Neuropathy: 7 Pain Treatment and Management Options

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Stabbing, shooting, burning, and electric shock-like pain. Tingling and pins and needles sensations. 

Living with nerve pain and discomfort from neuropathy can be very, very hard. But pain management specialists know what to do. 

Once they have determined the underlying cause and the type of nerve damage, they can recommend effective treatment and management.

1. Diabetic Care

Diabetes is the most common cause of neuropathy (60-70 percent of people with diabetes suffer from some form of neuropathic pain). When diabetes is the cause, proper diabetic care can decrease and eliminate symptoms. 

2. Antidepressants 

Doctors often prescribe antidepressant drugs like tricyclic antidepressants and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors to treat neuropathy.

These drugs can reduce neuropathic pain by increasing chemicals in the brain that reduce incoming pain signals.

3. Anticonvulsants 

Pain specialists sometimes prescribe anticonvulsants to treat neuropathic pain because they may stop damaged nerves from transmitting faulty pain signals. 

4. Nerve Blocks

Nerve blocks can provide long-lasting relief from neuropathic pain.

A nerve block procedure involves injecting steroids, anesthetics, and other medications into the nerves producing faulty pain transmissions. The pain relief can last for days, weeks, or months. 

5. Electrical Impulse Stimulation

Typically, this treatment option is used only after other options have failed. 

Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)

First, a surgeon performs a minimally invasive surgery to implant a spinal cord stimulator. A spinal cord stimulator is a device that generates electrical impulses on your spine.

The electrical impulses alter how your brain processes pain by sending electrical impulses to the nerves in the spinal cord. 

Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation (DRGS)

If you suffer from neuropathy of the feet, hands, knees, groin, and chest, dorsal root ganglion stimulation is likely a better treatment option than spinal cord stimulation.

Like SCS, DRGS treatment uses electrical impulses to stop nerve pain. However, unlike SCS, DRGS trains electrical impulses on nerves in certain body parts (hands, feet, chest, etc.). 

Like SCS, a DRGS device implant on the spine involves a short surgical procedure.

6. Multidisciplinary Approach 

Neuropathic pain often responds poorly to any single pain treatment or management method.

A multidisciplinary approach that combines one or more methods, such as medications, physical therapy, psychological treatment, and surgery, can be much more effective.

Pain specialists coordinate with other health professionals to provide patients with the best possible pain treatment and management. 

7. OTC painkillers

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) can provide fast, convenient relief from neuropathic pain. However, they are often not effective when used without other treatments and therapies.

Neuropathy Treatment and Management in Texas

The pain and discomfort of neuropathy and the loss of sleep, anxiety, and depression that can accompany it, can be challenging to handle. 

At Texas Pain Physicians, our pain management specialists will work day and night to find the best course of treatment and management for you.

Please give us a call or book your appointment online today.

Why You Need A Pain Management Specialist

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Everyone needs a primary care physician.

But when you have pain symptoms, especially chronic pain symptoms, your primary care doctor should refer you to a pain management specialist. 

What are their qualifications? 

Pain management specialists, also known as pain doctors and pain specialists, have over nine years of medical training, including:

  • four years of medical school
  • four years of experience practicing medicine in a field such as anesthesiology, physical medicine, and rehabilitation
  • one-year fellowship in the field of pain medicine

A qualified pain management specialist is board-certified in pain management with one of the following boards: 

  • The American Board of Anesthesiology
  • The American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (also known as The American Board of Neurology)
  • The American Board of Psychiatry

What medical care do they provide?

Pain management specialists are doctors with special training to evaluate, diagnose, prevent, and treat chronic and acute pain. They provide short and long-term pain care.

Types of Pain They Treat

1. Tissue pain from tissue damage 

Tissue damage pain can be caused by chronic conditions such as arthritis and musculoskeletal injuries from impact and force (ex: falling and getting hit).

2. Nerve pain from nervous system disease 

Nervous system diseases such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis can cause nerve pain.

