Chronic Pain

Over 100 million Americans are living with pain. If you’re one of them, help is available. At her private practice in Napa, California, Dr. Jackie Weisbein, a double board-certified and fellowship-trained pain management expert, offers customized, multimodal treatment plans to reduce or eliminate pain. 

What is chronic pain?

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. For example, if you sprain an ankle, your nervous system lets you know about the injury with pain, or if you’re dehydrated, you might have a headache. This type of pain is acute and subsides when you treat the condition causing it and your body recovers.

Chronic pain, on the other hand, lasts for much longer. You might have chronic pain that lasts for months or even years. Your pain may have started with an injury or illness, but outlasts the initial problem. It can interfere with your quality of life and have a detrimental effect on your mental health.

What are the common causes?

Chronic pain has many potential causes. For example, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis cause chronic but manageable joint pain. Other common causes include:

  • Years of poor posture

  • Physically demanding careers

  • Traumatic injuries

  • Spinal irregularities like stenosis and scoliosis

  • Neuropathy

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Multiple sclerosis

  • Stomach ulcers

  • Gallbladder disease

Your chronic pain may also develop after surgery, or it may have no apparent cause.

How is pain that is chronic managed?

The first critical step in pain management is identifying its cause. Dr. Weisbein provides thorough consultations and exams to diagnose the cause of your pain. She talks to you about your symptoms, overall health, and lifestyle. She also discusses your personal and family medical history.

During your exam, Dr. Weisbein looks for physical clues to the cause of your pain, feeling your muscles and bones, and testing your reflexes. She may order blood tests or diagnostic imaging tests such as MRIs and X-rays to examine your physical structures in more detail.

Some causes of chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis, are challenging to diagnose. However, once Dr. Weisbein knows what’s causing your pain, she creates a personalized pain management program to address your specific needs. Some of the pain management treatments she may use include:

  • Medicine

  • Physical therapy

  • Injections

  • Nerve blocks

  • Spinal cord stimulation

  • Intrathecal pain pumps

Dr. Weisbein often combines therapies to approach your pain from different angles and optimize the effects of your treatment plan.

If chronic pain is interfering with your quality of life, schedule an appointment with Dr. Weisbein. To schedule a new patient appointment, please call (707) 254-7117 or submit an Online Appointment Request here: New Patient Intake Form. If you are an existing patient, please call (707) 603-1078.