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Dr. Mel Pohl
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VIDEO: Chronic Pain Tips From Dr. Pohl

Dr. Pohl shares three tips for women dealing with chronic pain.

Dr. Pohl:
Ladies, I’d like to give you some help, three tips to deal with a doctor if you are going to his or her office and you are having chronic pain. First of all, go with information. You ought to know what some of the parameters are and not count on the doctor to be the master of the ship. So get informed about your condition. Certainly if you have had a diagnosis, know what it is and know what some of the potential treatment options are.

Second of all, don’t accept a bill of goods. Walk away, do some research, be willing to challenge your healthcare practitioner because as a physician we know a lot, but we don’t know everything, and I don’t know anything about you except what you tell me. And the third of course is to be honest with your healthcare practitioner. You know, have some ability to trust them and talk to them about what’s really going on.

What’s next when you visit your healthcare practitioner is be an accurate reporter of what’s going on. Journaling may help, at least thinking through how you have been, what’s going on. Doctors really can work best when they have data. If you can give data, “This time of day is when my pain is worse”, or “this medication had this effect. This intervention, yoga session, was not helpful, and it made me worse,” you know, you can problem solve with your doc.

So having information is going to be really key to enhancing the process of communication with your doctor.

About Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Medical Director at the Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC), the only private, freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Visit Dr. Pohl at the Las Vegas Recovery Center

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