Acute pain is generally explained as a pain that is characterized by its sudden onset and short duration. On the other hand, chronic pain is the one that persist for several months, years and even in some cases it can last for lifelong. It is a debilitating, complex and life changing condition. Reports state that not only physical causes, but mental causes can also contribute towards chronic pain. It is stated that a breakdown in relationship, lack of confidence, lack of self growth, depression, increasing social isolation and a sense of hopelessness can lead to chronic pain.
How is pain measured?
As pain is the common side-effect and symptom of many illnesses, it is generally a challenge for health care providers, when a patient comes with a complaint of pain. In addition, the ache experienced by different people for different conditions will be different and so development of a diagnosis criterion is something difficult. Even, it can cause months or years together for identifying the reason behind pain. Sometimes, a patient will have to visit the doctor multiple times and multiple tests might be conducted for identifying the cause behind pain. However, the World Health Organization has recommended a pain ladder that will help the health care providers in identifying the appropriate treatment for chronic pain, so that unwanted strong doses of medications can be avoided.
According to this ladder, mild pain is self-limiting in nature and so it can go away on its own without the requirement of any therapy and sometimes, it can be cured with a non-prescription medicine too.
It is something that is worse as compared to mild ache such that it interferes with the daily functions and cannot be ignored during daily life. Here, stronger medicines will be needed as compared to mild ache.
It is one that interferes with the daily life and can confine the patient suffering to bed rest. This type of pain will not go away overtime and it generally needs continuous treatment.
Power of mind:
The human mind is said to be a powerful tool in pain management and this is why hypnotherapy is gaining popularity as an effective technique in this regard. This technique can be used either alongside prescribed medications or alone as well. But, before opting for this method, it is better to talk to the general practitioner for identifying the suitability. The reason is that pain can often be a warning sign for some underlying health issue and so if the underlying issue is not treated, it can lead to life-threatening problem too. For instance, if brain tumor is the cause behind frequent migraines in a patient, it is important that appropriate treatment for the underlying condition to be obtained, rather than getting the help of a hypnotherapist for pain relief alone.
The basic idea behind this mental therapy is to change the way in which the patients perceive the messages given by bodily aches. This in turn will bring down the intensity of what they feel.