Available Treatments For Chronic Pain

Available Treatments For Chronic Pain

Available treatments for chronic pain

The medical language defines chronic pain as the pain that persists in a person for 3 to 6 months or more caused by an injury. The International Association for the study of pain classifies chronic pain as pain without biological value, continued even after the normal tissue healing. In other words, the pain that seems to last much longer than expected can be characterized as chronic pain syndrome. This sort of torment can affect the quality of the person’s life alongside causing mental disturbance.

The pain sensation begins as the nervous system sends signals to the area injured triggering the pain sensors alerting that you have been hurt. Usually these messages sent out by the brain comes to a stop when the injury has been completely healed but in case of chronic pain the brain still sends such messages even though the wound has completely healed.

Chronic pain has no fixed point of origin. Most common points of origin could be brain, spinal cord or the body. Various medications are prescribed, based on the reasons for generating the pain whether it was a damaged tissue or entirely neuropathic.

People suffering from this condition are generally vulnerable to depression, anxiety, disrupted sleep, fatigue or mood swings. The amount of physical activity engaged in gradually reduces due to the overpowering uncertainties of worsening the pain, often leading to weight gain, loss of stamina, reduced flexibility, loss of strength and energy moving towards dissatisfaction and disability. Chronic pain may be caused by an initial injury, like a back sprain, or may be an ongoing illness.

The severity of the pain, pain tolerance, and resilience to pain is attained by the kind of support that a person with chronic pain is given by their inmates.

Chronic pain syndrome can be classified into many sub categories like:

  • Primary pain: the pain that is prolonged for 3 months.
  • Cancer pain: the chronic pain in this condition could be related to treatment of cancer or cancer itself.
  • Post-traumatic pain: pain existing in a person for 3 months after undergoing a surgery or physical trauma.
  • Neuropathic pain: the damaged somatosensory nervous system leads to this condition causing pain.
  • Headache and orofacial pain: pain is felt for half or more than half the number of days over a time period of 3 months, originating either in the head or face.
  • Visceral pain: in this condition the pain begins in any internal organ of the body.
  • Musculoskeletal pain: here the pain begins either in the bones, joints, muscles or the connective tissues.

Chronic pain can be further divided as nociceptive and visceral.

  • Nociceptive is which occurs because of tissues that are damaged provoking nociceptors and neuropathic that happens when there is malfunctioning or damage caused to the nervous system. Nociceptive is categorized as superficial pain and deep pain. Superficial pain is caused by triggering the nociceptors present in the tissues or the skin.
  • Deep pain is classified into somatic and visceral. Somatic occurs with the activation of nociceptors existing in the bones, tendons muscles, ligaments and blood vessels. Visceral is difficult to trace.

Neuropathic pain can be diversified into peripheral pain which affects the peripheral nervous system first and central pain that the brain or spinal cord first experiences.

There is no test that can measure and trace the pain with accuracy.  So, medical professionals rely on the patient’s own description of the pain like the type, timing, and area in pain whether the pain is sharp or dull, constant or irregular or inflaming or aching can help in giving an idea for cause of the pain. This is the initial stage in the diagnosis of pain.

As chronic pain can occur in a various of places in the body for different reasons, therefore the patients and their doctors need to draw a conclusion wherein they identify the causes and symptoms and as to how the pain can be relieved.

The main motive of treatment is to reduce chronic pain and improve the person’s condition, so that they can get back to their routine. There are a number of options for the treatment of chronic pain. The selection from the alternative treatments of chronic pain rely on the intensity of pain.

  • Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): this mode of treatment for chronic pain has been effective in the neuropathy cases. Radiofrequency Ablation targets the nerves that transmits pain messages to the brain. The doctor will use a needle with a tip that heats up and is placed really close to this nerve. The heat destructs it and obstructs the nerve from being able send the pain signals.
  • Pain Shots: In this treatment, the doctor usually utilizes an X-ray to detect where to put the medicine for chronic pain. Steroids and local anesthetics or painkillers are often used as a combination, since local anesthetics numb the nerve or muscle while steroids relax the burning sensation, which reduces pain.

The most commonly prescribed medication by doctors is opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. They obstruct or minimize the pain signals.

Related Reading

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Most of the dogs do not have a food fuss and may eat almost anything that you feed them. Dogs are not choosy at all when it comes to food and nutrition. Hence, it is important to make sure that the food that you are purchasing for your dog is healthy. The landscape of dog food has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent times. There is a wide variety of options to choose from in the online and offline market. Given the wide range of options that are available today, buying the best dog food might seem to be a confusing task indeed. All the commercial pet food that is available in the market today is regulated by the FDA. Therefore, most of the products do contain nutritious, healthy, and safe ingredients. But it does help to know certain basic factors you should look for while buying food for your dog. Prioritize on the nutritional guarantee The best dog food, which meets the dog’s needs adequately has a statement written on the label of the product, from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Buy from some of the best dog food brands, such as Fromm Family Foods, Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and The Honest Kitchen.
Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

The most important aspect when designing your kitchen is deciding on the type of cabinets. In addition to functionality, kitchen cabinets score on aesthetics as well. Once the layout is planned, you can go ahead with choosing the cabinets. If you’re remodeling your home or just the kitchen, what you need to consider are the types of cabinets that furnish your kitchen. Here are a few types of kitchen cabinets that you can choose from. Base cabinets These kitchen cabinets are mounted on the floor and they are placed after checking out the floor plan. A major part of your job in the kitchen is on these base cabinets, which hold and support the countertops. These base cabinets are combined to carve out kitchen islands. A number of base cabinets are fused/set against one another and installed on site. The base cabinets, in addition to supporting the countertops, serve as drawers to hold your cutlery and appliances. Wall cabinets Mounted on the walls, these cabinets can store everything, right from your cookware to cookbooks. In terms of design, they offer utmost flexibility. Wall cabinet kitchen is available in varying heights, multiple widths, and custom depth options. This customization helps you to fit in your stuff of varying shapes and sizes into the wall cabinets.
How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

In today’s world, where you are presented with over a dozen choices for every item you would purchase for your own kitchen, it is not surprising that you have an equal number of options for your dog’s food. However, choosing the perfect brand and formula for your dog out of a range of options in the market is not an easy job. Your pet depends on you and trusts you to make the right choice for them. Therefore, it is imperative that you do your research about the products available in the market, understand what your dog needs, know what might be your pet’s problems, and then make a sound decision. What is a sensitive stomach? Dogs are known to have voracious and large appetites. Keeping that in mind, it is normal to assume that they have strong stomachs. They can eat close to anything be it sweets, bakes, chewy gum, hard leather or even woolen socks for that matter! It always so happens that the strongest of them are prone to allergies and can develop a disorder which is medically translated as a sensitive stomach. This might be due to a sudden change in the food habits or even due an infection picked up from somewhere.
All You Need to Know about Cat Food

All You Need to Know about Cat Food

For cat owners, cat food is a hot topic. You need to think about it in different aspects. The best thing is to know which ingredients are good for cat food and which are harmful. If you are aware of this, you can get an idea about the quality of the cat food just by going through the label. It is always sensible to stick to one brand of cat food. However, you may also want to try and prepare cat food yourself. There are also various options for wet cat food as well. Cat’s love for fish is universal, so you can do without going for expensive cat food. Nevertheless, whether you buy it or prepare cat food at home, you need to ensure that the food contains enough nutrition and calories. You would need to have some idea about the ingredients that must be present in cat food and make a worthy selection for your cat. Basic ingredients present in good cat foods Cats need a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and active; they need various vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and oils. The following is a brief explanation of the basic ingredients that should be present in cat foods.