Doctors who specialize in pain management
December 29, 2007 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Most people who are being treated for chronic pain are treated by their family doctor or their specialist for their specific disorder, but sometimes, that isn’t enough. There often comes a time when you need to go a step further and be seen by a doctor who specializes in pain management. That’s not to say that your doctor can’t do the job, but the pain management specialists can help find and organize a pain control regimen that your own doctor may not have considered.
Who is this pain specialist? The anesthesiologists.
Most people only think of anesthesiologists as the doctors who put you to sleep for surgery, but their specialty goes well beyond that. Anesthesiologists have spent many years studying pain and its causes, and they have developed techniques that help reduce that pain, if not eliminate it altogether.
If you do visit an anesthesiologist, usually at a pain clinic, you still keep your own family doctor or specialist. The anesthesiologist’s role is to help find you a good program to follow and then the continued care goes back to your doctor, with follow-ups with the anesthesiologist if necessary. Your own doctor can also use the pain clinic as a resource when needed.
Why can’t your own doctor do this? Doctors who don’t deal with high levels of chronic pain don’t usually have the experience and education to treat it. When someone specializes in a specific area, like pain management, they go to conferences, take courses, read journals, exchange information, do research, and so on, in the field. They become the experts. So, they become the go-to people for unrelenting pain.
When you first go to a pain control clinic or an anesthesiologist’s office, you will have to give a very detailed medical history. All medications that you take and have taken are very important. Even medications that are herbal or natural must be mentioned because drugs that your doctor prescribes may interact with them.
While it may seem extreme to bring in a pain expert, he or she becomes another member of your healthcare team, with the goal of helping you live your life to its fullest.
Before you leave, please take our poll, What type of chronic pain do you have? And don’t forget to leave a comment or email me if there is a particular topic or angle you would like to see covered in this blog.
I suffer from many different types of chronic pain (fibromyalgia, myofascial pain dysfunction, and facet joint syndrome). Originally my primary care physician was actually a rheumatologist. These doctors are very familiar with treating chronic pain, and I highly recommend finding a good rheumatologist for the types of pain that are considered to be rheumatic in nature. My doctor finally referred me to a physiatrist, a doctor who specializes in chronic pain management and rehabilitation. These are the alternatives to anesthesiologists who are also trained in developing treatment programs for chronic pain. I am now being treated by an anesthesiologist for epidural injections and other pain management techniques. The only problem with this is that he doesn’t do joint injections (something that most physiatrists can do) and he treated me as if I was a drug addict. The only reason that I put up with it is that he has a good reputation, and I need epidural injections and radio-frequency neurolysis for my back. These are the current methods of management that work best for me and will give me 6-9 months of relief from my back pain. For the joint pain, I will need to find either a rheumatologist who does his/her own injections, or an orthopedic surgeon.
I hope that this helps other people who are experiencing chronic pain and don’t know what types of doctors are out there to treat the chronic pain.
Pam, thank you for reminding me about this branch of medicine. I had completely forgotten about physiatrists and I’m making a note to do some more research on them.
It’s unfortunate that your anethesiologist is the way he is – unfortunately, misunderstanding of chronic pain isn’t restricted to non-medical people.
For others who are reading the comments, I found this link: http://www.aapmr.org/condtreat/what.htm which explains a bit about what a physiatrist does.
Marijke
wow
its very interesting point of view.
Good post.
realy good post
thx