No one wants to live their life in pain. Pain can serve a function to tell you when something is wrong in your body, but chronic pain can affect your entire life, making to hard to work, enjoy hobbies, or even spend time with friends and family.
The care team at GBMC treats pain with compassion and respect. While pain can be tricky to pinpoint and treat, there are three main classifications that can help doctors. Nociceptive pain comes from an injury to tissue, like stubbing your toe or pain from arthritis. Neuropathic pain is caused by nerve damage, like pain from siatica. Lastly, nociplastic pain is pain in absence of an injury to tissue or nerves, like fibromyalgia.
The classic 1-10 pain scale can also help, although doctors know pain is highly subjective and some patients like small children or people with conditions like dementia may be unable to assign a number to what they're feeling. Pain also has an emotional component, so a number scale may not accurately reflect what a patient is feeling. During an appointment, it's important to be as specific as possible with your doctors. If your pain is interfering with your daily activities, work, or hobbies, that may indicate a treatment plan. the team at GBMC has several treatment options available, from physical therapy to medications and supplements as well as minimally invasive options like injectables.
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