Pain Relief by 5 Natural Ways
As a chronic pain sufferer, I can tell you from first hand experience why I don’t always choose conventional pain relief. There are natural alternatives to living on pain killers every day. Here are five natural pain relief options that may help. Some don’t even need a prescription.
Conventional Pain Relief
First, no conventional pain medication has ever been approved by the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) for long term use. Second, they all have side effects, narcotic and non-narcotic medications. Even aspirin which causes bleeding in the stomach for everyone who takes it. Motrin, a popular NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) can increase the risk of blood clots or stroke with long term use. The dangers of narcotic pain relievers? For a start, the potential for overdose and addiction. The body develops a tolerance to the drug, so more is needed to relieve the pain. And more, and more. And then there are the side effects, like being stoned all day and unable to work or even move when you’d rather be living your life.
It would seem the chronic pain sufferer has only few options: risk the side effects of either the narcotic or non-narcotic pain reliever, stop taking the medication all together and just suffer, or alternate between the two, a dangerous decision for the long term.
There are natural pain relief options available to chronic and non chronic pain sufferers. Insurance companies may cover some of these therapies; be sure to call to see if the treatment you choose is covered. If it’s not, a letter of predetermination from your doctor stating the situation and the need for the therapy may help get it approved. If not, check to see what the insurance companies appeal processes are.
Here are only five natural pain relief options; the list is much bigger. Perhaps your doctor can suggest one or more that may benefit you. If not, be sure to see if the practice has a certification process and that the person providing the service is certified. Your state medical board can tell you if the person is required to have a medical license as well and if that person is in good standing.
Acupuncture
This is an ancient practice, believed to be developed in China thousands of years ago. It involves ultra-thin needles inserted into the skin at different points in the body. Some are left in place; some are gently vibrated by the acupuncturist. I’ve had this done; it works for me. I don’t know why. It’s a little unsettling at first to think about being a “pincushion,” but it really isn’t like that. That’s just in the movies. It didn’t hurt much at all. And the acupuncturist put me at ease, telling jokes. It is a natural pain relief option because it stimulates the body’s own energy to heal itself.
Western medicine is dubious about acupuncture because they really don’t know how it works. The NIH National Institute of Health thinks that the pain relief effect of acupuncture is mainly psychological. From my own experience- nope. It works for me.
Check with your state medical board to see if an acupuncturist is required to be licensed. They certainly are in Texas. Practitioners are listed on the web site for the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners.
Stress Relief
It does sound interesting, doesn’t it? Natural pain relief through stress relief? Stress can change how a person reacts to pain, sometimes making the pain seem worse than it really is. Although it may not make chronic pain stop altogether, the person can learn to cope with pain and manage everyday living.
Sometimes a support group helps to relieve stress and lessen pain. Different people with the same condition or ailment get together, give each other understanding and can give tips on how to manage the pain along with daily stressors. Family members of chronic pain sufferers also benefit because they can learn how to help and how to cope themselves, lowering stress in the entire family.
Using stress relief, the person can lower their need for conventional medications long term, or benefit from other natural pain relief methods.
Exercise
“It hurts to move. And you’re telling me to exercise? If I move it’s going to hurt more and you’re telling me to exercise?” Doctors have been faced with this statement before. I have bursitis from a broken shoulder years ago, and that was me, yelling at the doctor for telling me the only way to stop my painful shoulder from hurting so much was to move it. It seemed like an oxymoron.
But it’s true. Especially in injured or arthritic joints. Non-movement can lead to joint deterioration, making matters much worse. Movement also releases endorphins, hormones that provide the body with its own natural pain relief. It also strengthens the heart, and helps lessen stress by taking away the perception, “I can’t move.”
Laughter for Pain Relief
Laugh if you want to, it works. There are laughter clubs in over 40 countries world wide where people get together and laugh their heads off for an hour, then go on to their daily lives. And it does work. If you can laugh, you feel better even when you’re in pain. The world around you doesn’t seem so miserable. Believe it or not, laughter is accepted by the AMA as a natural pain relief.
According to the Mayo clinic, a good belly laugh stimulates endorphins, natural pain relief hormones in the brain. It also strengthens the immune system, by increasing the heart rate and blood pressure, then lowering them, giving the person a “cooled down” feeling.
Give it a try at work. Gather trusted co-workers, explain what you’re doing, get together and laugh for 5 or 10 minutes a day. See if work seems like a better place. Better still, explain what you’re doing and watch who joins.
Hypnosis
And the last natural pain relief method mentioned here, but certainly not least, is hypnosis. It really does work for some people, and no, your doctor will not have you dancing like a chicken or force you to do anything stupid. Practitioners are licensed doctors, dentists and psychologists. I have personally witnessed pediatric dental patients being hypnotized (I was a dental assistant in the USAF), and receiving dental treatment with no anesthesia at all. It does work for some people.
A study conducted by Dr. Mark Jensen, PhD and fellow psychologist, Dr. David Patterson conducted a review into several controlled clinical studies of hypno-analgesia (hypnosis induced pain relief) and found a greatly reduced need for conventional pain relievers (especially narcotic pain relief), a reduction in length of hospital stays and better overall medical conditions of the patients.
Of these natural pain relief methods, none have any side effects. And laughter doesn’t need to be approved by or covered by insurance. It’s worth checking them out to live without the need or the feeling of enslavement to conventional pain medications.
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