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Suggest Ways To Manage Severe Pain After Suffering Spinal Cord Injury
Question: Hello doctor my mother in law met an accident last year which caused her paralysed from stomach n below.her affected area also replaced with transpedular fusion at d2,d3,d5,d6. Our problem is her pain which is so painful that she couldn't do her routine physiotherapy and perhaps painkillers and sleeping tablets also not working with her pain.is it normal to have such pain?please suggest a remedy
Brief Answer:
Take pain killer medications or go for surgical procedures
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
I have gone through your question and understand your concerns.
Your mother in law has sustained very severe injury to spinal canal and cord.
The pain sensitive structures are damaged and leading to hyperalgesia.
Moreover nerve root may have crushed and radicular pain has also started.
Sometimes funicular cord pain may also occur which is poorly localised.
For management of such pain you require:
1) Medical management with pain killers, opioid, pregabalin, gabapentin, amitriptyline, duloxetine may be tried. Local analgesic patches are also available.
2) Intraspinal steroid or anesthetic agents may be used. Implantable drug infusion of cord stimulators may be tried. Nerve ablation or cord surgery are also available at specialised centers.
Consult a pain management set up preferably anaesthetic if drugs have been tried and found ineffective.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Regards
Dr Neeraj Kumar
Neurologist
Take pain killer medications or go for surgical procedures
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
I have gone through your question and understand your concerns.
Your mother in law has sustained very severe injury to spinal canal and cord.
The pain sensitive structures are damaged and leading to hyperalgesia.
Moreover nerve root may have crushed and radicular pain has also started.
Sometimes funicular cord pain may also occur which is poorly localised.
For management of such pain you require:
1) Medical management with pain killers, opioid, pregabalin, gabapentin, amitriptyline, duloxetine may be tried. Local analgesic patches are also available.
2) Intraspinal steroid or anesthetic agents may be used. Implantable drug infusion of cord stimulators may be tried. Nerve ablation or cord surgery are also available at specialised centers.
Consult a pain management set up preferably anaesthetic if drugs have been tried and found ineffective.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Regards
Dr Neeraj Kumar
Neurologist
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
Is it normal to have such pain?is she ever going to recover?
Brief Answer:
Requires evaluation by neurosurgeon
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
The intensity of pain reduces with time if the disease is not progressive. appearance of new pain may point some progression in disease or worsening.
You need to get her evaluated by neurosurgeon for any such progression of spinal injury. For pain drugs in various combination and doses may be tried first.
If the pain is continuous after the accident and not responding to medications then it is better to consider the surgical options.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Regards
Dr Neeraj Kumar
Requires evaluation by neurosurgeon
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
The intensity of pain reduces with time if the disease is not progressive. appearance of new pain may point some progression in disease or worsening.
You need to get her evaluated by neurosurgeon for any such progression of spinal injury. For pain drugs in various combination and doses may be tried first.
If the pain is continuous after the accident and not responding to medications then it is better to consider the surgical options.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Regards
Dr Neeraj Kumar
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Neel Kudchadkar
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