There are different types of pain. Knowing how they differ can help you decide when you need to act. You can do this by getting the person help or by offering some basic comfort measures. You should never try to decide the source or cause of a person’s pain on your own. But knowing the differences, will help you choose the best ways to make a person comfortable.
Examples of conditions that cause acute pain include:
Surgery, Injury, Burns and cuts, Labor and childbirth, Dental work, Kidney stones, and Heart attack.
Chronic or long-term pain can be constant or an “off and on” type of pain. It doesn’t stop after an injury heals and it keeps on past the time when relief is expected. Many times, chronic pain is hard to treat because the cause is unclear.
There are two types of chronic pain: non-cancer pain and cancer pain.
Chronic non-cancer pain can best be described in these ways:
Examples of conditions that cause chronic non-cancer pain:
Arthritis, Low back pain, Migraine headaches, Shingles, Neuropathy, and Fibromyalgia.
Chronic cancer pain
Chronic cancer pain does not affect all persons with cancer. It is usually due to growth of a tumor or the effects of cancer treatments. Chronic cancer pain can best be described as:
Pain relief is possible with pain medicines or combinations of medicines. Cancer pain is common in cancers such as bone cancer and advanced cancers that have spread to organs in the body such as the liver, stomach, and colon.
MYTH |
TRUTH |
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Pain is just a part of growing old. |
Pain is not a natural part of aging. But, older adults are more at risk than younger adults for many painful conditions. Sometimes an older adult is unable to tell you and endures pain for much longer than they need to. Therefore if you care for an older adult who tells you he or she is in pain, pay attention. |
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Being able to feel or sense pain lessens with age. |
No, there's no proof that as a person gets older they are less able to feel pain. An older adult may not tell you about their pain for many reasons. Such as: hearing problems that affect how well they can communicate, or not being able to think clearly. |
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Taking pain medicine will make you addicted. |
Many people are under treated or fail to take their pain medicines because of this myth. Pain medicines are generally ordered in an amount and frequency that are safe. This is especially true after surgery when it is very important for a person to tell nurses when they have pain. Pain control is needed for healing. |
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Persons with dementia or those who do not speak, do not have pain. |
There is no proof that persons with dementia have less pain or that their reports of pain don’t mean anything. Persons with dementia or those who have trouble communicating are often under-treated. They often don’t get the right pain control because they are unable to report the pain and describe it. Always accept the person’s report of pain. |
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Persons should expect to have pain in the hospital. |
No, persons should expect to receive pain relief when in the hospital. Pain control is very important for allowing a person to be able to move about and begin to recover from injury or illness. |
Types of Pain Medicines
Safe Use of Pain Medicines
Many people today take pain medicines to control or relieve their pain. You often hear or read in the media the problems of drug dependence and addiction. Most drug addiction today is due to overuse of prescription medicines for reasons other than pain control or taking prescription medicine too often or combining prescriptions from different doctors.
See our lesson on Giving Medicines Safely.
The truth is that analgesics are the most common and effective method of pain relief, when taken correctly. You need to understand the effects and uses of the drugs you will be giving to the person you are caring for.