Everyone has a different threshold for pain. There are different types of pain, and depending upon how you perceive the sensation, you will classify it as either mild, moderate, or severe. While mild or moderate pain can be managed with conservative treatments such as over-the-counter analgesics, severe pain needs to be treated by a medical professional as soon as possible, because untreated or long-term severe pain can heighten your risk for internal organ damage.
If you are severe pain, go to the nearest urgent care center or hospital emergency room. Here are two ways severe pain can damage your internal organs and how the medical staff at an urgent care center can help:
Blood Pressure Spikes
If you develop severe pain, your blood pressure may spike to dangerous elevations. While temporary elevations in blood pressure are typically not life-threatening, people with preexisting heart disease, diabetes, renal disease, or autoimmune disorders may be at risk for organ damage if the blood pressure does not stabilized.
Severe pain and subsequent anxiety can cause your body to produce too much adrenaline, which is what may be responsible for blood pressure spikes. If the urgent care staff finds that your blood pressure is too high, you will be given medication to bring it down so that optimal perfusion to your internal organs can be reestablished. They will also monitor your heart and other vital signs to make sure that you are stable before you are released.
Cardiac Arrhythmia
Another way severe pain can raise your risk for organ damage is by causing a cardiac arrhythmia. This means that your heart is beating in an abnormal rhythm, and if not recognized and treated quickly, you may develop kidney damage or damage to your heart muscle.
When you visit an urgent care center complaining of severe pain, the staff will check your blood pressure and listen to your heart with a stethoscope. If an audible abnormality is discovered, you will then get an electrocardiogram test, which will determine if you have an abnormal heartbeat.
If you do, the doctor and the urgent care facility may give you a cardiac drug to help regulate your heart so that your blood can effectively pump to your internal organs, reducing your risk for further problems. You will also be give pain medications, and monitored until you feel better. Once your pain subsides, your abnormal heartbeat will probably revert back to a normal rhythm.
If you develop severe pain, especially if it is accompanied by shortness of breath, numbness, chest pain, or dizziness, seek emergency treatment at an urgent care center or the closest hospital. The sooner your symptoms are treated, the less likely you will be to experience complications such as internal organ damage.
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