Conscious Sedation: Adding a Level of Comfort To Your Treatment

By Richard J. Brouillette, DO

The field of interventional pain medicine continues to see tremendous advances in treatments for people who are suffering from chronic or acute pain.

Fifteen years ago steroid injections, medication management, and physical therapy were the “go-to” treatments for addressing pain. Now patients are offered significantly more advanced interventions, including treatments such as kyphoplasty for spinal compression fractures, radiofrequency neurotomy that “kills” the nerve endings that cause pain, and spinal cord stimulation to interrupt pain signals.

These procedures – as well as many other advanced interventions – have restored patients’ quality of life. But they are complex and they often require more time to perform. This leads many patients to forego these treatments because they fear that their injected pain anesthetic may wear off before the procedure is complete. And some simply cannot get past their fear of needles to even consider treatment.

The goal is to ensure that all patients who are eligible candidates for these treatments can be accommodated by ensuring they are comfortable – before, during and after the procedure.

Patients are now offered the quick on-set and short-acting medication sedation and anesthesia that is offered in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center. Pain specialists work with a licensed and trained anesthesia professional to ensure each patient’s pain is properly controlled throughout the procedure, regardless of how long it takes.

The timing of the medication is carefully managed so that patients resume full consciousness as soon as the procedure is complete. There is no lengthy recovery time, unlike what is experienced when receiving general anesthesia. Patients are monitored for about an hour afterward which allows them to fully recover from the anesthesia and go home the same day.

Every deserving patient can now be offered the convenience of on-site sedation services that will enable them to receive the benefits of advanced treatments with less pain and anxiety. A pre-procedure evaluation with the anesthesia provider ensures that the sedation is customized to each patient and the type of procedure they are receiving. And these services are less expensive than if administered at a surgical center or hospital.

“Pain is universal but suffering is optional.” The addition of conscious sedation enables pain specialists to reduce the burden of that suffering by addressing both the cause of the pain and any pain associated with the procedures itself. So if you, or someone you know, has put off treatment for chronic pain because of fear of pain or needles, contact a pain specialists today and ask about conscious sedation.