3. Tissue and nerve pain 

Injuries and degeneration cause tissue and nerve pain. Examples are back and neck pain from herniated disc pain from spinal stenosis, and knee pain from injuries.

What do they do that primary care physicians can’t do?

1. Administer diagnostic tests to identify the cause of pain and treat pain at its source. 

2. Administer fast-acting pain-relieving procedures like therapeutic nerve blocks.

3. Coordinate with specialists in other fields, including physical and psychological therapy or rehabilitation, to create comprehensive treatment plans. 

4. Prescribe effective treatments and medications to manage, prevent, and suppress all types of pain.

5. Coordinate with a network of health professionals to enact the most effective pain management plan possible. 

Where do they practice medicine?

Pain management specialists generally meet patients in medical offices or clinics. They perform surgeries and other procedures in hospitals (inpatient) and out of hospitals (outpatient). 

The Texas Pain Management Specialists 

At Texas Pain Physicians, our priority is to improve your quality of life.

If you are suffering from the emotional and physical challenges of chronic or acute pain, please give us a call at (972) 636-5727 or book your appointment online today.

How Pain Specialists Manage and Treat Herniated Disc Pain

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Pain from a herniated disc can be mild and easy to handle, moderate and distracting, or severe enough to send you straight to a doctor.

It can hit suddenly and resolve in a few days. It can be constant or chronic and last for months or longer. 

Doctors specialized in pain management recommend treating herniated disc pain with conservative, non-surgical treatments. They may recommend surgery only after all other treatments have failed. 

The Three Types of Herniated Discs 

1. Contained Herniation (bulging disc)

With this type of herniation, there is generally no pain or mild pain. 

Bulging discs occur when pressure between the vertebrae pinches the disc, forcing it to bulge. When there is pain, it comes from the bulging disc putting pressure on nearby spinal nerves.

2. Non-Contained Herniation (severe bulging disc)

This severe disc herniation generally causes severe back pain.

It can also be associated with numbness, weakness, and tingling in the extremities from the extreme pressure on spinal nerves. 

3. Sequestered herniation (disc rupture)

This type of herniation can cause intense pain and decreased mobility. It is also associated with numbness, weakness, and tingling in the extremities.

Disc ruptures can occur when non-contained herniations or severe bulging discs go untreated. As pressure between the vertebrae builds up, it eventually overloads the discs, forcing them to rupture. 

Where They Occur in the Body

Most herniated discs are in the neck and lower back.

Lumbar pain (lower back) 

Sciatica or leg pain is the most common symptom associated with herniated discs in the lower back.

Patients describe sharp, burning, or radiating pain down the lower back, through the buttock, and down the leg (pain travels through the sciatic nerve). 

Herniated lumbar discs can also cause numbness and muscle weakness in the foot and ankle. 

Cervical herniated disc (neck) 

Depending on the location of the herniated disc, pain can present in the neck, shoulder, arm, and hand. The pain from cervical herniated discs can last for days, weeks, months or longer, and be constant or chronic. 

When a herniated disc puts too much pressure on cervical nerves, patients can experience tingling, numbness, and weakness in the deltoid muscle (shoulder muscle), biceps, wrist muscles, hands, and triceps.

Thoracic Spine (upper back)

Disc herniations in the upper back are less common and rarely cause pain. When there is pain, it presents in the upper back and chest. 

Pain Treatments for Them

Pain management specialists typically begin herniated disc treatment with rest and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).

Medications 

Depending on the severity of the pain, medication may make it easier for patients to tolerate physical therapy. 

  • OTC NSAIDs like aspirin and ibuprofen (recommended for mild to moderate pain)
  • oral narcotic agents (prescribed for severe pain)
  • oral steroids (prescribed to treat severe pain and reduce inflammation)

Home and Non-M.D. Treatments

These are treatments that don’t require a pain management doctor’s expertise.

When applied for 4-6 weeks, these treatments can help reduce pain and discomfort. Applying more than one treatment at once may achieve better results. 

