When pain is continuous for over three months, it is categorized as chronic pain. Pain can be devastating emotionally and physically. At times, chronic pain may be caused by underlying conditions like arthritis or cancer. Other times, the cause is unidentified. Luckily, there are various methods of treating pain. Treatment depends on the source of the pain. Some of the viable treatment options include acupuncture, pain relievers, and surgery.
If you or somebody close to you is experiencing constant pain limiting physical functionality, you should seek expert treatment. We at Carolina Spine & Pain offer a variety of options for the treatment of chronic conditions in Spartanburg, SC. We understand what you’re going through, which is why we provide effective treatments that can assist alleviate your pain. Don’t allow chronic pain to have a foothold over your way of life.
Please call us today at 864-535-0144 to schedule an appointment with our Spartanburg pain management doctors!
What Are Chronic Conditions?
Chronic pain in itself is an illness. It can be exacerbated by psychological and environmental factors. Chronic conditions remain over an extended duration compared to acute pain and are resilient to the majority of treatments. In most cases, it results in serious long-lasting health complications for patients.
What Are Common Chronic Conditions Carolina Pain & Spine Treats?
To treat chronic pain, we first have to identify the cause. Here are some of the most common chronic conditions that we treat.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is characterized by pain in soft tissues and muscles throughout the body. It typically affects your legs, chest, arms, buttocks, neck, chest, back, shoulders, and hips. Pain may especially be bad in the evening and mornings. At times, the pain may persist all through the day. What’s more, the pain may get worse with physical activity, damp or cold weather, stress, and anxiety.
Another key sign of fibromyalgia is chronic fatigue. People with fibromyalgia usually wake up feeling worn out, yet they had an entire night’s sleep time. Sleep is usually interrupted by pain, and most people with this condition have other sleep conditions like sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome.
Here are other fibromyalgia symptoms:
- Anxiety
- Trouble concentrating
- Headaches
- Sleep disruptions during the night
- Depressed mood
- Restless legs
- Painful menstrual periods
- Irritable bowel issues like constipation, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, and pain
Some of these may look like other health complications, but it’s best to consult with your healthcare practitioner for a prognosis.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome arises when pressure is exerted on a nerve – the median nerve – that passes through the wrist. The median nerve is responsible for feeling in the hands and fingers, and any compression to the nerve results in numbness, pain, and a prickling sensation.
Carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms include;
- Pain, burning, prickling, and numbness – mainly in the middle, thumb, ring, and index fingers
- Sporadic shock-like feelings radiating to the middle, thumb, ring, and index fingers
- Prickling sensation or pain that may spread out the forearm to the shoulder
- Clumsiness and weakness in the hand – this makes it challenging to do routine tasks like buttoning clothes
- Dropping items – cannot hold things because of loss of proprioception, numbness, and weakness
In many circumstances, CTS symptoms start slowly – with no particular injury. Most people exhibit symptoms that subside soon afterward. But as the condition gets worse, symptoms become more prevalent or persist for an extended duration and become chronic.
Night symptoms are a common occurrence. This is because many individuals are more inclined to sleep with bent wrists, which makes the symptoms manifest. Daytime symptoms show when grasping an item for an extended period with the wrist bent backward or forward when either driving, reading, typing, or handling a phone.
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Also known as tic douloureaux, Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is a chronic pain condition that distresses the trigeminal nerve, also called the 5th cranial nerve. TN is a kind of neuropathic pain affiliated with nerve injuries or lesions and is characterized by extreme facial pain.
Type 1 trigeminal neuralgia (TN1) is the most typical kind of TN and causes attacks of abrupt and acute facial pain. The pain may persist for seconds or minutes. Attacks can happen subsequently and can last for up to two hours.
Type 2 is the atypical form of this chronic condition and is distinguished by a continuous pain that individuals have reported as stabbing, aching, and burning considerably less compared to TN1. An individual may feel both types of trigeminal neuralgia pain, and at times simultaneously, which can be devastating.
Symptoms include:
- Abrupt attacks of acute and darting pain in the face lasting seconds to about two minutes
- Pain emanating from one side of the face
- Agonizing pain in the upper or lower jaw, cheek, or teeth, or – more frequently – in the eye(s) or forehead
- A feeling that a pain attack is imminent, although they usually begin abruptly
- A burning sensation or minor ache after the most acute pain has gone away
- Frequent occurrences of facial pain for months, weeks, or days at a time
What Are Some of the Causes of These Conditions?
Understanding the underlying cause of your symptoms is important for the treatment of chronic conditions in Spartanburg, SC. Fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, and trigeminal neuralgia are linked to different possible causes.
Fibromyalgia
Most scientists believe that continuous nerve irritation alters the spinal cord and brains of individuals with fibromyalgia. This alteration entails an irregular surge in levels of some chemicals in the brain that indicate pain. What’s more, the pain receptors in the brain acquire a kind of painful memory and become averse, which means they can overreact to nonpainful and painful signals.
Risk factors for fibromyalgia include:
- Genetics: Since fibromyalgia is predisposed to genetics, there may be some genetic factors that may make you more predisposed to getting this disorder.
- Infections: Some infections seem to aggravate or stimulate fibromyalgia.
- Emotional or physical events: At times, this condition may be elicited by a physical action like an auto accident. An emotional event may be caused by extended psychological stress that triggers fibromyalgia.
- Sex: Women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia.
- Other underlying disorders: Fibromyalgia is more common in people with depression, anxiety, and mood disorders.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
Carpal tunnel syndrome may arise from a combination of various factors. Research has indicated that middle-aged women and older people are more susceptible to contracting this disorder.
