Pain Management: Set the right expectations for yourself
In Pain Management, sometimes patients suffer too much pain, just want to make the pain go away instantaneously, however, in chronic pain, the pain will not go away. Patients need to have realistic expectations.
We all know and understand that chronic pain will last for a long time. The keyword is chronic, the pain has developed a long time ago and it will not suddenly disappear. Patients go to visit doctors and ask for the breakthrough medicine. Doctors will base his/her medical prescriptions on evidence based medicine. That is the correct procedure to determine your pain and write your prescriptions. Patients can help doctors a lot in every visit.
Patients can bring with them their MRI reports, their pharmacy history, and previous doctor’s notes.
MRI report either tells your doctor that you are normal or you suffered skeletal or muscular pain. The report has to be recent, at least less than two years old.
Pharmacy history tells your doctor the type of medicines that you are prescribed now, the dose and the strength.
Doctor’s notes are the most important part of the documentation, if you are discharge then why, what is the reasons. If your previous doctor reduced your dose, then what is the trend, how many pills are cut.
Patients can help building the case for the doctor to see the evidence, set your expectations based on your documentation. Without documentation, you should not expect your doctor can satisfy your needs. He or she has to start from the beginning and slowly move you up.