Patients with Severe Pain

Patients with Severe Pain It can be difficult to have a patient when you cannot help control their pain.

Pain can be a result of an endless number of factors, and the prescribed relief depends on the patient's medical diagnosis.

Terminal Patients Doctors are much more liberal in administering medications for terminal patients. There is a need to administer proper pain treatments for patients in the final stages of life, up to and including keeping them completely comfortable and even sedated. Doing patient care at home, or in a nursing home, one of the best options is hospice. The hospice staff is highly trained to work with terminal patients and provide help to their family. They will do all they can to ensure the pain is managed for every patient, and in most cases have them delivered right to, the patient's door. There are few restrictions put on terminal patients, in general everyone is in agreement that the patient's comfort is top priority, and they should not suffer needlessly.

Related: My Most Memorable Patient Following Surgical Procedures Patients that have undergone surgical procedures may be in extreme pain following the procedure. As a general rule, IV pain medication is administered for 2-3 days following the operation, followed by pain control with oral antibiotics. Reminding the patient to do deep breathing exercises can help minimize pain. Following a surgical procedure the patient needs to be working toward managing pain without prescription pain relievers, although there are benefits to taking pain medications following surgery 

Patients can feel more comfortable, which will help your body heal.

They can get well faster. If you feel less pain, you can start walking and get your strength back more quickly. They may even be able to leave the hospital sooner.  They may have fewer complications after surgery. People whose pain is well controlled seem to do better after surgery. For example, they don’t have as many problems, such as pneumonia and blood clots For mild pain after surgery, the physician may prescribe NSAIDs. These medicines reduce swelling and soreness, and relieve mild to moderate pain.

Some examples of these medicines are aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen.

Patients won’t get addicted to these medicines. Depending on how much pain they have, these medicines can take it away or at least lessen the need to take a stronger medicine, such as morphine. As with most all

medications, there are some downsides to NSAIDS. They can cause nausea, stomach bleeding or kidney problems. Most NSAIDs interfere with blood clotting, and they can also make high blood pressure worse and affect the way blood pressure medicines work. If the pain is strong, it will usually take an opioid to relieve it. Opioids (such as morphine and codeine) are the medicines most often used for acute pain, such as short-term pain after surgery. Opioids work well for severe pain. They don’t cause bleeding in the stomach or other parts of the body. It’s rare to become addicted to an opioid after surgery if it’s used as prescribed by a doctor. Opioids may cause drowsiness, nausea, constipation or itching. They can also interfere with breathing or urination. Local anesthetics (such as procaine) can be given in a shot near the incision or through a small tube in the back. These medicines block the nerves that send pain signals to the brain. Local anesthetics will block pain only in that area of the body. There is little or no risk of drowsiness, constipation or breathing problems with a local anesthetic. Local anesthetics reduce the need for opioids. Several shots are usually needed to make pain relief last, but too much of a local anesthetic can cause problems.

Even average doses may cause dizziness or make the legs feel weak.

Medicines can be given by mouth (liquid or pill), through the rectum (suppository) or injected into the skin, muscle or vein.

Related: The Happy Side of Nursing Non Medication Approach Following surgery, patients need to become mobile as soon as possible. This can be slightly uncomfortable, and may be met with resistance, however, patients will benefit from mobility, and pain will be lessened naturally as mobility increases. Encourage deep breathing techniques, it is a proven fact, an increase in oxygen levels will elevate endorphins and alleviate pain. The sooner a patient can feel better without the regular use of pain medications, the sooner they are likely to return to normal.

The goal of relieving pain is to reduce the level of pain, while ensuring the patient does not develop a dependency on medication. Returning to normal is the ultimate goal for surgical patients. For terminal patients, it is a different scenario, and is therefore addressed in a different manor.

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