WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING NERVE PAIN AFTER SURGERY
By Jefferey Higginbotham, M.D. There are so many unknowns when it comes to postoperative nerve pain. It is difficult to determine why some people may get nerve pain after surgery and others don’t. For most, when nerve pain occurs, it usually recovers spontaneously. For others, permanent damage may happen, and no recovery is possible. Mostly, nerve pain after surgery can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Unfortunately, at the moment, no effective treatment can ensure the prevention of postoperative nerve pain preoperation. The available solutions are not great, and doctors will likely not recommend anything. However, once a patient
Pain Treatment Guide: What Activities Should Be Avoided With Fibromyalgia?
Do you ever find yourself struggling with ongoing fatigue, muscle pain, or difficulty concentrating? Fibromyalgia might be the culprit, and it's more common than you might think. This chronic pain condition causes widespread pain in muscles and joints. It often comes with fatigue, sleep issues, trouble concentrating (called "fibro fog"), and mood changes. The exact cause isn't fully understood, but it’s centered around the way the brain processes pain and changes in certain brain chemicals. Some people also experience headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, and tingling sensations. Certain activities can worsen fibromyalgia pain and symptoms. Intense exercise without warm-up leads to muscle fatigue and
Lingering Post-Surgical Pain: Is It All In Your Head?
Post-surgical pain implies pain that persists over 3 to 6 months after you've undergone a surgical procedure. Essentially, it is due to a surgery-induced injury to a major nerve. It is characterized by discomfort and pain that may be constant or intermittent and can last for days, weeks, or even months after surgery. Over 45 million surgical processes are performed in the United States every year(1). Pain management after surgery is important to prevent negative effects (2), such as difficulty performing daily tasks, lower quality of life, and higher medical costs. Moreover, poorly managed pain can disrupt sleep and impact mental
All About Spinal Stenosis: Causes, Treatments and Preventions
Interview with Dr. Adam W. Spjute, M.D. Dr. Adam Spjute is a Double-Board-Certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Management Specialist at Advanced Pain Care in Waco. Trained in anesthesiology, Dr. Spjute then did a fellowship training in pain management. Since then, he’s been practicing pain management for 5 years, treating chronic pain ranging from headaches and foot pain and everything in between. He’s published studies in Anesthesia and Pain Management, was granted membership into the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management, and helps patients in Advanced Pain Care’s Waco branch with their pain care needs. So, Let’s Talk
Eastern Medicine vs. Western Medicine: What’s the Difference?
It’s easy to directly compare Eastern and Western medicine together— but is it fully accurate? We spoke with Dr. Rey Ximenes, Consulting Physician at APC, Medical Director of Driftwood Recovery, and rated the Top Doctor 2023 in Austin Monthly, about the differences between Eastern and Western Medicine. “It’s a little bit unfair to just narrow it down to Eastern and Western Medicine,” he explained. “Because it doesn’t really tell the whole story.” Instead, he better refers to what we’d consider Eastern medicine as Traditional Medicine and Western medicine being Allopathic Medicine, explaining that while we’d assume that healing herbs like echinacea and mullein
Chris’ Hip Replacement Success and Freedom from Surgery Fears
“I’ve been in a couple of wars, I’ve taken a lot of bullets. I’ve got some holes in me… and I was afraid of this hip replacement,” Chris tells us, an APC hip replacement patient. “I was a real weenie on this because of the fear of anesthesia!” As the owner of JP Mortgage Services, Chris has another passion on top of his professional work: drag racing at the Little River Dragway. But during one race in a 52-year-old car, he forgot to change his steering wheel column, and when the lights changed, his steering column snapped. He had no control
Johnny’s Journey: Spinal Cord Stimulator Success
The Injury In August of 2019, Johnny fell into his fireplace and developed extreme pain like he’d never felt before. Though he went to one of his own doctors, they’d told him nothing was wrong, but he insisted that he try another primary care doctor to get some answers. Finally, after finding a doctor who encouraged him to get an x-ray and learning that his 3 fractured bones were not normal for a 40-year-old to have after a fall, he was diagnosed with severe bone loss, which was something he’d had but never found out about until that very moment. Meanwhile, his uncle
Lawanda Finally Found Relief with a Spinal Cord Stimulator
28 years ago, Lawanda fell down a flight of stairs. And while doctors handed her some medication and a boot and said it wasn’t broken, every four to five months, she’d feel pain in the same area. Finally, she went to the doctor again when it seemed to last longer than it normally did. She got a screen in her ankle, because her foot has started turning inward, and eventually got surgery of two rods put in her foot. Since her injury, Lawanda’s husband had a spinal cord stimulator put in that yielded tremendous well for his back, leg, and knee pain. But
How Angie Experienced Relief with a Spinal Cord Stimulator
Angie’s Back Injury For 15 years, Angie has been on the clinical side of healthcare. Day in and day out, she’d work in the operating rooms and treatment rooms, until one day when she was helping a doctor with a heavier patient. As he was falling off the table, she scooped down to help him, and all of a sudden, felt a *pop.* An intense pain shot down her right leg, and immediately, she knew something didn’t feel right. As soon as she was able to, she found a pain care clinic where she started going through a series of injections, as she
Treatment Options for Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
By Matthew Hellman, M.D. Firstly, what is sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction? That large bone you’re probably sitting on right now as you read this? That’s your sacrum. It’s where the tailbone at the end comes together with the hip bones– the ilium– to create the iliac crest. Hence, the sacroiliac joint! You’ll find this joint on the side where the lower back meets the buttocks as a fairly large weight-bearing joint that, for many, goes unaddressed for a long period of time. Recently, though, it’s been gaining more notoriety as a cause of lower back pain, buttocks, thigh, groin, or even lower abdominal