CPM-08 - Why'd You Have to Go Make Things So Complicated? Managing Patients With Multiple Chronic Pain Conditions

The percentage of patients with chronic pain in the United States continues to skyrocket. This is alarming not only because of the financial, societal, and emotional impacts of chronic pain, but also because chronic pain is one of the most difficult disease states to treat. Even more concerning is that, along with an aging population, the number of patients with multiple chronic pain conditions also continues to increase. This subset of patients presents several specific challenges at the provider level, as selection of appropriate treatment becomes increasingly complicated and we are often left trying to coordinate between different specialists involved in care. Patients with multiple chronic pain conditions often feel heightened anxiety and can be quite overwhelmed by these disease states, all of which adds to the burden of management.

During this case-based seminar, we will review the challenges associated with managing patients with multiple chronic pain conditions from diagnostic, behavioral, and treatment viewpoints. The most commonly presenting pain conditions presenting together will be reviewed to enhance the ability to recognize such cases and take appropriate action. Attendees will explore best practices when faced with these challenging cases by highlighting different ways of optimizing diagnostic approaches as well as utilizing non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic modalities that can treat multiple pain conditions. Some of these will include reviewing how to prioritize which pains to focus treatment on first, which specialists should be utilized and in which order, and detailing medications such as specific antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and opioids that have varying mechanisms that allow cross coverage of treatment.