Chronic Pain is a disease
-A disease that slowly erodes a person's wellbeing and can make even routine daily activities like eating, sleeping and getting dressed seem impossible. More demanding activities, including work and play, become more and more distant memories until hope fades almost completely and depression descends like a shroud. The muscles and ligaments become feeble and thin, bones lose calcium, and the immune system weakens; the whole body becomes more vulnerable to injury and illness and often a downward spiral begins.

While "normal" pain is protective, providing an early warning system that something is amiss, neuroscientists now believe that chronic (more than 2-3 months) unrelieved pain has little or no biological value in the protective sense and instead causes progressive damage to the spinal cord and brain which seems to perpetuate rather than relieve suffering and reduces the organism's ability to adapt to its environment.

Getting help with chronic pain can mean the difference between a full and active life and a life of interminable misery.

Many Options

There are many interventions available for treatment of chronic disabling pain. Medication, physical treatments including conventional physical therapy as well as Chiropractic and Acupuncture, psychological treatment, and technical interventions such as spinal cord stimulation and implanted medication pumps are among the options commonly employed. Dr Dillinger will conduct a careful assessment of your medical condition, including reviewing previous treatments tried and consultations obtained, and formulate an individualized treatment plan

New Patient Referrals

If you or your primary care physician or ARNP feel that you might benefit from more aggressive management of persistent severe pain, your provider should fax a referral to us at 425-385-2635 along with the last 3 chart notes, medication history, and any scan results that may be available; Dr Dillinger will then determine whether a consultation would be likely to be helpful and take steps to arrange a visit.

Initial evaluation will generally require at least one hour, and appointments need to be made well in advance, so plan accordingly; if you are hoping to transfer care from another pain specialist, similar requirements apply, i.e. a referral from the current prescribing physician and a review of case records prior to scheduling.