Pain clinic - what to expect

[littlemissneela]

Dd has her first appointment with a pain clinic for her CRPS, and its mentioned that she will be there up to 8 hours and may have some time on the day ward. She was just expecting, as was I, a general chat about how things are and see where to go from here. She has done the three week pain managment stay in Bath, but that was a long time ago. I am a little worried they might want to touch areas which are hyper sensitive to touch, and I just want to be mentally prepared for what could happen. Has anyone gone to one, and if you can say, where did you go. She is going to Southampton.

Hi, best wishes to your daughter and hope she gets through it okay. I went on a four hour a week course in Bristol and we did different things each week e.g. physio, talks from consultants about medication, CPD, breathing techniques/meditation, activity pacing, family session...and lots more. As there were other people there with different pain conditions we didn't really delve into the specifics of each condition, it was more focussed on how to accept and deal with pain. There was no individual 'hands on' treatment as it were; we were encouraged to work within our own limitations. Hope it's a positive experience for your DD

Sorry OP I think I misunderstood your post - experiences above are all to do with a Pain Management Programme I attended after being referred by the Pain Clinic. My first Pain Clinic appointment (in three different hospitals) consisted of bloods, LOTS OF questionnaires and history taking mainly. They may give your DD a questionnaire screening for depression, so be prepared that may happen. It upset me but I'm sure it's because they are mindful of the comorbitity of chronic pain conditions and depression. The only physical exam I've had at a Pain Clinic were doing tasks such as picking up a pen from the floor, walking along a corridor etc. which they observe and then repeat on discharge. I've only had 'painful' physical exams at appointments prior to pain clinics - physio and consultants - but that might be me being lucky! Why don't you ring ahead to check what they will do so your DD can steel herself? I've done this many times before as I always feel better when I know what's going to happen.

Thanks for your reply, Synecdoche Your first post was exactly what the 3 weeks in Bath were like, with a good measure of mindfullness thrown in which she hated.
She has had this for almost 10 years, and this is really to get her back on the medical pros radar in prep for her PIP assesment in the next year or so. She doesn't go and see any drs or gps for it, just for her yearly medication review, so as far as the dwp are concerned she doesn't have any up to date letters and records about her condition. I may ring them before hand like you mentioned, especially if she starts to get anxious about it the closer we get to the date.

Good luck. Make sure you speak really, really specifically about the difficulties your daughter has with each descriptor activity so it will be recorded in the letter to her GP. Say yes to any medications offered even if your DD has no intention of taking them!

I guess she and we won't find out what the intitial meeting will entail as apparently she doesn't qualify for their help. Most confused She will phone the gp on Monday and see wher to go from here.

She's not suitable for Pain Clinic? With CRPS?! Who told you this?

The letter she received from the pain clinic where she booked her appointment yesterday.
She had a choice of three places and chose the one closest to her uni should she have term time appointments. Plus its the least stressful place to get to, road surface wise.
All we can think is some of her medical records are missing as when she changed from her home gp to the uni one and then left that uni and signed with the one back home, they said she was a new patient and didnt have any record of her medication. A stressful time. She will be contacting the gp on Monday and the pain clinic to see whats going on.