{"id":271,"date":"2013-12-17T12:55:41","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T17:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/?p=271"},"modified":"2014-08-05T12:14:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T16:14:12","slug":"its-not-normal-persistent-pain-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/its-not-normal-persistent-pain-2\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Not Normal:  Persistent Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Cleveland-MaryJo-4x6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-265\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Cleveland-MaryJo-4x6-200x300.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Maryjo L. Cleveland, MD<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Medical Director,\u00a0Post Acute &amp; Senior Services<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Chief, Division of Geriatric Medicine<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Summa Health System<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Akron, Ohio\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>There are many issues facing older adults that are common, but should not be considered inevitable. This blog will launch a series for 2014, all bundled under the general heading of \u201cIt\u2019s Not Normal\u201d.\u00a0 Over the next year, I intend to cover a variety of topics that include dementia, incontinence, falls and depression. If you have suggestions for this series, please leave a comment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The kick-off for this series is <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>pain<\/strong><\/span>. While pain is common as we age, it should never be considered \u201cnormal\u201d.\u00a0 Pain should always be discussed with your healthcare provider, so that he or she can help determine the cause (or causes).\u00a0 Your healthcare provider can then help you figure out an approach to remove or reduce both the pain and the affect it has on your life.<\/p>\n<p>Acute pain is pain that has happened recently and usually has a known cause. An example of this is a sprained ankle. A few weeks of ice, rest and over the counter pain medications (such as acetaminophen) is usually all that is required for relief to occur.<\/p>\n<p>Chronic or persistent pain, however, is more of a problem. You may have had this pain for some time and the direct cause may not be known. \u00a0There are different kinds of chronic pain. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>pain from nerves, such as diabetic neuropathy or pain from a stroke<\/li>\n<li>joint or bone pain such as arthritis or gout<\/li>\n<li>some kinds of internal pain, such as abdominal pain from Irritable Bowel Syndrome<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><!--more--><\/div>\n<p>Managing your persistent pain requires telling your healthcare provider a complete history, including how much pain you have, what makes the pain better or worse, and what the pain feels like.. Some pain is very hard to describe. Be sure that your health care provider understands as best as possible, what it feels like to you. Words like \u201cburning\u201d, \u201caching\u201d or \u201cstabbing\u201d will help guide our evaluation and treatment.<\/p>\n<p>In Geriatric Medicine, we are very concerned about how your condition affects your quality of life. We will want to know if your pain affects your ability to do the things you love. Pain can worsen your sleep, prevent you from exercising and cause depression. In fact, this can be looked at as a classic \u201cvicious cycle\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pain-circle_graph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-266 aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pain-circle_graph-300x266.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pain-circle_graph-300x266.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pain-circle_graph-338x300.jpg 338w, https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pain-circle_graph.jpg 391w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>It is important that the cycle is interrupted in at least 2 spots. Medicine that reduces pain is important but it is also just as important to consider other approaches as well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Sleep &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>adopt better sleeping habits that include reducing caffeine, using a dark room and taking pain medications before bed<em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Activity &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>physical therapy can help to reduce pain, but so can daily exercise!<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Depression &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>if your mood is affected, it is important to focus on this with counseling and\/or medications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are dealing with chronic pain, learn more by reviewing the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/resources\/resource:a-guide-to-safe-use-of-pain-medications-for-older-adults\/\" target=\"_blank\">Guide to Medications for Persistent Pain<\/a> and be sure to see your healthcare provider as soon as you can. Because no one should live with pain. Remember, <strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">it\u2019s Not Normal!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maryjo L. Cleveland, MD Medical Director,\u00a0Post Acute &amp; Senior Services Chief, Division of Geriatric Medicine Summa Health System Akron, Ohio\u00a0 There are many issues facing older adults that are common, but should not be considered inevitable. This blog will launch &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/its-not-normal-persistent-pain-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,1],"tags":[13,18,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}