Pain management words you'll want to know
Pain management has a vocabulary of its own. These definitions can help you describe your pain, and talk about methods for managing it with your pain specialists.
| Acute pain | severe pain that has a sudden onset, but lasts a short time |
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| Addiction | a psychological or physical dependence on a medicine |
| Analgesic | medicine used to relieve pain |
| Adjuvant medicine | medicine that has another primary purpose but may in some cases relieve pain |
| Breakthrough pain | pain that occurs although the patient is being medicated |
| Chronic pain | pain that is constant and lasts a long time |
| Deep brain stimulation | a pain control method using electrodes implanted in the brain and controlled by the patient |
| Epidural medication | medicine that is injected into the lower spinal column |
| Immediate-release medication | medication that takes effect in a short period of time, useful in controlling breakthrough pain |
| Infusion | a method of administering medication into a vein |
| Intramuscular (IM) injection | injection of medication into a muscle |
| Intrathecal (IT) injection | injection of medication into the sheath around the spinal cord |
| Intravenous (IV) injection | injection of medication into a vein |
| Long-acting or sustained released medicines | medicines that act for long periods of time and are taken on a regular basis |
| Narcotic | medicine that produces pain relief by depressing the central nervous system (also called opioid) |
| Neuropathic pain | pain, usually arising from nerve damage. It is burning, shooting or numbing |
| NSAID | Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Many of these medicines are available over the counter, and do not require a prescription |
| Patient-controlled analgesics (PCA) | a method of pain control in which the patient controls the amount and timing of the release of the medication by pressing a button on a computerized pump that releases a preset amount of the medication into the patient's body |
| Phantom pain | pain felt in a part of the body that is no longer there |
| Nerve block | injection of medicine directly into the nerve or spine for pain control |
| Non-opioids | medicine that does not contain an opioid. Examples include acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) |
| Opioids | The class of medications that provide the strongest pain relief. Examples include morphine, hydromorphone, oxycodone and codeine. Opioids always require a prescription. |
| Radiofrequency lesioning | A procedure in which a catheter is inserted through an incision and uses radio waves to destroy affected nerves |
| Rescue medicines | medicine used to control breakthrough pain |
| Somatic pain | pain, usually arising from the body wall or voluntary muscles in the legs or arms, that feels achy, throbbing and well localized in one spot |
| Subcutaneous injection (SQ or SubQ) | injection of medicine just under the skin |
| Titrate | to adjust the dose of medicine needed to control pain |
| Tolerance | adjustment of the body to medication so that more medication or another type of medication is needed to control pain |
| Vertebroplasty | specialized bone cement that is injected into the vertebrae to ease pain |
| Visceral pain | pain, usually arising from the internal organs, that feels like squeezing, cramping or pressure |