Finding Relief for Chronic Pain
Did you now that about 70% of chronic pain patients are women? The National Institute of Health (NIH) says that “Chronic pain is a medical disease that can be made worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain persists over a long period and can be challenging to manage”.
Pain can be low, pounding, never-seems-to-go-away pain or stabbing, piercing, want-to-scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs pain. Pain begins with specialized nerve endings that are in almost all of your body’s tissues being activated after feeling pressure, temperature, irritation or simply to alert you to damage. These neural messages are sent through specific nerves to the spinal cord where a filtering process can amplify or reduce the strength of the signal. Once in the spinal cord different nerve cells relay these messages to higher processing centers in the brain. All of this simply says that you feel pain and you want it to stop.
Many Options
Today there is more hope than ever for relieving chronic pain. It’s estimated that over 20% of adults in America suffer from chronic pain, a serious health condition which lasts over 3 months.
The process of finding an effective treatment for your pain is a complex and very personal process because your pain is unique. Even if you have the same injury or illness as another family member or friend or neighbor what works for them may not work for you.
My latest book, 101 Tips for Chronic Pain Relief, can help you find a treatment or therapy that can help you with your chronic pain. The good news is that you have more opportunities for pain relief today than ever before.
Happy Thoughts
From Prayer Therapy to Humor Therapy there are many ways to think your way to less pain. Remember how your pain is all about your nervous system? Since pain is simply your nerves telling your brain that it hurts this makes sense. One of my favorite treatments is Humor Therapy. Did you know that 15 minutes of laughter can provide up to two hours of pain relief and it’s even approved by the American Medical Association? Today doctors are still hesitant to recommend it for pain relief. Instead they prefer to use drugs but humor is an effective method of pain relief. Norman Cousins published Anatomy Of An Illness in 1964 about his battle with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful disintegration of the connective tissue of the spine and how humor helped him cope. But now we also have many other types of treatments to help change your thinking like EFT, PSYCH-K, and Meditation. In 1987 Francine Shapiro while walking through a park and watching squirrels dart about discovered that eye movements could decrease distressing memories. Increased stress and tension can cause all sorts of pain and discomfort so Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was created. Today there are many other options for you to consider.
Over-The-Counter
Heat and cold are some of the oldest treatments for pain. A recent survey by the U.S. Pain Foundation found that they’re also among the most popular treatments. Almost 68% of people say they use heat at least once each week while 45% say they use cold therapy. You probably already know that aspirin for pain relief goes back thousands of years. Alcohol has been used almost as long. Even Capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot, has been used for 7,000 years. Now we also have lots of safe, new products from Fish Oil to Hempvana, Aspercreme, and Biofreeze, Tylenol and Advil among many others. Finding what works best to ease your pain is the challenge.
Prescriptions
There is a wide range of prescription pain relievers and they are both effective and dangerous. You’ve heard their names before including Vicodin, Fentanyl, Oxycodone, Percocet and others. How long and how well they work varies by individual and the situation. They all risk addiction, which is why they require a doctor’s prescription.
Medical Options
Did you know that in the 1800’s medical doctors were using mercury as a medicine? After watching the horrors of the Civil War and enduring the loss of his wife and children from disease, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still founded the American School of Osteopathy. Doctors of Osteopathy receive full medical training but additional training in bones and muscles and how the body works as a whole. Even though they were offered M.D. certification in 1969 they chose to retain their D.O. certification. There are also completely different medical systems like Acupuncture from China which is over 5,000 years old and doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription., Homeopathy from Germany or Ayurveda from India.
CAM
Some of the more unusual treatments for chronic pain relief are from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Bee Venom Therapy goes back to ancient Egypt, Greece and China for pain relief. Music Therapy originated in VA hospitals after wars to help with pain relief. A 2002 clinical study discovered that continuous, low-intensity ultrasound resulted in significant pain relief for people with musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and neck area, even for the knees. However the FDA warns the ultrasonic therapy is not safe for everyone. Anyone with a cardiac pacemaker, a healing fracture, an implanted medical device, a malignancy in the target area or if you’re pregnant should talk with your doctor before beginning treatment.
Devices
From Biofeedback machines to Virtual Reality Therapy gadgets there is a wide range of devices that can help relieve your pain. You can choose from a battery-powered TENS unit for overpowering nerves to reduce pain to a PENS. Traction has been used for certain types of
injuries and pain . There’s even a variety of gadgets that utilize light to help reduce pain from Infrared and Cold Laser to Green and Red Light Therapy.
