Talking to your Doctor about Chronic Pain
When asked about pain management for pancreatitis, I am frequently asked how to talk about it with a doctor.  It would seem as if this should be a simple matter.  After all, outside of routine visits, pain is probably the most common reason for seeing a doctor. It would seem natural then to assume your doctor would be very proficient in diagnosing and treating chronic pancreatitis pain.  However, in my experience, this is not so. I often left a physician’s office believing that my doctor didn’t quite “get it”.
Why is this? Over the years, I have learned that many factors affect diagnosing painful symptoms. The obvious factor is that there are many different kinds of pain.  Pain can be either acute or chronic.  Acute pain is relatively easy to assess and treatment is usually straight forward and curative.  Chronic pain, however, is the opposite: it is difficult to assess and treatment is complex and most likely will not cure.  Assessing and treating chronic pain requires time, patience and commitment from both the patient and the physician.

I think that the biggest factor that influences our treatment is that chronic pain often cannot be “proven” by methods that doctors are most comfortable with.  Lab tests, radiology procedures (x-rays, CTs, MRIs etc) and physical exams may not show reasons for the pain.  Because of this, doctors have to rely mainly on what the patient says or how s/he behaves during the exam.  That is why it is very important to learn how to communicate with your doctor. Your words as well as body language will virtually be the physician’s diagnostic tool and you want to provide them with the best tool you can.

The third installment of pain management for pancreatitis is coming soon