Looking at post-amputation pain

Looking at post-amputation pain

Post-Amputation Pain
Post-amputation discomfort is one of the most usual complaints heard by the staff of the Amputee Coalition, and exactly how to manage the soreness is one of the most routinely asked questions. Ideas about management are among the frequent themes of conversation at amputee support group meetings and on amputee discussion list services on the Web.
Why is there so much discussion about post-amputation pain?
Because it is one of the most typically experienced situations following an amputation. Actually, there are several varieties of feelings following an amputation that should be discussed when referring to post-amputation pain. Some of them are exceptionally painful and terribly unpleasant; some are simply weird or disconcerting. In one form or another they are experienced by practically 100 % of people following an amputation. This article will attempt to explain them and differentiate between them so that conversation about them will be meaningful and precise.
Future issues of inMotion will discuss in detail what is known about the reason for pain and its management. First, however, we need to have a common use group of terms to describe and define the different kinds of pain.
Immediate Post-op Agony
Immediate post-op soreness is the pain experienced after any surgical procedure where skin, muscle, bone and nerves are cut. Essentially everyone experiences some degree of post-op pain following an amputation. It can normally be controlled with pain medication and subsides fairly rapidly as swelling goes down, tissues begin to heal, and the wound stabilizes. This is simply component of the natural healing process.
It emerges from recent research that it is critically important to adequately treat immediate post-op amputation pain because appropriate early control decreases the chances of severe problems later. Surgeons are being encouraged to be even more liberal with pain medication in the immediate post-op period. Continuous post-op epidural analgesia is being recommended for pain management since it can be very effective. Adequate doses of narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics (pain medicines) should be prescribed in a fairly rapidly decreasing program to fit the decrease expected in the pain itself.
For amputees who are experiencing an uncommonly great amount of post-op pain or pain in the phantom limb, (which has been removed), early referral to a comprehensive pain management regimen is extremely important. Early referral for expert management can remarkably decrease long-term problems with post-amputation pain. Here, an ounce of early treatment could be worth a pound of late treatment.
Phantom Sensation
Phantom sensation is a phrase used to mean any sort of sensation which the amputee experiences in the portion of the limb that has been removed. It can include: prickling, warmth, cold, pain, cramping, constriction, and any other imaginable sensation. Essentially, any sensation that the limb could have experienced prior to the amputation, (and some which it could not), might be experienced in the amputated “phantom” limb.
Practically all amputees who are old enough to talk have reported phantom sensations of some sort, especially if asked. Some amputees will not voluntarily mention it since they think that it indicates that their mind is unhinged! It is actually not crazy thinking at all. Instead, it simply means the area of the brain, which has always felt that limb, is still reporting some sensations to the rest of the brain. What the thinking area of the brain knows (that the limb is gone) may be different from what the feeling area of the brain reports (that the nonexistent limb is being squeezed).
Generally, all amputees who are interviewed report that there is phantom sensation present. Some children born without a limb even report that they can feel the part that they never have had present. As long as the sensation is not unpleasant, there should be no real problem once the reality of phantom sensation is explained. It is usually only when the phantom sensation is uncomfortable, noxious, painful, that the phantom sensation is a problem that needs specific treatment.
Phantom Pain
Regrettably, phantom pain is experienced by 60-70 % of new amputees and after a year as many as 40 % of them may still be bothered by it in a serious way. Often it diminishes a lot in its severity with time. Many amputees report that it becomes much less frequent as time goes along; however, when it recurs it may be just as bothersome as when it was first experienced.
There is tremendous variability of this phantom pain. It could be extremely unpleasant and even disabling for some amputees. It is complex. resistant to treatment and very frustrating to amputee and health workers alike. It is really this part of post-amputation pain that this series of articles will focus on since it is the most severe part of the problem.
Residual Limb Pain
Many amputees experience pain in the part of the limb left after the amputation (residual limb, stump). Immediately after surgical treatment it is expected due to the massive tissue disruption of the operation itself. Later, the pain can be due to a variety of mechanical factors such as poor prosthetic socket fit, bruising of the limb, a neuroma in an unprotected location, chafing or rubbing of the skin, and numerous other largely mechanical factors. Pain in the residual limb can be caused by poor circulation and nerve damage from diabetes.
Since there are various problems that can result in pain in the residual limb, it is vital to discuss lingering limb pain with your surgeon, physician, and/or prosthetist. Each of them may have valuable input into solving the problem before it becomes more severe. Further discussion of residual limb pain will also occur in this series of articles.
Pain Management
Unfortunately, even in 1998, our awareness of the way at the brain handles pain and other sensations is still fairly crude. A lot of conjecture is still involved. We can observe many things that we do not truly understand. That makes a reasonable discussion of pain much a lot more difficult. It also makes devising a rational plan of treatment very difficult.

Leave a Reply


WordPress.com Logo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Google+ photo


Connecting to %s