Working With Your Provider

Your Health Care Team

While PHN can be a chronic and often frustrating condition, there are health care providers who understand and know how to treat it. Remember, you are an important member of your health care team. Learn as much as you can about PHN. Ask questions and work as a team member with all the health care professionals who are treating you.
Members of your health care team may include:

Primary care provider
Pain medicine specialist
Neurologist
Physical and occupational therapists
Mental health professional (such as a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker)

Finding Health Care Providers

It is important to find health care providers who understand PHN and chronic pain management. Ask your primary care provider for some names of pain medicine doctors, clinics and centers. Or, search the Pain Care Provider Directory to find health care providers, clinics or centers near your town.

Pain medicine doctor
Find a doctor who is board-certified in pain medicine by the American Board of Pain Medicine or holds a special certificate in pain management from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Ideally, the pain medicine doctor should work in a recognized pain clinic that includes several types of treatment. Remember that such clinics are not available in all areas of the country. Be aware that many doctors and other health care providers call themselves pain specialists, but may not be as well-trained or experienced in treating chronic pain conditions.

Pain medicine clinics and multidisciplinary centers
"Multidisciplinary" means that the clinic or center contains a number of different doctors, nurses, therapists and other health care providers. A pain clinic or center can provide medicine and non-medicine services in a single location. This allows you to go to only one place instead of a number of different locations for therapy.

If your insurance will allow it or if the clinics offer a free consultation, make appointments with a few pain doctors, clinics or centers to help you decide which group is best for you. Compare the results of each interview until you are satisfied that your choice of a pain management doctor, clinic or center is the best one for you.

Some questions to ask during each interview include:

How many cases of PHN have you treated?
What are your special qualifications to treat people with PHN?
What are your thoughts on pain management in terms of medicines, injections, non-drug therapies and complementary or alternative therapies?
What types of medicines do you generally prescribe?
What types of non-drug therapies do you use?
Where do you refer patients who need additional treatment?
Is your clinic listed with any professional societies? (You can check this out yourself by going to the websites of the professional groups listed in resources.)

Resources

Patient Guide to Pain Care Providers
Tips for Finding a Pain Physician
American Society of Anesthesiologists, The Management of Pain (Brochure)
http://www.asahq.org/patientEducation/managepain.htm
International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), Desirable Characteristics for Pain Treatment Facilities
http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Pain_Clinic_Guidelines&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=3011