Pain management procedures
You have been offered a date and time to attend your pain procedure outpatient appointment – please read this information before you attend your appointment.
This procedure is based on the symptoms you described to your Chronic Pain Consultant/ Specialist doctor.
- If you have a booking query or are unable to attend this date, please notify the department on 01296 838474.
- If we are unable to take your call, you can leave a message clearly stating your name, date of birth, hospital number and the reason for your call.
- If you don’t attend this appointment, without letting us know in advance, you may be discharged from the Pain Service back to the care of your GP.
Driving
Please arrange to be collected and driven home as you should not drive for 24 hours after your procedure. If you are having Trigger Point injections (small doses of local anesthetic in tender areas) you may be safe to drive yourself, if you feel well enough following the procedure.
Eating and Drinking:
All our pain procedures are performed with local anaesthetic so you will be awake. We advise you to drink and eat something light at least 2 hours before your scheduled appointment time.
Note: If you are having sedation as part of your procedure, you will need to be ‘Nil by Mouth’ and not eat or drink for 6 hours before your appointment time.
Diabetes
If you have Diabetes, please continue to take your usual medicines. If you receive steroids as part of your treatment, we advise that you monitor your blood sugar levels more frequently for 24 hrs or until they settle to your normal range.
Anticoagulants
Your consultant must be notified if you have started any anti-coagulant (blood thinning medicines) since your last consultation with the Pain Service. Please call 01296 838474.
Note: You can continue to take your anti-coagulant medicines unless you have been instructed to stop them prior to your treatment. Please confirm with your doctor on the day of your procedure when you should restart your anti-coagulant medicines.
Post treatment follow up
A review appointment will be booked automatically. This maybe in clinic at Amersham Hospital or via a telephone consultation with one of our Pain management team. You will receive a text or letter confirming the date, time, and location of this appointment.
Again, please notify the department on 01296 315640 if you are unable to attend.
Flare ups
You may experience a flare up (a sudden recurrence of your pain) for up to 14 days following your procedure. Should this occur we advise taking regular analgesics, such as paracetamol, alongside: continued movement, distraction, pacing your activities and relaxation until it settles. If you have concerns, you can make an appointment with your GP. If you require urgent medical advice, please call 111 or attend an emergency department.
Queries
The Pain Management service provide a Clinical queries answerphone on 01296 838525. This is for clinical questions only and does not deal with emergencies, appointments or booking enquiries. Please leave a message with your name, Hospital number and question. This answerphone is not attended to daily, however, we will return your call as soon as is possible.
Information
You can find information regarding your pain procedure by looking for the interventional leaflets on the Faculty of Pain Medicine website: https://fpm.ac.uk/patients/patient-info.