Treatments

• In some cases, pain can be stopped or alleviated by a single procedure or series of procedures.  
• Sometimes, chronic pain is part of a widespread disease process, and the specific cause may be difficult to pinpoint. 
• Once we have identified the specific factor causing the pain, we may be able to treat it so that the condition no longer occurs.  
• In some patients, the specific factor causing the pain--such as cancer--cannot be changed, but we may be able to reduce the pain or help the patient to better cope with the pain through a combination of medical, psychological and rehabilitation techniques.

Individualized Treatment Plan

The treatment plan developed by the Pain Management team will be specially tailored to your condition and degree of pain, your needs and your personal objectives.  You treatment plan may include:

• a single approach OR
• a combination of different types of therapies:
  o medical therapies
  o special procedures
  o psychological therapies
  o rehabilitation therapies 

Medication Management

Your recommended medical therapy may include one or more medications (analgesics).  Different medications are prescribed to treat different aspects of your pain. Your recommended treatment plan may also involve the use of investigational medications.
Medications used to treat pain fall into several major categories:

• Opiate "pain killers" are often used to treat acute pain or cancer-related pain, and sometimes prescribed for chronic pain.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs may be helpful in alleviating pain by reducing swelling and irritation.
• Anti-depressants may be helpful in reducing certain types of pain.  They may also be used to help patients sleep at night.
• Membrane stabilizers are helpful for some patients in whom pain is caused by abnormal electrical discharges in damaged nerves.