Dr. Tochi Umunakwe of El Paso's Medway Pain Center talks about the various treatments for chronic pain and how to access them. Here's a transcript of her conversation with KC Counts:
KC Counts:
I want to begin just by saying that I think anyone can acknowledge, if they've lived long enough, that chronic pain becomes a problem for many people for any number of reasons. And living with that chronic pain is hard for many reasons. Why don't you start by telling us some of the reasons that you see and some of the conditions that you take care of?
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Absolutely. So chronic pain is one of the most common problems in America due to a multitude of reasons. Chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic back pain is #1. And it is one of the many, many reasons why people miss work, people miss family events, people's quality of life are poor. And we see a gamut of patients from headaches to arm pain to I had surgery and I have pain now and chronic pain. We take care of the gamut in the El Paso region.
KC Counts:
And of course, part of that conversation is how we treat that pain, right? And we think of opioids and we think of the dangers that opioids bring for folks of every walk of life. And so people are looking for other ways to be able to manage their pain. And you can tell us a little bit about some of those options.
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Sure. Now, I'll start by saying opioids can have an appropriate role in the correct patient. However, there are only one tool. We have a bunch of tools in our arsenal that include non-opioid medication, medication that treats nerve pain, medication for inflammation, injections. epidurals, joint injections. So people can have steroids because diabetes is prevalent in our community and we take that into account. There's non-steroid injections. And in the right population, there's advanced procedures that we can offer them too, like spinal cord stimulation, but physical therapy and rehabilitation with the goal being reduction in pain scores, improvements in function and quality of life.
KC Counts:
Let's talk about the foundation and maybe what people would want to try first. You mentioned physical therapy. How much success do you tend to see with say just physical therapy?
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Physical therapy is the mainstay of pain management. Most people will get better with physical therapy. However, if you have so much pain that you can't even participate in physical therapy, that's where we come in. Physical therapy, the body will heal on its own most times with conservative management like chiropractic care, massage therapy, physical therapy, acupuncture. However, some people need more. That's where medication management comes into play.
KC Counts:
So talk a little bit about some of those options and like what would be a next step?
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
So next step includes trial of non-opioid medications. There's this thing called the WHO W World Health organization ladder, and we start with things like ibuprofen into people that can tolerate it or don't have an allergy. Medications like ibuprofen, so Advil, meloxicam, there's a number of medications that in the anti-inflammatory family. Then if your pain is more nerve based, so numbness, tingling, then we talk about things like pregabalin or gabapentin. Now, pain and mood go hand in hand. So if people are, let's say, depressed as a result of having all this pain, can't sleep, we tend to lean into the antidepressants that help with pain, things like duloxetine, nortriptyline. So no two patients are alike. everybody, some people might have different kinds of pain or similar pain and the reasons and their patients picture is different completely. So depending on what you tell us, we tailor your treatments to your particular scenario, if that makes sense.
KC Counts:
Yeah, and you mentioned something that's I think so important for people to think about is that how isolating some, a chronic condition can be for someone because it keeps them at home. They may not have a strong, social interaction. They may live alone and it can be very depressing. So I'm really glad you mentioned that. And as we approach veteran's day, not till November, but I was thinking about how, particularly that community and especially in a place like El Paso where Fort Bliss and so it's a military community and how our veterans particularly suffer from chronic pain and how you approach their treatment.
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Absolutely. So at Medway Pain Center, we have a robust program where we help support our veterans and active duty as well. So in the El Paso region, we care for many veterans in active duty who may be living with pain from previous surgeries or injuries, demanding physically demanding work. And we know that pain can affect like sleep and mood, family life. So we have programs where we we're able to serve the community. And if it's a more urgent need, we have channels to get them in faster to support our veteran community because they're a huge part of our program here at Medway.
KC Counts:
You know, I'd like to direct people to your website because you have ongoing education for folks there. So tell us how to find that.
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Sure. So our website is www.medwaypaincenter. You can find information about different chronic medical problems like relating to pain, back pain, neck pain. Am I the right candidate for a pain management clinic in general? What to expect when I come, what treatment options. It describes the injections that we offer, how to reach us, our information, our campuses on the east and the central location. So yes, we also have an active Instagram account. We have a YouTube page that's educational. So those are ways to find Medway Pain Center. Thank you.
KC Counts:
Yeah, and I have to ask, because I think some people might be listening to this saying, but how can I access it, right? I think access to a variety of options for healthcare is such a challenge. What are some of the ways that people can access care, whether it's through your clinic or say someone listening in Grant County, right in Southwest New Mexico? What are your thoughts on just the availability of holistic treatment for chronic pain?
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
That's a great question. So there are different practices besides my own. And we live in an underserved community, both in the New Mexico and in the El Paso region. However, there's different clinics in the region, including ours, that offer pain management treatments. There's different physical therapy places. There's chiropractors. There is acupuncturists that are available. However, usually you have to go to your primary care doctor because pain management is a specialty. So you need to be referred. So if you have chronic pain and you want to see a pain management physician, which you should do if you've had pain more than three months, ask your primary care doctor if you could be referred to a pain management physician to know what options are available for you at the specialty level of care. All right.
KC Counts:
Dr. Umunakwe, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this for us. I know it's a complicated topic and a long journey for many people, and we thank you for taking the time to talk with us about it.
Dr. Tochi Umunakwe:
Thank you for having me. It is my pleasure.
You can learn more about Medway Pain Center in El Paso here.
