Ackley Corp

Posts Tagged ‘Pain’

There comes a point when the doctors have done everything reasonably possible to treat the underlying cause of the pain, but the pain continues. It’s at this point that the pain itself becomes a problem to be treated in its own right. You may well have started with a traumatic physical injury but, when the surgeon is done, you are left with the need to control the continuing pain. The difficulty in most hospitals is the department that originally began the treatment, keeps control over you even though it may have no experience in treating pain in its own right. In most cases, this is defensive medicine. Fearing another doctor might find fault with the original treatment, the first in time hold on to you and routinely prescribe painkillers of increasing strength. This is unfortunate but understandable.

Pain is a common health problem, which afflicts 50% of people around the world at any given time. However, even though acute and chronic pain can both be debilitating, chronic pain is one of the major causes of mental and physical disability, commonly misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated.

Pain sufferers frequently feel frustrated and depressed and consider their lives as an endless misery.

Pain is an unpleasant, emotional, and sensory experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

Pain is not a just a mere perception or a one-dimensional entity but a multidimensional complex problem with many attributes. Acute and chronic pain can happen to any person of any age or gender.

Chronic pain is a multifaceted medical problem that affects all aspects of a person’s life. Patient involvement and education are important components of a pain management program.

We know that there are physiological shifts in chemicals that bring about some changes in the nervous system and the brain. This in turn leads to changes in the neurotransmitters that perpetuate the pain. We feel in some ways that the nervous system can only generate pain instead of the usual mixture of discomfort and pleasure. And we are not really sure why this happens to some people and not to others, although, we know for sure that emotions and stress play a role in this.

There comes a point when the doctor seems to run out of ideas. He or she has been treating an injury or disease for months. All that can be done, has been done. The only problem is the pain. No matter what is tried, nothing seems to relieve it. At this point you realize this has stopped being a case of injury or disease. The pain itself has become the equivalent of a disease in its own right. As such, you should therefore transfer from the original doctor to someone specializing in pain management. Except that does not happen. Why not?

In part, the answer is political. People in hospitals and other larger organizations build up empires. Their reputations depend on the amount of fee income they generate. So if they are too quick to hand over their patients to other departments, this is giving away earning capacity to rival empires. The second issue is potential legal liability. So long as you keep all your patients under your care, you can hide any possible mistakes. But if you hand patients over to others, there’s a risk they may find errors in the diagnosis or treatment. Remember these are rivals. If they can quietly undermine the public reputation, they may get more patients and more status. It also gives them a lever if they find evidence of medical negligence or malpractice. Just think how many favors a pain management specialist might be owed if all the evidence was buried. Yes, doctors really do cover for each other.