Medications and Treatment at Your First Appointment with Interventional Pain Management
Your OSC Interventional Pain Management Specialist may decide to prescribe medications for your pain. These medications may or may not be narcotic. The newest and most effective ways of treating your pain with medication is by using a combination of drugs that work on different aspects of pain. For example, you may be given a drug that works on the irritated and inflamed nerves. You may be given an anti-inflammatory to reduce pain and swelling to treat arthritic conditions. You may be given an anti-depressant proven to help with pain. Narcotic medications may be needed.
If narcotic medications are necessary, you will be asked to enter into an “opiate agreement” that lists the risks and benefits of this type of medication, and also acts as a guide for appropriate and safe use of the opioid medication. Your OSC Pain Management Doctor will develop a medication regimen specifically for your condition and pain symptoms.
If you are given medication and it does not work or causes some unpleasant side-effects, your OSC specialist can adjust, change or take you off of that medication completely. It is very important to communicate with your OSC Pain Management Specialist when trying to find the medication(s) that will best work at relieving your pain.
Depending on the severity of your symptoms and if you have had previous treatment for pain, your physician may recommend an interventional procedure designed to directly address the cause of the pain symptoms. These procedures are done at OSC, are outpatient and usually do not cause you to miss more than one day of work or activity. Our physicians perform epidural steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation, facet joint injections and many other interventional procedures. Other areas of our website have information on some of the more advanced non-surgical techniques that can be utilized to treat your pain.
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