Good Healthcare Requires Treatment of Your Mind, Body, and Soul

Two Alternate Methods You Can Use To Help You Manage Your Chronic Pain

12 January 2017 by Hugh Larson

Dealing with chronic pain in your life can make it difficult to do everyday tasks, including going to work and taking care of your family. When you experience pain, there are many ways you can reduce and relieve your pain. In addition to taking over-the-counter and prescription pain medications, here are two alternate methods of pain management.

Herbal Remedies

Vitamin D

Vitamin D supplementation has been shown to help relieve pain of patients who are dealing and treating chronic pain. In fact, studies have shown that when you are deficient in Vitamin D, you can require almost twice as much pain medications as patients who are not deficient in Vitamin D. And having a deficiency in Vitamin D has been linked to several chronic illnesses and chronic pain. 

Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the world, with up to 42 percent of adults in the United States being deficient. But, you can easily supplement your body's needs. It is recommended for you to take between 1,000 to 4,000 IU to maintain a high enough blood level. If you are deficient, it is recommended to take up to 5,000 IU each day to help you body reach healthy Vitamin D levels. If you decide to take more than 4,000 IU each day, be sure to check with your doctor first.

Turmeric

Turmeric comes from a root of the ginger family and is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory herbs, which can reduce inflammation that causes disease. To use turmeric, you can add it to foods as a spice when cooking, make it into a tea, or take it as a capsule supplement each day.

It is also recommended to take two teaspoons of turmeric and one teaspoon of grated ginger each day, sprinkled with some black pepper to help your body absorb the supplements. Add these three ingredients to a breakfast fruit smoothie or in a bowl of oatmeal to help the aches that come with chronic pain. This is a beneficial option over using ibuprofen every day, as ibuprofen has been found to increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke after only two weeks of continued use.

Capsaicin

Capsaicin is found in chili peppers and it is what gives them their hot taste when you eat them. The capsaicin in peppers can actually help reduce and relieve chronic pain in your pain management. Capsaicin depletes substance P found in your body, which is a compound that tells your central nervous system where you are feeling pain. Using capsaicin to manage pain does require you to use it for several days before it begins to dull the sensation of pain, so continued use is recommended.

You can find capsaicin for pain management in a skin cream or gel formula to rub over your body, or a skin patch. Apply capsaicin to your skin up to three times each day, but stop using it if your skin becomes irritated. You can also take it internally in the form of supplemental pills. 

Massage Therapy

As an alternate to taking herbs or oral medicines to help with pain, you can also use massage therapy to help reduce and eliminate pain. Massage therapy has been found to be such an effective way to reduce and eliminate pain in several different ways that is available to all surgery patients receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

Massage therapy works in several ways to help you reduce body pain. First, massage therapy works by reducing your body's stress hormone levels and your anxiety to help you relax, which help your body deal with and combat pain more effectively. Then, massage boosts your body's levels of endorphins and serotonin, which are your body's natural painkillers, which also help regulate your mood. Massage therapy has also been shown to reduce your body's pain by shutting down the reaction of your body's genes that cause inflammation with trauma and pain.

Use this information to help you manage your pain.

Share

Search