Managing pain can be a difficult chore and for some, even more harmful than the pain itself. You don’t need to watch tv for long to see advertisements depicting a mother taking an over the counter painkiller or anti-inflammatory to power through their daily parental duties before putting the kids to bed and forcing themselves to get sleep (sometimes with another pill) just to wake up and do it all over again the next day.
These medicines are a godsend to some parents who deal with daily aches and pain just from carrying backpacks or soccer bags. However, finding yourself using different lab created drugs to just make it through your daily life can have crippling results on your short and long-term health. Nowadays, herbal and natural remedies for pain management are becoming increasingly popular and providing pain relief for those who need it without the chemical side effects of pharmaceutical drugs.
Prescription painkillers top the charts of addiction threats in the United States. As the challenges of Percocet, Vicodin, and Ultram withdrawal and detox reveal, powerful painkillers often come with harmful side effects and increased chance of developing personality disorders. Often when patients have already become addicts through doctor given prescriptions under medical care, they turn to illegal drugs when the pharmacy refills run out this is creating the need for far larger nationwide help for addiction recovery from all sorts of drugs like alcohol and even heroin detoxification. Hope comes in the form of alternatives to prescription opiate analgesics. Studies continue on for many of these, and new benefits are being discovered every day.
Using herbal remedies as a natural pain relief can be a healthy alternative to prescription drugs, and often more cost-effective, not to mention easier on your mental health. Each of these must be looked into for guidance and usage, along with side effects when combined with certain diets (alcohol is often a negative factor), but most of these can be found at your local drugstore pharmacy where a pharmacist can likely answer further questions you may have.
Ginger is commonly used to decrease pain in the joints and muscles. It contains phytochemicals that can relieve the pain by decreasing the inflammation. Turmeric similarly decreases inflammation and is commonly used for heartburn and arthritis. Capsaicin, a topical remedy, can relieve pain in a much different way: it depletes a substance in the body that relays pain messages from the peripheral system to the central nervous system.
For aches in the head, stomach, and teeth, people have used feverfew for centuries. It is also common to use feverfew for migraines and rheumatoid arthritis. Along with Kava Kava’s known stress-relief and anxiety-reducing benefits, it is also effective against neuropathic discomfort and headaches caused by tension. St. John’s Wort is a common combatant against neuropathic pain as well, along with sciatica and arthritis. Ginseng is found to have positive effects on fibromyalgia, and Valerian Root is a popular remedy for muscle cramps or spasms, along with helping you to get a good night’s sleep.
This list is just part of the steps you can take to fight pain naturally, but it is important to further research their safety and the effectiveness each will have against your specific type of pain. There is also a physical side to pain management, and many steps you can take to fight the pain a bit more literally.
Physical therapy is one of the most effective tools for a healthier lifestyle. It can be used to heal injuries and prevent surgery, reducing pain the more you keep up with it. Sessions with a physical therapist are gravely important after an injury and must be taken seriously, but it is also quite easy to pick up a few methods on your own. There is an endless amount of resources to find stretches and healing positions for sore muscles and physical pain, it just requires a bit of research. Safety is most important though, so avoid any exercises that are difficult, beyond your skill level, or hard to understand.
Massage is commonly used to treat ailments such as fibromyalgia, back pain, and neck pain. It is often recommended for post-surgery discomfort as well. Not to be used as a substitute for a chiropractor, massage has many benefits for pain management. An expert masseuse can even play a large part in helping you find where your pain is coming from, and then help to relieve it. Other specialists, such as acupuncturists and hypnotists, are also great to turn to for dealing with pain. There may be less scientific research to back these up but they each promote physical wellness in their own ways.
Staying fit is a clear way to maintain health and prevent pain; yet, with recurring pain, many forms of exercise can be too difficult. Use relaxation methods such as Yoga and Tai Chi to “massage” and build your muscles while promoting relaxation. Yoga is widely known to help with back pain, in part because of the stress-reducing mechanisms it enhances: reducing stress simply reduces pain.
Yoga and Tai Chi are also commonly used for the treatment of migraines, fibromyalgia, and arthritis. Meditation goes hand-in-hand with these exercises. Even the most artless forms of meditation can simply work to decrease your sensitivity to pain.
Rasel Khan is an internet entrepreneur