How to Use Nerves Blocks for Pain Management

In some cases, pain can be directly traced to information sent to the brain by a specific group of nerves. These nerves may be linked to an organ or a particular region of the body. When nerve blocks are used for pain management, a numbing substance is injected into these nerves to block the pain from being transmitted. Read on to learn how to use nerve blocks for pain management.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Speak with your doctor to determine whether nerve blocks are a suitable addition to your pain management protocol. Realize that if your pain isn't related to a contained group of nerves, nerve blocks probably won't help you.
2. Use therapeutic nerve blocks to directly address pain. These nerve blocks are laced with anesthetics and may provide speedy and effective relief.
3. Use diagnostic nerve blocks to help uncover the root of your pain. These blocks contain a limited-duration pain reliever.
4. Tap prognostic nerve blocks to gain a sense of the level of pain relief that may be offered by various treatments. If considering surgery to address pain caused by a nerve, for example, prognostic nerve blocks could be used to gain an indication of whether treating the nerve will give you the outcome you seek.
5. Take advantage of preemptive nerve blocks in cases where a procedure is being performed that is likely to result in pain. As the name suggests, these nerve blocks are used as a means of preemptive action, working before pain actually sets in.

Tips & Warnings

• Get up to speed on some of the different types of nerve blocks. Trigeminal nerve blocks are used to address pain in the face. Ophthalmic nerve blocks deal with pain in the eyelids and scalp. Supraorbital nerve blocks remedy pain in the forehead. If you are experiencing pain in the upper jaw, a maxillary nerve block could provide a solution. Sphenopalatine nerve blocks handle pain in the nose and palate. Cervical epidural, thoracic epidural and lumbar epidural nerve blocks address pain in the neck and back.
• Know the side effects of nerve blocks for pain management. These may include itching, a rash, elevated blood sugars, weight gain and bleeding. In rare cases, fatalities have been reported.
• If you are currently on anticoagulant therapy with heparin or coumadin, nerve block treatment is not for you, since these medications can put you at a heightened risk for bleeding. If you are currently suffering an active infection in the region in which pain is being experienced, nerve blocks should be avoided. Finally, if you have a known allergy to local anesthetics or steroids, eschew nerve blocks for another approach to pain management.