Chronic pain is one of the most popular conditions suffered by older adults 60+ across the United States of America. If left untreated, chronic pain can result to complications like loss of mobility, high risk for falls, depression, agitation, anxiety, isolation from family and friends as well as sleep disorders.
Pain is not necessarily an inevitable part of aging and proactively preventing and addressing leading causes of chronic pain can help you or your loved one live a more active and happier life.
As we get older, it is increasingly common to suffer nerve pain associated with diabetes, previous falls, shingles, cancer, or surgery. Chronic pain can also be the result of a variety of chronic diseases, like congestive heart failure, renal disease, and pulmonary obstructions. Persistent pain could also be the result of joint and skeletal surgeries, arthritis, compressions, and fractures.
As someone assisting a loved one with chronic pain, it is very important to understand the unique characteristics and its effects in older adults as well as mastering the skills to assess chronic pain in other to enhance your loved one’s quality of life.
Pain Assessment
It is very necessary to evaluate a loved one’s pain or distress level using the assessment scales. These descriptive scales help individuals rate their pain on a scale of 0 to 10 with zero meaning no pain and 10 being at an unbearable pain. This is often the most useful resource of information and advocacy for a multidisciplinary approach to pain diagnosis, assessment and management.
Some of the best signs for heightened or chronic pain might be increased agitation, changes in functional status or body posture and gait, and social isolation. If you begin to notice any of these symptoms, it might be a good time to do a pain assessment with your loved one.
Chronic pain could be managed with the use of medications/drugs and also non-medication pain management, which includes constant exercising to target current sources of the pain.
Medication Pain management:
This method of pain management involves the use of drugs/medication for chronic pain management. Pain medication has been the quickest and most effective way of managing chronic pain among older adults, however, it is very important to consult and collaborate with pain management doctors to make sure your loved one gets the right medication dosage that is ideal for their age and peculiar situations. People have been proven to react differently to pain medication, that explains why it is very important to consult the pain management doctor first. It is also very important to monitor side effects and report any abnormality immediately to a licensed care provider.
Nonmedication Pain management:
This is a method of chronic pain management without the use of drugs/medication. It includes the use of therapeutic pain management and appropriate use of complementary and alternative treatments. Some of the things to consider with this method of pain management would be the use of complimentary therapies, such as psychiatry, physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture and spiritual counseling. The use of osteopathic manipulative treatments for a holistic approach to pain reduction and increased function. However, it is also important to consult they pain management doctor before getting involved in any of these chronic pain management to ascertain your loved one’s tolerance and benefits. Some older adults have also recorded some success with using light exercise to help focus on present sources of chronic pain and enhance function as a means of preventing future pain.
Above all, your best opportunity for successful chronic pain relief is working collaboratively with your loved one’s healthcare providers.
By engaging healthcare providers – physical therapists, physicians, psychologist, psychiatrist, and assisted living or in-home care providers – on behalf of your loved one, you can assure that their pain is reported and treated at an appropriate level to maximize the quality of life.