{"id":535,"date":"2015-04-22T01:22:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T01:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assistinghands.com\/chicagoland-naperville\/?p=535"},"modified":"2021-09-29T03:33:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T03:33:49","slug":"are-we-ignoring-seniors-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/are-we-ignoring-seniors-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Ignoring Seniors’ Pain?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior pain often ignored and misunderstood<\/h2>\n
By Richard Ueberfluss, PT, MBA, OCS, MTC<\/div>\n
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\"painAssessing pain is important for all patients, but it is especially an issue among elderly patients. They often do not report pain so they needlessly suffer and their pain goes untreated.\u00a0 The elderly themselves expect to have some pain and do not want to be a burden. This is especially more prevalent among WWII veterans and depression-era patients, who tend to be a more stoic group and diminish the severity of their pain. Consequently, this population needs to be assessed in multiple ways.<\/div>\n
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Among terminally ill patients in one study, one-third actively receiving treatment for cancer and 75 percent of patients with advanced cancer suffer with untreated pain.\u00a0 In U.S. nursing homes on average 30 percent of patients experience pain daily.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just patients with cancer; patients dying of cardiac failure, COPD, end stage renal disease and others suffer similar pain as those with malignant disease.<\/div>\n

How can all these individuals still be wanting for lack of pain control?\u00a0 The medical community has put\u00a0national emphasis over the last ten years on pain treatment and assessment, yet many individuals suffer needlessly.\u00a0\u00a0According to the latest research\u00a0more people are going on hospice and palliative care for comfort measures but postpone this decision until the last several days\u00a0of their lives.<\/p>\n

Understanding Pain<\/h2>\n

What is pain? Pain can be nociceptive (soft tissue, muscle, or visceral and is activated as a response to stimuli like heat, chemical or mechanical irritation); or neuropathic pain (typical bruises, sprain, strain, cut, tear or post-surgical pain. Usually the noxious stimuli go away and the pain resolve.).<\/p>\n

Neuropathic pain is typically caused by lesions or changes to the nervous system, characterized by hypersensitivity in the damaged area or surrounding tissue.\u00a0 A good example is when your leg goes numb after sitting for a long time. \u00a0You don’t feel the pain until you move and take the pressure off the nerve. That\u2019s when you notice the pain sensation and even then; the pain, numbness or tingling persists\u00a0for several minutes.\u00a0 Sometimes stimuli go away and the pain persists for even longer periods.
\nThe nervous system changes permanently, so what was interpreted as discomfort is now perceived as painful. Some examples are diabetic neuropathy, neuralgias, radiation and chemotherapy-caused neuropathies.<\/p>\n

The medical community treats pain starting with first line pain medications like NSAIDS<\/a> and Acetaminophen, and progressing to refractory pain. Refractory pain can be treated with opioids, nerve blocks and other procedures. Refractory pain is pain that persists despite treatment and for longer than expected, refractory pain can be debilitating.<\/p>\n

Equally important in pain control can be the use of other medication and treatments to get at the cause of pain or symptoms that can exacerbate pain.\u00a0 For example, corticosteroids are used to reduce edema (swelling).\u00a0 Sometimes the body\u00a0overreacts to injury and the\u00a0inflammation system goes overboard causing increased symptoms, necessitating that the inflammatory system may need to be suppressed with steroids.\u00a0 Muscle relaxants can reduce muscle contractures and twitching and assist with sleep.\u00a0 Other medications can treat depression and shrink\u00a0tumors, all of which when treated properly can\u00a0reduce pain.<\/p>\n

The Degrees of Pain<\/h2>\n

Pain can be rated several ways including:<\/p>\n