Collin County Living Well Magazine July/August 2017 | Page 48

WHAT A RELIEF!
Advances in
Pain Management
Courtesy Baylor Scott & White
C
hronic pain sufferers, take
heart. Advances in pain
management may offer the
breakthrough you’ve been
waiting for.
An estimated 116 million Americans
suffer from pain—day in and day
out. That’s a lot of hurt. Diagnosed as
“chronic pain,” pain that lasts more
than six months not only affects ev-
eryday living but also everything from
mood to relationships to job perfor-
mance.
“Chronic pain can result from a sur-
gery or an injury or present as part
of a condition such as arthritis or can-
cer,” says S. Justin Badiyan, M.D., a
physician on the medical staff at a
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center.
“And sufferers can quickly spiral into
depression and inactivity if they don’t
get help.”
EXPANDED OPTIONS
For a long time, the most common
treatment approach was drug thera-
py—namely opioids like morphine, hy-
drocodone and oxycodone—to relieve
pain. “These drugs can be addictive,
dangerous and may ultimately make
your pain seem worse,” Dr. Badiyan
says. “We now know this isn’t the best
long-term approach for most patients.”
Thankfully, advances in pain manage-
ment offer chronic pain sufferers more
options—and better results—than ever
before. “Pain management has re-
ally evolved over the last decade,” Dr.
Badiyan says.
Here are the latest treatment options
and how they may be able to spell re-
lief for you.
Newer, non-narcotic drugs.
“Antidepressants, anticonvulsants, anti-
inflammatories, muscle relaxants and
others offer patients relief without the
habit-forming properties of opioids,”
Dr. Badiyan says.
Nerve blocks. Injections that use ra-
dio-frequency waves, steroids or anes-
thetics can help block the pain signals
sent by irritated nerves.
Spinal-cord stimulation. An implant-
able device is placed in the spinal canal
and transmits electrical impulses to the
spinal cord to replace pain signals with
a pleasant sensation, Dr. Badiyan says.
Complementary therapies.
“Treating pain with physical therapy,
acupuncture, massage, biofeedback
(a device that monitors the body’s re-
sponse to pain so you can try to con-
trol it) or gentle muscle stimulation in
combination with other treatments has
proven very effective at providing re-
lief,” Dr. Badiyan says.
If you’ve been fighting an uphill battle
with chronic pain, talk to a pain man-
agement specialist today. “There are
many different treatment options that
can help decrease your pain, increase
your day-to-day functional ability and
improve your overall quality of life,”
Dr. Badiyan says.
Rid your life of pain. For more information, talk to your
primary care physician, visit BSWHealth.com/Pain or
call 1-800-4BAYLOR for a referral to a pain management
specialist near you.
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COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JULY/AUGUST 2017