Suffering pain is not fun. Yet pain signals have a purpose. They are warnings that something is wrong. If you listen carefully to pain signals, it can sometimes prevent worse. But anyone who suffers constant pain is going through a bad time that he or she wants to get through quickly and usually looks for solutions with the help of experts. There are numerous therapies available to combat pain. Control with medication involves three levels, from simple remedies that are available without a doctor’s prescription to very strong medicines with a doctor’s prescription.
Different types of pain and management
About 20 percent of the population suffers from long-term pain that significantly affects their quality of life. Pain relief can sometimes provide a solution, even though some pains are very difficult to combat. First of all, in order to choose the right treatment method, a distinction must be made between the different types of pain such as acute pain or chronic pain.
Acute pain
With stimulus from outside
Acute pain is pain that occurs after tissue damage and has a clear warning function. When a painful stimulus, for example a pinprick, acts on the body, that part of the body reflexively withdraws. Sometimes this is accompanied by an exclamation. This automatic withdrawal is clearly initiated from a pain signal that reaches the brain and is intended to prevent recurrence. This warning signal is transmitted to the brain via the nerves.
Without outside stimulus
Another form of acute pain is back pain after performing certain work in which the pain signal from the brain causes work to be temporarily stopped. In that case, however, there is no external stimulus, but the pain is still acute pain. If acute pain is treated properly, there is only a small chance that the pain will become chronic. With the pinprick and similar painful stimuli, this can be done simply by paying close attention from now on, and in case of pain in the back when digging the garden, rest is required in time.
Chronic pain
Chronic pain occurs when the recovery time is prolonged. A generally applicable rule is that pain that lasts for more than six months is chronic. The cause of chronic pain can be joint complaints, for example rheumatism, and lower back complaints are also common. Chronic pain obviously no longer has a signaling function because it has long been known that something is wrong. Often limitations have already arisen in daily activities. Psychological and social factors also often play a role in chronic pain. In any case, chronic pain is more difficult to treat than acute pain.
A lot of attention is paid to cause and treatment
Various types of pain are difficult to treat, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) assumes that 95% of cases can be treated effectively. In practice it often turns out that this percentage is far from being achieved. The reasons for this are partly medical, substantive and financial. But fortunately for many people who suffer from pain, the cause of the pain can be found and addressed. It is therefore important to spend a lot of time and attention on finding the cause and treatment.
Three levels of drug treatment
When combating pain, in addition to solutions such as acupuncture, movement therapy, physiotherapy, talk therapy, relaxation techniques, Transcutaneous Electrical NeuroStimulation, heat treatment, nerve blockade, nerve anesthesia or nerve surgery, a choice will often be made to combat pain through medication. Roughly speaking, three levels can be distinguished.
First level
The first attempt to control the pain is usually the use of a simple analgesic medicine such as paracetamol and aspirin. These medicines target the nerve endings and provide an almost immediate pain-relieving effect. The agents also often have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Second level
If the first attempt to reduce the pain does not help, opiate-like medications are used that do not work on certain nerve endings but on the central nervous system. However, with regard to these medicines, there is fear of addiction among both doctors and patients. Recent research has shown that this fear is unfounded and that correctly prescribed and used do not lead to medication dependence. When prescribing by doctors, the age of the patient must be taken into account, especially in younger and older patients.
Third level
If painkillers and opiate-like medications do not work sufficiently, you can switch to even stronger medications.