Pain in the elderly: When someone you love is in pain
While arthritis is the most common cause of pain for people over age 65, circulatory problems, shingles, certain bowel diseases, and cancer are other common reasons for pain in older people. Nerve damage can also cause severe and constant pain.
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Assessing pain in loved ones with dementia
Persistent pain is common among older persons, who are more likely to suffer from problems such as arthritis and other chronic conditions. The person with dementia often has trouble communicating his or her feelings or thoughts — and this can mean the inability to tell you if a physical problem, such as pain, exists.
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Questions to Ask Your Doctor
By exercising your right to ask pertinent questions early in your relationship to your physician, you can find out if he or she is prepared to communicate with you in the way that you expect.
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The Two Faces of Pain: Acute and Chronic
What is pain? The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.
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Pain Care Bill Of Rights
What is pain? The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.
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Patient Comfort Assessment Guide
Some people find it difficult to talk about pain — to find just the right words to describe what the pain feels like or to remember when it was at its worst, or when they last felt their best. Doctors who treat chronic pain often use a form like this Patient Comfort Assessment Guide to help them create a complete "picture" of a chronic pain problem. The questions ask about pain symptoms and about medications, how well they worked and about any side effects they may have caused. If you suffer from chronic pain, it might be a good idea to fill out this assessment form and take it with you when you see your doctor next. You can download it and print it out. The information may be helpful for both you and your doctor.
To download the assessment form, right click (Win) or click and hold (Mac) the link and select Save Target As...
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