Chronic Pain Management Flashcards
What is pain?
Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting > 12 weeks or > 3 months
Somatic Pain
Pain arising from damage to muscle, bone, or skin; well-localized
What are some descriptors of somatic pain?
Sharp, intense, throbbing, localized
Visceral Pain
Pain arising from damage to organs; not well localized – can be referred
What are some descriptors of visceral pain?
Gnawing, cramping, squeezing, diffuse, distant
Neuropathic pain
Pain arising from a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system
What are some descriptors of neuropathic pain?
Shooting, burning, numb, tingling, enhanced sensitivity to heat/cool
What are the chronic non-cancer pain syndromes?
- Osteoarthritis
- Diabetic Neuropathy
- Fibromyalgia
- Post-Herpetic Neuralgia
Osteoarthritis (OA)
- Common degenerative disorder or the joints leading to hypertrophic bone changes
- Most common in hands, knees, hips, and spine (asymmetric)
What are some symptoms of Osteoarthritis (OA)?
- Persistent joint pain
- Stiffness
- Locomotor restriction
Diabetic Neuropathy
- Nerve damage caused by poorly controlled diabetes that leads to numbness in extremities
- Most common microvascular complication of diabetes
What are some symptoms of diabetic neuropathy?
- Unprompted numbness
- Tingling
- Burning
- Shooting (symmetrical)
What are some risk factors of diabetic neuropathy?
- Poor blood sugar control
- Longer duration of diabetes
- Kidney disease
- Obesity
- Cigarette smoking
What are the first line pharmacological treatments for Diabetic Neuropathy?
- Duloxetine (SNRI) - FDA approved
- Pregabalin - FDA approved
- Gabapentin
What are the second line pharmacological treatments for Diabetic Neuropathy?
- Venlafaxine (SNRI)
- Amitriptyline (TCA)
- Lidocaine patch
- Capsaicin cream/patch - FDA approved
- Tramadol (last line)
- Tapentadol (last line)
Fibromyalgia
Widespread soft tissue pain affecting muscles, ligaments, tendons with no obvious objective abnormalities
What are some symptoms of fibromyalgia?
Diffuse musculoskeletal pain present for > 3 months, often accompanied by fatigue, headache, cognitive disturbance, and sleep disturbances
What are some treatment to target sleep disturbances of fibromyalgia?
- Amitriptyline
- Cyclobenzaprine
- Gabapentinoid (pregabalin-FDA approved, gabapentin)
What are some treatment to target depression/anxiety of fibromyalgia?
- SNRIs - duloxetine (FDA approved), milnacipran (FDA approved)
- Amitriptyline
- Pregabalin
Postherpetic Neuralgia
Pain in a dermatomal distribution caused by nerve damage secondary to an inflammatory response induced by viral replication (herpes zoster-shingles) within a nerve sustained for at least 90 days after acute herpes zoster