How to Manage Chronic Pain Naturally and Live Better
If you have recently been diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, you are joining an increasingly large part of the population. Yet despite the high number of people who suffer from chronic pain, there isn’t much consensus from modern medicine on how to treat it. Medication can provide some temporary relief, but some prescription medications can be dangerous and do nothing to relieve pain long term. With a holistic approach to reducing pain, you can live better and feel better without medication.
Food Is the Best Medicine
Being aware of everything that goes into your body is a powerful way to combat pain. That’s because one of the top triggers for pain is inflammation in joints, and food can either create inflammation or
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The general rule for an anti-inflammatory diet is to eat the rainbow, which means the bulk of your nutrients should come from a wide variety (and color) of fruits and vegetables. Certain spices like cinnamon and turmeric, beans, and lean proteins like salmon that are high in omega-3 fats are also some of the best foods to reduce inflammation. Eating right truly is the best medicine for reducing pain, and unlike most medications, there aren’t any harmful side …show more content…
While opioid prescription medications mask pain right away, they do nothing to manage pain long term, and the risk of addiction is a very real problem with serious long-term consequences. When you take prescription opioids, your brain becomes conditioned to associate the medication with feeling better, making your body crave that response. This is the primary danger that can lead to an unhealthy dependence on
A. Chronic pain signifies a developing public health issue of huge magnitudes, mainly in view of aging populations in developed countries (Russo).
Lucy’s biological, psychological and social factors must all be individually addressed in order to manage her condition effectively and personally. By getting involved in a pain management programme with support and guidance from her primary physician and other multi-disciplinary team members, Lucy can be signposted towards other strategies that may complement the ones she is already using to manage her chronic pain. This proactive management would enable Lucy to learn to manage her own long term condition but with support, guidance and direction from her team of health care professionals, allowing her to take an active role in her pain management.
Rheumatoid arthritis is not curable. Medications will be recommended to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, slow the progression of RA, and save joints and tissues from permanent damage (Rheumatoid Arthritis, 2017). The most common medications are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD), e.t.c. When having RA, it is important to exercise regularly, apply heat or cold to affected areas, relax, and eat healthy. Physical therapy is usually part of treatment for RA. The goal is to stimulate the bones, muscles, and joints to give them strength and flexibility (Physical Therapy for RA, n.d.). Foods that have lots of omega-3 (fish, chia seeds, flax seeds, and walnuts), high antioxidants like vitamin A, E, and C (berries, dark chocolate, spinach, kidney beans, pecans, and artichokes), and lots of fiber can help reduce inflammation (Foods that fight RA inflammation,
Opioid addiction is a tragedy that affects countless of Americans on a daily basis. Almost everyone is acquainted to someone, who suffers from opioid addiction. Everyone, but specifically family and friends of the victims to opioid addiction need to understand why their loved ones are so susceptible to becoming addicted to opioids. The word opioid in itself is complex to define, but it entails a variety of prescription medications. Most opioids are used as pain management medications and qualify as CII medications also known as narcotics. They are supposed to be used on an “as needed” basis, but that is not the case for many users of opioids. Opioids cause great fear in the health community because they are easily addictive and
" Chronic Pain (CP) statistics astounding according to The Institute of medicine approximately 100 million adults suffer from chronic pain which is more than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined."(IOM Relieving Pain in America 2011, p. 1)
Opioids are used as pain relievers and although it does the job, there are adverse side effects. Opioids are frequently used in the medical field, allowing doctors to overprescribe their patients. The substance can be very addicting to the dosage being prescribed to the patient. Doctors are commonly prescribing opioids for patients who have mild, moderate, and severe pain. As the pain becomes more severe for the patient, the doctor is more likely to increase the dosage. The increasing dosages of the narcotics become highly addicting. Opioids should not be prescribed as pain killers, due to their highly addictive chemical composition, the detrimental effects on opioid dependent patients, the body, and on future adolescents. Frequently doctors have become carless which causes an upsurge of opioids being overprescribed.