  • Heat and cold therapy
  • Moderate physical activity
  • Chiropractic
  • Moderate exercise
  • Changing sleep positions 
  • physical therapy
  • Myofascial release and/or massage

Therapeutic Injections

Pain management specialists may recommend therapeutic injections if conventional therapies and medications don’t work or provide relief soon enough. 

Therapeutic injections can relieve pain for days, weeks, and even months, which buys time for conservative, non-surgical treatments to work.

Two commonly used therapeutic injections: 

  • epidural injections: Used to reduce inflammation and provide extended pain relief.
  • nerve blocks: Used to diagnose the source of the neck pain and to provide extended pain relief.

Herniated Disc Treatment in Texas

If you have been diagnosed with a herniated disc or think you may have one, Texas Pain Physicians can help. We have offices in Houston, Dallas, and a dozen other locations across Texas.

Give us a call or book an appointment online and start your pain-free journey today!

Can’t Get Pain Relief At Home? 5 Benefits of Interventional Pain Management

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Are you frustrated with at-home pain management therapies and techniques that aren’t working? Perhaps you’ve gotten some pain relief from them, but not enough. 

Yes, stretching, heat and cold therapies, breathing exercises, OTC painkillers, and other conservative, DIY treatments can relieve acute and chronic pain.

But when you’ve tried these things and pain continues to interfere with your life, it may be time to try something new. 

What is interventional pain management? 

Interventional pain management is about diagnosing and treating pain-related disorders using a multi-disciplinary approach.

This approach involves more than one healthcare professional coordinating their efforts in relieving, reducing, and managing patients’ pain symptoms.

The Benefits of Interventional Pain Management

Interventional pain management can improve your quality of life. Here’s how:

1. Fast-Working Pain Relief 

At-home treatments can take a long time to reduce or relieve pain. But interventional treatment such as steroid injections can provide immediate relief. 

2. Long-Term Pain Management 

Imagine taking one trip to your pain management specialist for a treatment procedure that gives you months of pain relief. 

That’s what minimally invasive treatments like Botox treatment for migraines and steroid injections for back pain can do. 

Compare that one-and-done peace of mind to daily (if not hourly) dosing with over-the-counter and narcotic pain medications.

3. A Medical Team Treating Your Pain

Interventional pain management applies a team approach to treating pain. Having a team to treat your pain gives you an important advantage:

  • Input from more expert medical opinions means a better chance of successful treatment.

And you are the most important team member. No decision is made without your input and cooperation as a patient.

“Who exactly is on the team?” you ask. Your primary care physician will cooperate with one or more of the following health care professionals: 

  • Anesthesiologists
  • Physiatrists
  • Physical therapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Internists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists and psychiatrists
  • Physiatrists

4. Safer, Drug-Free Treatment Options

Opioid pain medications can provide pain relief for many people. But these medications can also be risky and ineffective at treating pain. 

By contrast, interventional pain management uses many non-drug treatment techniques to relieve pain, including: 

Pain management physicians may prescribe one of these minimally invasive techniques or combine them with other treatments. 

Compared with narcotics, these treatments have fewer or no side effects. 

5. Pain Relief at the Source of the Pain

Minimally invasive intervention techniques such as epidural steroid injection and radiofrequency ablation stop pain at its source. 

And the benefits can extend beyond pain relief. For instance, an epidural steroid injection is a treatment for many forms of lower back and leg pain. It relieves pain by reducing swelling and inflammation around the nerve roots in the lower back.

Reduced swelling and inflammation improve mobility and function in the lower back and legs. This improved functioning allows patients to participate in physical therapy and rehabilitation programs. 

Get the pain treatment that’s right for you.

Are you suffering from chronic or acute pain? At Texas Pain Physicians, our caring doctors are here to help. We will partner with you to devise a safe, innovative, and effective interventional pain treatment plan that works for you.

Give us a call today at 972 636-5727, or schedule your appointment online today!