Your Guide To Finding A Pain Specialist In Singapore
There are different specialist doctors in Singapore who can help a patient with pain management.
Orthopedic surgeons, Neurologists, Rheumatologists, Neurosurgeons, Radiologists and Specialist Anesthetists can all have a role to play in helping someone with pain.
A specialist pain doctor can help to evaluate the cause of pain and offer a range of treatments for pain problems including headaches, chronic pain, long-lasting pain and more.
Patients who are referred to a specialist for pain may be offered a mix of medication-based treatments and procedures to stop the pain at its source.
If you have been living with pain for a long time, choosing the correct doctor for pain treatment is important.
How Do Pain Specialist Doctors Help?
Specialist doctors can help to diagnose the cause of your pain and examine the underlying conditions that may have led to it. An example is back pain which can be caused by multiple reasons from poor posture to arthritis.
When a specialist diagnoses the pain condition, they will likely recommend therapy to help reduce the pain.
There are multiple different treatments that the pain doctor may recommend you to. These include nonsurgical, interventional treatments, complementary therapy, or even surgery.
Pain specialists will typically find ways to reduce the amount of medication needed and avoid surgery. Some forms of treatment they may implement include massages, exercise, acupuncture and physical therapy.
Alternatively, they may also prescribe pain-killers such as anti-inflammatory drugs or muscle relaxants to reduce the pain. This depends on the severity of the condition. If the condition is severe, they may also result in prescribing injections and stimulation. Surgery is often the last resort.
During this process, the pain doctor will often also coordinate their treatment with other specialists and healthcare professionals, to find the best solution in relieving the pain.
Going To A Pain Doctor In Singapore
Before diagnosing the pain, the pain specialist will try to understand the underlying cause of the pain. While some of the cases may be obvious, others may be difficult and may need a more in-depth evaluation.
An in-depth evaluation is done during the first appointment to find out more on the current problem. The specialist may ask specific questions such as when and how the pain started, a description of the pain and past treatments.
For major cases, a physical and neurological examination may be necessary. These examinations will help to assess the patient’s vital signs, and sensory and motor capabilities.
There are multiple ways to go abouts a physical and neurological examination, including an X-ray, CT scan, MRI, and blood tests. These different tests can help to get a diagnosis and exclude severe problems.
Benefits Of A Specialist For Pain
While general doctors are knowledgeable on various health and physical issues, a pain specialist would have received more training on specific pain conditions.
Visiting a pain specialist has multiple benefits including:
- Extensive experience and training
- Access to special equipment and treatment options
- Ability to prescribe medications to suppress chronic pain
Working with a specialist for pain will help create an individualised treatment plan for your condition.
Choosing A Specialist For Pain
When choosing a specialist, you can ask your primary care doctor for a referral. When considering a specialist, you can also take note of their experience with particular procedures. This means that they would be more experienced to treat your pain with less risk of complications.
Choose a doctor that you are comfortable with and can support your information needs. This means finding one that can consider your preferences and respect your decisions.
When looking for a doctor, you should also note your insurance coverage. This will help you to receive the most benefits and pay less cash for your treatment.
The Pain Relief Clinic works with various specialist doctors and is happy to help refer you to an ideal specialist for your condition when needed.
What To Expect When I Visit The Pain Relief Clinic
A typical visit will involve our doctor first understanding your medical history, concerns and previous experience with other pain treatments.
For patients who have consulted many people but have yet to receive a clear diagnosis, selecting an affordable imaging scan might be recommended to confirm the cause of your pain..
Some patients have already done scans with other doctors for their pain condition but are still not clearly told what they suffer from.
Dr Terence Tan is happy to offer you a second opinion and recommend how best to manage your condition.
We also see patients who already have a confirmed diagnosis from specialist pain doctors, but are "stuck” because treatment options offered are not practical or acceptable.
We can help by discussing options that you might have potentially never been told of.
A common experience is when a patient has already consulted a specialist doctor for pain management and is told to consider orthopaedic surgery which they find too aggressive.
Or they may have seen doctors for their pain and were prescribed painkillers with potential side effects which made them feel uncomfortable.
Many of our patients have also first tried complementary treatments or acupuncture with traditional Chinese pain doctors.
They look for a second opinion after finding any relief experienced from other treatments to be temporary or requiring repetitive treatments, which add up to time and cost.
Especially in such situations, we emphasize using non-invasive medical technology you likely have not been told about .
This can make a big difference to your results.