Dr Nick Christelis has had an incredible professional career, and he is still as passionate about helping his patients with all types of pain as the day he started.
After growing up in Johannesburg, Dr Christelis trained as a doctor and worked in South Africa’s townships as an intern.
Afterwards, he moved to London, where he trained as a specialist anaesthetist at London’s top hospitals – Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and The Royal London Hospital to name a few.
“Somebody offered me a pain fellowship at St Mary’s Hospital and that’s when I realised that pain was a big deal,” Dr Christelis said.
“I saw a lot of people suffering and struggling with chronic pain, including family members close to me.”
After moving to Melbourne, Dr Christelis began working as an anaesthetic specialist at The Alfred running the pain service, but he really wanted to launch his own practice so that he could help more people.
“I started a practice and I saw one patient on the first day,” he said.
“Since then, we’ve treated more than 20,000 patients. We have 10 pain specialists, as well as physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, dieticians and an amazing growing team.
“We’ve made pain the centre of our world because we know it’s the centre of our patients’ world.”
In Australia, 1 in 5 people aged 45 and over are living with persistent, ongoing pain. Many don’t get the treatment they need, and have to wait months before getting assessed in the public system.
Dr Christelis said this need not be the case.
“We aim to be welcoming to patients and to be accessible,” he said.
“In the public system, you may wait a year to see a specialist. In the private system, we can see people in a week or two if needed, depending on their pain issues.”
Dr Christelis said there were many misconceptions about pain specialists and how they treat pain. This is what his team aims to change.
“People need to understand that pain specialists do not just prescribe opioids and use psychologists to treat pain,” he said.
“We are specialists in our field. We diagnose and treat many different pain syndromes. We treat chronic back pain, pain from arthritis, nerve pain syndromes after surgeries, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and many other pain conditions. We use advanced techniques to de-sensitise parts of the body and treat pain while we help patients rehabilitate and get their lives back on track. The bottom line is that if anyone is suffering from pain that is lasting more than 3 months and is affecting quality of life, then we may be able to help.”
Dr Christelis’ team treats all types of pain, from acute pain after surgery and chronic pain, to cancer-related pain, arthritic pain, shingles pain and anything in between.
Treatments are varied, depending on the source of the pain. In some instances, lifestyle advice and education can work wonders. Other times, medication, medical treatments, surgery or technology are necessary to treat and manage the pain.
One thing’s for sure. Dr Christelis has had some incredible success stories, and those are what keep him so inspired about his work.
Take, for example, the elderly lady who fractured her shoulder and was told she was too old and frail to be operated on. She lived in pain for two years before Dr Christelis injected a chemical called Phenol into her shoulder and cauterised the nerves. She’s now a different person and enjoys a much better quality of life.
Then there was the patient who had a wrist operation and fusion, and was told she’d need to take 50mg of morphine a day for the rest of her life. After seeing Dr Christelis and having electrical nerve stimulation, she is now off the medication, pain-free, and is back to playing the piano, which was one of her goals.
“Not many people do this line of work – not many people want to, but I love it,” said Dr Christelis.
“It’s not often that a person comes to you and says, ‘thank you for anaesthetising me for my surgery’, whereas as a pain specialist, we’re back to grassroots medicine again.
“I develop a long-term rapport and professional relationship with patients. I’ve got patients I’ve known for 10 years.”
Like to make an appointment?
Dr Christelis consults at Bluff Road Medical on Wednesdays.
Call 1300 798 682 (tel) , or email reception@painspecialistsaustralia.com.au or see https://painspecialistsaustralia.com.au/contact
For more information and resources about pain management, head to:
Website: Pain Specialists Australia.
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