating chronic pain, including pain due to spinal arthritis. The joint pain treatment option involves viscosupplementation, which is injecting lubricating fluid into the joint to reduce arthritis pain. The doctor prescribes more powerful medications at this point.

The third-line chronic pain treatment is the implantation of a pain pump or spinal cord stimulator. These treatments help reduce pain from the spinal cord, the body's central centre for pain. Stem cell therapy is now an option.

Preparation for First Pain Management Appointment

Start your pain relief journey with proper preparation. Five things to consider before your first pain management consultation:

1. The philosophy of pain management is complex. The therapy involves physical therapy, lifestyle changes, and sometimes psychological counselling instead of just prescriptions or injections.

2. Insurance and Costs: Expect delays due to insurance authorizations for certain treatments. Acknowledge that some treatments have high costs, requiring aggressive insurance and payment planning.

3. Adherence to Treatment Plan: Pain management requires your full participation. Progress requires compliance with therapeutic strategies and home exercises.

4. Follow safety procedures, including drug tests and patient signatures, for giving controlled substance therapy to ensure proper use.

5. Detailed Health History: Describe your medical history in detail. This includes prior treatments, medications, surgery, and over-the-counter products.

What to Take to Your Initial Pain Management Appointment?

• Patient referral slip from a primary care physician.

• Insurance card

• Government-issued driver's license/ID

• Your current medical records include X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.

• Arriving patients are asked to verify their appointment and leave contact information.

• A pain management doctor will see you and will be asked about your medical history, active diagnoses, previous treatments, and other relevant details. This gives them an understanding of your situation.

• Discuss your expectations and goals. Discuss your back pain relief in Plano with the doctor.

• Once your doctor has discussed your case, they will suggest it. The majority of patients will have a follow-up treatment appointment. Occasionally, patients are referred to specialists.

Preparing for Visit

Always make a specialist appointment first. Then, provide the specialist with as much information as possible so that they can make a decision. If you have a history of pain, take your medical records, such as diagnoses, medications, and treatments. Find the pain and tell your specialist exactly what it feels like. Monitoring pain severity and length is important. Record when you hurt the most and how you manage it. Document all medicines, therapies, and treatments you've attempted and whether they helped. Take any relevant papers or imaging reports to your specialist. This information will fill in the gaps to assist your specialist in diagnosing.

Medical History and Physical Exam

The first visit to a pain doctor at the Premier Pain Centre is completing forms to provide the specialist with your medical history. You will then see a pain management specialist to talk about your problems. The pain management specialist will question and examine you to discover why you have pain. This can involve evaluating inflammation, tenderness, and range of motion. Your pain management in Plano can tailor your treatment plan with the help of medical history and physical exam.

Pain Diagnosis

Patients are not usually diagnosed through physical examination alone. Instead, they will utilize additional tests to collect more information. CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays are some examples. These scans enable the physician to look at your insides and diagnose the source of the pain. Pain may be nervous system-based. As such, a nerve conduction test can be required. With this, the physician will check the functioning of nerves. This procedure enables the pain specialist to identify the source of your pain.

Discussion of Treatment Options

Once diagnosed, the spine and pain specialist will devise a treatment plan that suits an individual's needs. Pain management centres attempt to cure the root cause of pain instead of only treating it with drugs. Physical therapy can restore mobility and strengthen muscles, while short-term medication reduces pain and facilitates healing. Your pain specialist in Ennis can also recommend diet and exercise modifications to enhance a sense of well-being and manage pain over time. Pain-relieving therapies such as minimally image-guided invasive injections can ease the pain so you can get back to enjoying your favourite activities.

Conclusion