May 25, 2012
Topics A-Z Pain Management Pain post cardiac by-pass surgery
Pain post cardiac by-pass surgery |
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Dear Ask The Doctor: Dear doctors My mother at 64 went through a heart bypass surgery almost 4 months back in March 2011. Her operation was successful and everything went well she was discharged after 4 days. She was recovering very quickly. After around 1 month she started getting severe pain on the area around the chest area where the cut was made to do the operation. We checked with her doctor after checking online stories if it could be something with the Sternum however he told that should not be the issue as the problem is not at a single point and does not affect the patient when pressed by hand. He told after couple of visits that it could be a problem called Neuralgia(nerve pain) and advised pain management from another pain management specialist. We have been doing the same treatment with tables and local trigger point injection. However the pain is still there, can you please advise what should be the next steps we need to take. Thanks Simson Dear Judith: Neuralgia can be quite difficult to treat at times. In fact, it may take a combination of approaches to achieve effective pain control. You should speak to your mothers doctor about thee use of medications such as gabapentin, pregabalin and carbamazepine in addition to trigger point injections. there are also ythe so-called complementary techniques which may help with pain relief. These techniques include accupuncture, chiropractic, hot-cold therapy, vitamin therapy and electrical nerve stimulation. the pain management specialist in conjuction with your mother's cardiac surgeon will determine which, if any, of these treatment options are suitable for your mother. |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 September 2011 ) |
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