Opioids are prescribed to help people; prescription opioids can be used to treat moderate-to-severe pain and are often prescribed following surgery or injury, or for health conditions such as cancer (Prescription Opioids). When taken as directed, opioids are safe and effective treatment options for relieving debilitating chronic pain (Highsmith). Doctors have a screening protocol they follow before prescribing an opioid. Doctors ask patients about their past to see if any substance abuse was present, to rule out patients with a higher risk of becoming addicted to prescription opioids. Nonetheless, if the medication is used as directed, not only is your risk of addiction minimal, the odds of enjoying a better quality of life will be in your favor (Highsmith).
chronic pain could be handled at the bedside with no need to await a doctor's
Opiates are a class of drugs that are used for chronic pain. Opioids are substances that are used to relieve pain by binding opiate receptors throughout the body, and in the brain. These areas in the brain control pain and also emotions, producing a feeling of excitement or happiness. As the brain gets used to these feelings, and the body builds a tolerance to the opioids, there is a need for more opioids and then the possibility of addiction.
One of the reasons the epidemic has become so widespread is due to the addictiveness of opioids. Opioids are prescription medications used to treat pain, with oxycodone and hydrocodone being the more popular drugs (Mayo). Opioids are addictive because of the way
Pain, which is defined in its widest sense as an emotion which is the opposite of pleasure (White, 2004, p.455), is one of the major symptoms of cancer, affecting a majority of sufferers at some point during their condition (De Conno & Caraceni, 1996, p.8). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2009, online) suggests that relief from pain may be achieved in more than 90 percent of patients; however, Fitzgibbon and Loeser (2010, p.190) stress that pain may often be undertreated, even in the UK. Foley and Abernathy (2008, p.2759) identify numerous barriers to effective pain management, among which are professional barriers such as inadequate knowledge of pain mechanisms, assessment and management strategies.
It doesn’t matter if these patients will become addicted, because these doctors are so sure of it that they overprescribe just so the patients won’t come back asking for more in the near future. Due to the inconsideration and selfishness of these doctors “Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing form of substance abuse”(Hanson). To make matters worse, a majority of these doctors aren't even warning their patients about the type of drug they are dealing with. According to the National Institute on drug abuse, opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, causing them to be highly addictive(Thomas et al). Not only is it clear to see that these doctors are at fault here for even prescribing a drug they know can be as addicting as heroin, but also because they aren't doing anything to fix their mistakes, much less admit that they are at fault here. Doctors are to blame for these addiction, not the patients. Doctors are also to blame for not giving these unhealthy addictions the attention they deserve. After all, they are required by the FDA to give risk evaluations when the risks of the drug outweigh the benefits(Blake). Yet on the contrary to popular belief these doctors aren’t giving those evaluations out, if they were more deaths could
Anti-inflammatory drugs such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, or oral steroids, to relieve inflammation. Epidural steroid injections - a steroid injection. Steroids, with their strong anti-inflammatory effects, are delivered at the origin of the inflamed sciatic nerve roots. Manual therapy, Osteopathy or Physiotherapy can be very effective, reduce the recovery time and helps to prevent further episodes of sciatica. Surgery may be required if the sciatic nerve pain is severe and has not been relieved with appropriate manual or medical treatments.
In a pain assessment, the pain is always subjective, in a verbal patient; pain is what the patient says that it is. Nurses must be able to recognize non verbal signs of pain such as elevated pulse, elevated blood pressure, grimacing, rocking, guarding, all of which are signs of pain (Jensen, 2011). A patient’s ethnicity may have a major influence on their meaning of pain and how it is evaluated and responded to behaviorally as well as emotionally (Campbell, & Edwards 2012). A patient may not feel that their pain is acceptable and they do not want to show that they are in pain. For some people, showing pain indicates that they are weak. Other patients will hide their pain as they do not want to be seen as a bother or be seen as a difficult patient.
First and foremost, an anti-inflammatory diet should include a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Onions, garlic, peppers and dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, broccoli, and collard greens are all known to have anti-inflammatory components, as do fresh berries. Also seek out tart cherries, which one study from Oregon Health & Science University found to have more anti-inflammatory potential than any other food. Aim to eat many different foods over the course of a week, and as many fresh foods as possible, avoiding processed and prepackaged foods. In general, the more colorful your diet, the healthier it is from an anti-inflammatory standpoint. Colorful peppers, tomatoes, beets and squash are all good options; in fact, cooked tomatoes are full of lycopene, which is proven to reduc...