Risk factors for CTS include:
- Genetics like family history of CTS or having a smaller carpal tunnel
- Repetitive hand use with the same motions or activities over a prolonged period
- Hormonal changes during pregnancy
- Doing activities that involve extreme extension or flexion of the hand and wrist over a prolonged period
- Health conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and thyroid gland imbalance
Trigeminal Neuralgia
This begins with aggravation to the trigeminal nerve. Perhaps a blood vessel is applying tension on a nerve, which damages the protective cover surrounding it (myelin sheath). Secondary conditions like multiple sclerosis damage the myelin sheath.
At times, it can be a cyst or tumor pressing on the median nerve. Your TN can also be a result of an injury – through an accident, previous surgery, or a stroke.
The condition may be hereditary, maybe because of the manner blood vessels are created in the brain. High blood pressure has also been to trigeminal neuralgia
What Are Treatments Does Carolina Pain & Spine Offer for Chronic Pain?
We utilize a number of different therapeutic options for the treatment of chronic conditions in Spartanburg, SC. Some common treatments that our pain management doctors recommend include:
Medication Management
For the most part, the pain resulting from these chronic conditions can be managed through medication. Our Carolina Spine & Pain doctors in Spartanburg, SC can give you prescriptions to ease the pain.
Fibromyalgia
If you have fibromyalgia, we may give you medications for managing fibromyalgia (milnacipran, pregabalin, and duloxetine), antidepressants to reduce depression, and anti-inflammatory drugs to alleviate pain and help you to fall asleep.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
For carpal tunnel, NSAIDs have proven to be an effective option. Drugs like naproxen and ibuprofen can assist in easing inflammation and pain.
Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN)
Even though curing trigeminal neuralgia isn’t a certainty, there are medications you can take to ease the devastating pain. Anticonvulsive drugs are usually the first recommended option.
Carbamazepine anticonvulsant is frequently used by doctors to alleviate TN symptoms. During the early phases of the condition, carbamazepine is used to manage pain. With continual usage, the efficacy of carbamazepine diminishes. Side effects of the drug may include nausea, drowsiness, double vision, and dizziness.
Gabapentin anticonvulsant is used for treating migraines or epilepsy and can also be used for treating TN. Side effects are mild and may include drowsiness and/or dizziness which will subside on their own.
Oxcarbazepine is a recent drug with the same molecular structure as carbamazepine and is preferred since it has fewer side effects like double vision and dizziness.
Other viable medications include phenytoin, lamotrigine, opioids, topiramate, clonazepam, phenytoin, sodium valporate, valproic acid, pregabalin, nortriptyline, amitriptyline, and baclofen.
Radiofrequency Ablation (Lumbar Spine/Cervical Spine)
Radiofrequency ablation also referred to as radiofrequency neurotomy is a special technique for treating chronic low back pain, and entails heating a section of a pain-emanating nerve using a radiofrequency needle to make a heat abrasion. The ensuing laceration inhibits the spinal nerves from transmitting pain waves to the brain. RFA offers lasting pain reprieve than other therapeutic injections. X-ray or Fluoroscopy is the equipment used to steer the needle to the problem nerve.
Nerve Blocks
Nerve blocks provide a reprieve from chronic neuropathic pain like pain resulting from nerve compression or damage. Nerve blocks are used for treating neck and back pain. Nerve blocks can manage pain permanently or temporarily, depending on the condition or technique used.
Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS)
Spinal cord stimulation is among the most effective pain treatment technologies as it gives lasting respite to patients with chronic neuropathic pain. SCS is a neuromodulation method that’s used for treating a range of chronic pain conditions. This pain management therapy utilizes electrical waves dispensed by an embedded device to change nerve functioning in certain areas of the body to reduce pain.
Injections
Pain management injections have proven to be effective, safe, and can deliver lasting solutions compared to oral medications – and are minimally intrusive compared to undergoing surgery. Injections provide treatment for a range of orthopedic or neurological disorders.
The most common injection administered is an epidural. This steroid injection helps with neck pain and back pain. The steroidal drug is inserted into the epidural gap surrounding the spinal cord. It helps in decreasing pain and inflammation.
Orthopedic Surgery
People set to undergo orthopedic surgery are bound to experience severe pain since it can occur postoperatively, intraoperatively, or preoperatively. Chronic postoperative pain is common following orthopedic surgery. We will assess your likelihood of chronic postoperative orthopedic pain before we do surgery. This way, we’ll enroll you in an analgesic program that encapsulates postoperative and preoperative multimodal options to manage chronic pain.
Kyphoplasty
Kyphoplasty entails inserting a special type of cement into the vertebral column – with an extra step of making room for the treatment with Balloon kyphoplasty. Kyphoplasty restores the height of the damaged vertebra and also eases chronic back pain.
Chiropractic Adjustments
Our certified chiropractors at Carolina Spine & Pain in Spartanburg, SC use state-of-the-art equipment or their hands to manually manipulate your joints. This chiropractic adjustment is referred to as spinal or joint manipulation. It assists in easing chronic body pain and adjusting the alignment of the body and general physical functioning.
Our chiropractors treat a range of disorders affecting the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Chiropractic adjustments are ideal for chronic pain victims who prefer not taking drugs to ease their pain.
Call Us for Effective Treatment of Chronic Conditions in Spartanburg, SC!
If you want to get respite from your chronic pain, you should consider reaching out to Carolina Spine & Pain in Spartanburg, SC now to book a consultation and physical examination. Our pain management physicians are committed and eager to meet with you and get you on the road to full recovery and long-term pain relief. Our medical practitioners are experienced and deliver a high standard of care when it comes to managing chronic pain.
To get effective pain management and relief in Spartanburg, SC, please reach out to us at 864-535-0144 NOW!
