I Am in Pain, What Can I Do?

One of my hospice patients just called and said that his pain is at a 7 and he doesn’t know what to do. He saw his doctor and the doctor didn’t take care of his pain and said, “See you in two days.”

Are you kidding me? I would like to see this doctor stay at a pain level of 7 for 48 hours. The doctor wouldn’t put up with this if he was suffering and would make sure his own doctor took care of him. But he ignored my patient. When I hear about his happening, it makes me so angry.

Now I know, you must be thinking, “How can this be?” Well this happens a lot for many reasons. Let me tell you a few so you can know how to fix it.

1. The patient doesn’t speak up enough about the pain. If you don’t tell the doctor, how can he help you? If this is you or your loved one, do not leave the office until there is a new plan in place. And the plan should include a time limit for it to start working. If the new pain medicine hasn’t gotten your pain under control within a few doses, then you should call and tell the doctor and then he should adjust the plan.

2. The doctor doesn’t know how to take care of pain symptoms. Okay, now you are really surprised to think of a doctor that doesn’t know how to take care of pain. Well again, this happens all of the time. Most doctors can handle basic pain management but many are uncomfortable when they have to deal with the increasing pain that happens with cancer or other progressive diseases.

3. Maybe you are from a culture where you are encouraged to be brave and stoic about your pain. Now the doctor will end up misunderstanding about your pain and you won’t get the care you need. The doctor will ask you, “How is your pain on a scale of 1-10” or he will use the happy face chart. This works fine if you tell the truth about how much you are hurting but not if you don’t. So speak up and admit you are in pain.

4. Finally, and this will sound harsh but there are some doctors that don’t seem to care. If so, immediately get a new doctor. You should not go through your life in terrible pain and especially if you are dying. You should not have your final days be in pain. If you are dying and your pain is not being taken care of, then ask your doctor to put you on hospice. Hospice doctors and nurses are really good at taking care of pain and suffering.

Got a question? Ask Viki.