Pain management is one of the most important aspects of care for terminally-ill persons. As with all health care issues, get qualified medical opinion regarding any suggested treatments. Pain management is a medical specialty. You have the right to obtain an opinion from a physician who specializes in pain management if your own physician seems unable or unwilling to provide adequate control for your pain.



It cannot be stressed enough that top-quality palliative care and pain management can make the difference between a gentle death and one in which suffering is so terrible and prolonged that assisted suicide becomes an attractive alternative. Our related page on death with dignity discusses the controversial topic of voluntary euthanasia, which may come under consideration when pain management is inadequate. Many leaders in the right-to-die movement agree that improvements in pain control would reduce the number of people who request assistance in hastening their own death.

Pain management is just one aspect of the more general medical specialty called palliative care. Palliative care may be delivered in hospice and home care settings or in hospitals. Because medical needs vary depending on the disease that is leading toward death, specialized palliative care programs exist for common conditions such as cancer, heart failure (CHF/COPD), end-stage renal disease, and AIDS. Aggressive pain management is a specialized topic of medicine and can be researched in major health care directories.

Severe pain is one of the main reasons why people seek medical treatment. There are three kinds of pain - acute, chronic and terminal. In Acute pain, the cause is easily identifiable and with proper treatment, the patient gets better within a few weeks or months. In chronic pain, the symptoms are not easily distinguishable and it can take quite some time to find the right cure. Terminal pain involves alleviating pain and suffering of patients who are suffering from terminal diseases like cancer. Pain rehabilitation is available at government hospitals as well as private hospitals.

Pain management rehabilitation involves a multidisciplinary approach that includes pharmacologic measures, non-pharmacologic measures and psychological measures.

1. Pharmacologic measures include the use of analgesics such as narcotics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (External website that opens in a new window) (NSAIDs) and pain modifiers such as tricyclic antidepressants or anticonvulsants.
2. Non-pharmacologic measures include therapies such as interventional procedures, physical therapy, physical exercise and application of ice and/or heat.
3. Psychological measures consist of biofeedback and cognitive therapy.

Interventional procedures are usually used for chronic back pain. It includes epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, neurolytic blocks, Spinal Cord Stimulators and intrathecal drug delivery system implants.