pain modifiers?

[belinda legate]

Can anyone advise me about what pain modifiers are and what they do please as never heard of them before, The doctor in the hospital talked about my husband using them to help with the pain in the soles of his feet, This pain started the very same day that blood thinners were given to him, many thanks

 

[trophywench]

I believe they are strategies used in the management of chronic pain - and that a large part of it is to do with the psychology of how/why our nervous system remembers pain even when the cause of it may have been gone for ages. It's just one of the weird things our bodies and brains do. So if they can modify what our brain does, that might help the pain - which might actually still be there but because the brain/nervous system doesn't 'see' it in the same way it might not hurt as much as it did.

But - I might be entirely wrong about it!

 

[AlisonM]

As I understand it, a combination of pain medications and CBT can be involved depending on the nature, location and duration of the pain. It's something that has been mentioned for me, but nothing has happened yet as there's a long waiting list for both CBT and the pain clinic.

 

[KookyCat]

The only time I've heard the term pain modifiers are in reference to opiates or opiate like medication. They work in a different way to what we traditionally consider as a painkiller. They don't block the pain receptors, they modify the brains reaction to the pain stimuli so effectively you don't really care about the pain. The body reacts to chronic pain by making the person who is suffering it feel anxious, depressed and generally awful. Opiates modify the reaction to pain to make it more manageable by trying to reduce the anxiety and negative feelings.

If I remember my neurology lectures correctly, you have pain blockers (they stop the pain sensors reacting) and neurological interrupters (there's a proper name that I can't remember) that make the nerves stop conducting the pain signals, and then modifiers which modify the reaction to pain. I think for chronic pain management strategies tend to involve a mix of approaches to make it more tolerable. I hope they find a strategy that works for him and he starts to feel better soon.

 

[trophywench]

Yes to both Alison and Kooky - my understanding - except they have been using CBT/other talking things first not opiates more recently - to try to do much the same thing, plus the intent of the CBT anyway is as it always is - to help YOU address the anxiety, depression, stress, whatever. So - more help than an opiate only probably.

I mean probably if they came right out and said we want you to have CBT for your pain you'd think that they needed committing to a mental asylum probably! LOL So they call it 'pain modification' LOL

I have absolutely no idea whatever whether it works or not but as I see it - if it doesn't, you haven't lost anything, so what the hell, you may as well try it, hadn't you! And if it does, blooming brill.

 

[KookyCat]

Makes sense since opiates are generally not widely prescribed. There's lots of evidence that biofeedback works very well in pain management as does re-routing the emotional response to pain so CBT would be a good starting point. The pain management folk generally have a more holistic approach to well being which I personally think is very positive.

 

[trophywench]

I had CBT for anxiety etc a number of years back. Pete would enquire what we talked about today> and I could never answer eg 'We tackled this' - cos it was just like having a nice chat to a mate for half an hour. Then 2 days later I'd suddenly say 'K asked me (something) - I said I didn't know and we passed on - but I've just thought (whatever) cos it's just occurred to me that blah blah happened when I was little/last month/when I was 45 and I always thought (whatever) but perhaps I was wrong?'

And it did help me know myself better and understand a bit more about why it is that when X happens I usually react by doing Y.

Interesting - and it helped me see that it wasn't at all 'all them' cos some of it was 'me' - but probably neither of us did it deliberately! (Annoying cos I wanted someone to blame LOL) I still hold a grudge but there again, don't dwell on it!

 

[KookyCat]

It's interesting stuff TW and nowhere near as marginal as some people think it is. Our brains are very malleable and are shaped in the first five years of life, so the experiences we have from birth to five inform everything. Brains lay down nerve pathways, that's how we learn our ABC and language, but it's also how we learn appropriate emotional reaction to things. Those reactions are dictated by cultural norms, they're not set in stone (hence the weeping and wailing in some countries at a funeral, and the stiff upper at funerals in the UK). Some of it is conscious learning (we know we're modifying our behaviour) but the majority is subconscious. You can't change the path your brain has laid down (your instinctive behaviour) but you can make yourself aware of it and modify that behaviour if you choose. CBT and other forms of "therapy" only work though if people are prepared to accept that their perception of reality is only their perception not an objective reality. To have control you have to understand that you have control. The brain is the control centre, it's quite literally in charge of everything. There's a lot of research that suggests you can train a person to consciously control a number of brain functions, slowing heart rate is one that's often used, so it stands to reason that we can potentially "re-interpret" our response to pain. Ooh I'd quite forgotten how fascinating I find psychology, love it

 

[belinda legate]

Thank you everyone, i now have a better understanding