USA
From the book Reversing Chronic Pain by Dr. Maggie Phillips:
"1. Body focused therapy. This includes massage, physical therapy, Pilates, acupuncture, yoga, Reiki, and vaerious kinds of exercise programs that are supervised by a professional, at least in the beginning. You may also want to use an approach like Somatic Experiencing to focus on trauma in the body.
2. Medication and medical treatment. It is important not to dismiss the significance of pain medications. At certain times in your recovery cycle, well-chosen medication may be the only intervention owerful enough to break certain patterns such as intense, extremem-pain cycles, pain induced depressions, and sleep disruption that prevents healing from taking place.
Many people who are prescribed pain medication dislike the side effects they encounter or they are afraid of the risk of drug dependency, and so reist taking medication. Yet medication cannot work effectively unless you are taking the proper dosage for the right length of time (which may be longer than you would like) so that the drug can be useful in the ways it was designed to be. Such medicaitons might inlcude antidepressants, anti-anxiety compounds , and sleep aids as well as pain relief medications.
Other medical treatments to consider include nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and electrical and ultrasound stimulation. For the right person and situation, these can be invaluable.
Combination therapy as explored in this book may make your use of pain medications more efficient. Many of my clients as they assemble tools that harness the full power of the mind/body partnership, find that they begin to rely less on medication, or to use it strategically so that it brings more of the results they want. So, consult with your physician to make sure that you are not either overmedicating or undermedicating your pain.
3. Nutritional therapy and supplements. This factor is often ignored and yet is one of the most crucial in offering a relatively easy way to make a powerful positive impact on the pain system. Some foods, including sugar and simple carbohydrates that metabolize into sugar, can provoke pain flare-ups. Conversely, there are other foods such as fish that can help reduce inflammation and pain.
You will benefit from learning about nutrients like antioxidants that relieve inflammantion and boost the immune system. You will also benefite from an emphasis on nutrients and /or medications that increase serotonin, which is depleted by pain. Serotonin blocks our percetpions of pain, stabilizes negative emotions and moods that increase pain, , and helps to regulate sleep and the fight/flight/freeze response in the nervous system. You may want to consult a good nutritionist experienced in working with pain and other persistent health problems who can help you evaluate your nutritional needs. Herbalists, homeopaths, and acupuncturists can also be of help.
4. Regulating daily rhythms. This strategy involves regulating your daily schedule so that you have the right balance of activity and rest, social interactions and quiet, energy giving activities as well as those that deplete energy.
Perhaps you'll need to view the time your require daily to focus on recovery from pain as self treatment rather than rest or recuperation, since these are terms that may igninte your own judments and those of others. Deciding to focus on effective self-treatment might allow you to place greater priority on healing in your everyday life and help you interrupt your pain cycle."
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"1. Body focused therapy. This includes massage, physical therapy, Pilates, acupuncture, yoga, Reiki, and vaerious kinds of exercise programs that are supervised by a professional, at least in the beginning. You may also want to use an approach like Somatic Experiencing to focus on trauma in the body.
2. Medication and medical treatment. It is important not to dismiss the significance of pain medications. At certain times in your recovery cycle, well-chosen medication may be the only intervention owerful enough to break certain patterns such as intense, extremem-pain cycles, pain induced depressions, and sleep disruption that prevents healing from taking place.
Many people who are prescribed pain medication dislike the side effects they encounter or they are afraid of the risk of drug dependency, and so reist taking medication. Yet medication cannot work effectively unless you are taking the proper dosage for the right length of time (which may be longer than you would like) so that the drug can be useful in the ways it was designed to be. Such medicaitons might inlcude antidepressants, anti-anxiety compounds , and sleep aids as well as pain relief medications.
Other medical treatments to consider include nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and electrical and ultrasound stimulation. For the right person and situation, these can be invaluable.
Combination therapy as explored in this book may make your use of pain medications more efficient. Many of my clients as they assemble tools that harness the full power of the mind/body partnership, find that they begin to rely less on medication, or to use it strategically so that it brings more of the results they want. So, consult with your physician to make sure that you are not either overmedicating or undermedicating your pain.
3. Nutritional therapy and supplements. This factor is often ignored and yet is one of the most crucial in offering a relatively easy way to make a powerful positive impact on the pain system. Some foods, including sugar and simple carbohydrates that metabolize into sugar, can provoke pain flare-ups. Conversely, there are other foods such as fish that can help reduce inflammation and pain.
You will benefit from learning about nutrients like antioxidants that relieve inflammantion and boost the immune system. You will also benefite from an emphasis on nutrients and /or medications that increase serotonin, which is depleted by pain. Serotonin blocks our percetpions of pain, stabilizes negative emotions and moods that increase pain, , and helps to regulate sleep and the fight/flight/freeze response in the nervous system. You may want to consult a good nutritionist experienced in working with pain and other persistent health problems who can help you evaluate your nutritional needs. Herbalists, homeopaths, and acupuncturists can also be of help.
4. Regulating daily rhythms. This strategy involves regulating your daily schedule so that you have the right balance of activity and rest, social interactions and quiet, energy giving activities as well as those that deplete energy.
Perhaps you'll need to view the time your require daily to focus on recovery from pain as self treatment rather than rest or recuperation, since these are terms that may igninte your own judments and those of others. Deciding to focus on effective self-treatment might allow you to place greater priority on healing in your everyday life and help you interrupt your pain cycle."
sue in ohio
