What a Pain Clinic Might Have to Offer You

In my experience, pain clinics have a lot to offer people with chronic or at least near-constant pain. Here’s what I learned from my own journey.

They are specialists in pain management. People who work at pain clinics have more experience with the drugs and treatments involved than any other doctors. Patients of pain clinics may find many new treatment options available for them there.

They know all the laws about pain medications and can help you manage them. Going to a pain clinic is not only a good care option, but a good way to show that you are being responsible about your pain management.

Many offer multi-factor approaches, which are often really important for pain care. Usually this means some combination of pain medicine and treatment, physical therapy, biofeedback and/or meditation. While you might not think this combo will make a difference for you, I urge you to try it. I was a complete non-believer in the usefulness of biofeedback and meditation for my condition and fought it every step of the way. I was wrong, it was a game changer for me.

Also, pain clinics often have therapists on staff to help you cope with the emotional and mental health sides of being in pain.

Here are some questions you should consider asking before choosing a pain clinic:

• Do they have specialists in your pain cause/disease/disability? (The pain clinic I chose did not.)
• How often will treatments be? (This way, you can factor in how the distance might affect you if you have to travel.)
• When are they open for which treatments?

I think it’s important to go to a pain clinic without too many specific expectations. You have every right to set boundaries for yourself, and do your own research as always, but it’s good to be willing to try things that seem like they might not work for you.

I went to my first pain clinic in 2008. After surgery failed to improve my pain, I was sent to a new pelvic pain specialist who was known for teasing out various causes of pain. Based on a quick test, he discovered that I had myofascial pain syndrome of the pelvic floor and sent me to a pain clinic to get the help I needed. The pain clinic had a focus on pelvic chronic pain, so it was a very good fit for me. They offered a full-time day program which I couldn’t attend due to work, but also an integrated multi-factor care approach that really worked for me. You should know, I had absolutely no faith that most of the things they suggested would work, and yet they did. Here’s an overview of what the clinic offered me.

A physiatrist (an MD who oversees the care of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities): She oversaw my medications, gave me trigger point injections and worked with everyone else on my care plan.

A typical physical therapist: She worked with me on exercises and stretches to help support the work we did on my pelvic floor.

A pelvic floor physical therapist: She gave me manual physical therapy for the pelvic floor.

An occupational therapist: She worked with me on biofeedback and taught me how to relax my pelvic floor. Through this work I started learning self-hypnosis and meditation. She also helped me figure out how to do tasks without exacerbating my current physical problems.

From that team of medical folks, I got the medication and the therapy that I needed. We broke a major tension pattern that had been a big cause of pain for me. This was a dramatic result. My massage therapist said it was like I had a whole new body (one which benefited much more from massage than the old one).

I’ve had to move on to another pain clinic, my old one doesn’t exist in the form it used to anymore. My newest pain clinic is not as entirely focused on pelvic pain, but it also involves a multi-factor approach. Currently our plan is medication, PT and biofeedback/meditation. I have confidence they will help me treat my pain, and I’m excited about the new biofeedback/meditation combo we are going to try.

Have you ever been to a pain clinic? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.

Follow this journey on Taking Charge of My Health.