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| I. | General Pain Relief FAQ |
| Q: | What is pain and why do we need it? |
| A: | Pain is the body's warning system alerting you that something is wrong. Without pain, serious life-threatening injuries or diseases could go unrecognized and untreated. Pain has been defined as: |
| "An unpleasant experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage to a person's body." | |
| The skin and other bodily tissues contain neurons that transmit pain signals, responding to things like injury or skin damage. For example, when you cut yourself with a knife chemical signals travel from neurons in the skin through nerves in the spinal cord to your brain, where they are interpreted as pain. |
| There are two main types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain is temporary (burns, cuts, bone breaks) and subsides as healing occurs. Chronic pain on the other hand ranges from mild to severe and includes such things as persistent back pain, joint pain, and arthritis -- conditions that can last a lifetime. | |
| People suffering from either chronic or acute pain seek out various methods of pain relief (to be discussed later). Those experiencing chronic pain and who take medication that has a risk of dependency over a long period of time may be susceptible to pain killer addiction, which we also deal with below. | |
| Q: | How do doctors measure pain? |
| A: |
Their most common way to measure pain is to ask you to describe the level of pain on a scale of 1 to 10. He/she may also ask you to describe it using words like aching, burning, stinging, or throbbing. That gives the doctor a clearer picture of your pain, what is causing it, and what sort of treatment and/or pain relief would work best. |
| II | Back Pain Relief FAQ |
| Q: | What causes back pain? |
| A: | Back pain is extremely common, afflicting both men and women largely between 30 and 50, mainly as a result of aging and also sedentary lifestyles. Other causes of back pain include lifting heavy objects, lifting the wrong way, arthritis, osteoporosis and other bone disorders, bone lesions, viral infections, congenital spine abnormalities, herniated discs, fibromyalgia and irritation of the spine. |
| Q: | How do I know if I have chronic or acute back pain? |
| A: | Back pain is considered acute (or short term) if it lasts from a few days to a few weeks. But back pain that lasts more than three months is considered chronic or long term. |
| Q: | What kind of back pain relief is available? |
| A: | Here are some of the most common treatments for both short and long term back pain relief: |
| Medications: Over the counter back pain relief: If there's little inflammation, pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) may be effective against back pain. Patients with back pain caused by inflammation often benefit from aspirin or other Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil). Topical treatments, like heat rubs and liniments, help dull the sense of pain. |
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| Prescription back pain relief: Opioids like codeine and morphine are often prescribed for acute back pain but can only be taken for a short time due to side effects and the potential for pain killer addiction. | |
| Formulations such as Tramadol and Ultram are synthetic, narcotic-like pain relievers that are as strong as narcotics but with much less risk of developing a pain killer addiction. They are often recommended for those with chronic pain, such as ongoing back pain. Some prescription pain relief drugs, like Ultracet (Tramadol + Acetaminophen), combine two different components to provide a dual source of pain relief for severe back pain. | |
| Some antidepressants have been shown to dull back pain and help with sleeping. Anticonvulsants may be recommended when the back pain results from nerve pain or spasm. | |
| Applying heat or cold: Compresses may decrease the pain and inflammation of back pain, especially lower back injuries. |
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| Bed Rest: One to two days. Any more than that could make back pain worse. |
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| Gentle Exercise: Low impact exercise like swimming and walking helps speed recovery and strengthen back muscles. |
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| Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): A small TENS device directs mild electric pulses to nerve endings under the skin to relieve back pain. TENS seems to work by blocking pain messages to the brain. |
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| Spinal manipulation: To adjust the bones of the spine and restore mobility. |
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| Acupuncture: Thin needles are inserted at points in the body to stimulate it to release natural pain relief chemicals produced by the brain or the nervous system. |
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| Surgery: In some patients with persistent back pain due to injury or chronic back problems, surgery may be necessary. It is usually considered a last resort after other methods of back pain relief have been tried and failed. | |
| III. | Pain Killer Addiction FAQ |
| Q: | How should I choose an effective pain relief medication without running the risk of forming a pain killer addiction? |
| A: | Pain killer addiction is a serious problem. It results from the abuse / overuse of pain killers called opioids or narcotics. These include addictive drugs like codeine and morphine, which should only be used under a doctor's strict supervision and for as short a time as possible. When these drugs are used for chronic pain relief, such as long term back pain, they can lead to a tolerance building up. As a result, higher and higher doses are needed to get the same pain relief effect. And that can create a physical addiction to the pain killer. |
| Because of the withdrawal symptoms, pain killer addiction is hard to kick but it is possible. Treatment includes a detox process along with medication and counseling. | |
| To prevent the risk of pain killer addiction altogether, doctors often try to prescribe less addictive pain relief drugs that offer the same or almost equal pain relief. As mentioned earlier, there are synthetic non-narcotic pain relievers available that have less risk of creating a dependency (pain killer addiction) than narcotics do. They include Tramadol, Ultram and Ultracet, among others. | |
| Consult with your doctor about the best pain relief product for you. |
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