Aging baby boomers are finding they are experiencing more aches and pains than when they were younger.

Aging baby boomers are finding they are experiencing more aches and pains than when they were younger.  It takes longer to recover from physical exercise, heal after an injury, or recover from a serious illness.  Pain management is becoming a priority for those who are in the middle age years.  You may be experiencing symptoms of arthritis, or other chronic pain.  Your health care provider is required to ask patients about pain levels and the intensity of their pain.  Treatment is then determined with feedback from the patient. 

Pain is more than just an uncomfortable feeling or sensation in your body.  Pain will keep you from healing properly after surgery and have a huge impact on your quality of life.  Managing pain is important if you want to preserve a good quality of life.  Someone other than the patient decided many of the decisions on pain management.  The patient did not have any input on the intensity of the pain and how much they could tolerate. 

New federal standards now require health care professionals to ask about the pain level and the intensity of the pain before they decide how to treat their pain.  If pain management is not done on an individual basis from the beginning of treatment to discharge, a hospital, clinic, or nursing home can lose their accreditation.

Now as doctors and professionals check blood pressure, oxygen levels, and other vital signs, they also are required to ask about pain levels.  Patients are encouraged to rate their pain level on a scale of one to ten.  Zero is no pain and ten is a pain that would be sending you to an emergency room.  People have a different tolerance for pain so each individual needs to help their doctor discover where their pain level is on the scale.  The patient and the doctor should work together to control the pain a patient can tolerate and when steps need to be taken to ease the pain.  The patient is allowed to feel in control of their pain.  Many patients are allowed to give pain relievers, as they are needed through an IV drip.  Pressing a button will give a bit more pain reliever and will allow them to stay on top of their pain.  Pain does not build up during dosages and is more controllable. 

Pharmaceutical companies have spent considerable time researching pain management.  They are realizing the importance of managing pain and are developing patches and other means of delivering pain relief and give safer and more precise delivery methods.  As a patient, you have a right to have your pain managed and you can hold the hospital, staff, and your doctor responsible for easing your pain.

Doctors recognize that pain can prevent successful recovery form disease, illness, or surgery.   It can have a negative effect on the quality of your life.  They are making pain management a real priority in patient care.  Relieving pain will help you physically as well as mentally.  Pain management is an important part of healthy aging.

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