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Chronic Pain

Ketaminology -  - Ketamine Infusion Specialist

Ketaminology

Ketamine Infusion Specialists & Depression Specialists located in New Hampshire Seacoast, Newington, NH & Nashua, NH

Chronic pain has many causes, but the outcome is the never-ending presence of discomfort and often agonizing pain. If chronic pain is blighting your life, Anh Ngo, MD, MBA; James Mirazita, MD; and PK Suchdev, MD, at Ketaminology are ketamine infusions specialists serving patients in Newington, Nashua, and throughout the state of New Hampshire. Find out how IV ketamine infusion could relieve your pain by calling Ketaminology today or scheduling a consultation using the online form.

Chronic Pain Q & A

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain is any kind of pain that persists for longer than a few months. It's a widespread and disabling problem that affects around 50 million people across the United States, with more than 19 million of those severely affected by chronic pain.

The pain you feel when you injure yourself is acute, and serves a vital function, alerting you to tissue damage. Acute pain reduces over time as the injury heals and should finally disappear.

Chronic pain can set in if the tissue damage doesn't heal properly, for example, a bone that isn't set correctly after a fracture or torn cartilage that can't repair itself. You can also get chronic pain if you develop excessive scar tissue that distorts the surrounding tissues.

You can also get chronic pain when there's no tissue damage or the damage has healed completely. This type of pain is called neuropathy, and it comes from dysfunctional nerves that transmit pain signals when there's no injury.

 

What chronic pain conditions are there?

Many conditions cause chronic pain, including:

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
  • Migraines
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Phantom limb pain
  • Post-surgical pain
  • Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

As well as the pain itself, people who have chronic pain conditions also frequently experience other problems like fatigue and depression and have difficulties thinking clearly. 

 

How is chronic pain treated?

The first step in relieving chronic pain is to tackle the root cause where possible. For example, resetting poorly healed fractures or removing excessive scar tissue. To manage incurable chronic pain, you might benefit from treatments such as:

  • Physical therapy
  • Massage therapy
  • Stretching exercises
  • Pain management
  • Psychotherapy
  • Occupational therapy
  • Nerve blocks
  • Steroid injections

Medication can also form a part of your treatment plan for chronic pain. Muscle relaxants, anti-seizure medicines, anti-anxiety drugs, and antidepressants can be helpful for many patients. Prescription pain medication can also help, although using opioid painkillers can be problematic because they’re highly addictive.

If these approaches don't help, the next stage in treating chronic pain is surgery to implant a spinal cord stimulator or pain pump. However, you might be able to avoid this step by undergoing IV ketamine infusion at ketaminology.

 

What is IV ketamine infusion?

Ketamine is an anesthetic medication, but it also has FDA approval for the treatment of chronic pain conditions that are resistant to other approaches. The team at ketaminology administers ketamine using an IV (intravenous) line that goes into a vein in your arm.

This delivery method ensures the medication goes straight into your bloodstream to tackle your pain at the source. Studies show that ketamine is an effective approach for conditions like CRPS, for which there are few useful treatments.

If your chronic pain isn’t responding to a medically managed treatment plan, call ketaminology today to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online.