Chronic Conditions Articles

Pain relief and pain management are different. Finding the right combinations of complementary treatments is far superior to the medical route.  As far as the medical way most people have been there and done that.

Free To Choose

Real pain relief requires having a new perspective. I know it is easier said than done. There is virtually no instantaneous relief when treating the cause and not the symptom. There are a broad range of modalities, which can help heal the body. This puts in motion a permanent solution. With a holistic view you become a partner in the solution. This presents the best opportunity to maximize the results.

The Steps

Separating the steps for both efficiency and safety should be a dual goal. The ultimate destination should be a reduction in pain, until it becomes non-existent. The only barrier to achieving this would be a lack of motivation.

To break the dependence on pharmaceutical dependency, and dramatically see results: use some new tools. There are many sources of pain. The real problem is when the pain becomes chronic. Once pain lingers for awhile the chance of it becoming a regular occurrence increases.

The first step is to realize that the body can get use to caring pain signals, even if the cause  of pain is gone. Inflammation plays a major role and not only causes pain, but helps the body hold on to the signal.

The first step is diet related, a diet that is high in refined processed food loaded with sugar is the reason inflammation takes hold and persists. This means that food choices, supplements, phytonutrients, and herbs play a role in relieving inflammation. This is turn relieves pain. The appeal of this is it helps with core issues.

The other modalities, acupuncture, naturopathic remedies, reflexology, and upper cervical chiropractic care. The one that gets to the core of the problem is upper cervical chiropractic care, it is basically going to balance your nervous system.

Pain Amplification Syndrome

Pain amplification syndrome is when the nervous system gets use to carrying pain signals and does so when the cause of the pain is gone. Pain signals can become embedded in the spinal core, as a memory. Different traumas turn on the pain signal, and mobilizes our internal resources. When the trauma is resolved the alarm goes off and than the pain dissipates. Sometimes the alarm stays on and a loop is created between the nervous system and the brain. The nerves keep firing and sending electrochemical signals to the brain, and they are interpreted as pain.

This syndrome has significantly increased over the last 10 years. The numbers of adults with  pain amplifications syndrome have become the third-largest patient group in specialized rheumatology clinics.

Pharmaceuticals

Painkillers have become one of the most overused pharmaceutical. The maintenance dose doesn’t always offer relief, and regular increases in dosage isn’t the answer. This type intervention offers few benefits on a long term basis. Some of the side-effects are stomach bleeding, kidney damage and nutritional deficiencies.

Natural Treatments

I am a fan of natural interventions, because I have seen them work.  There is a different function of natural interventions, which has been lost on modern medicine. The fundamental difference is the way they meet the challenge. The best practice is to eliminate the cause, and do this by understanding the underlying cause, other wise you are swimming “upstream” with the current against you.

The real help for MS may be outside the medical model. Medical advances to deal with the condition hasn’t dramatically improved. The medical way is to focus is on high potency drugs. However, just like any of the other so called chronic conditions get ready for one drug after another. So the treatments of choice will be pharmaceuticals. For Multiple Scleroses this means profits for the pharmaceutical industry, and a suffering patient.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and often disabling condition, which attacks the central nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild or severe, and come or go. The current thinking is that MS is a chronic condition and the only thing a patient can do is find relief.

According to most sources multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are when the body’s immune systems which normally attacks substances foreign to the body such as bacteria mistakenly attacks normal tissue. In MS, the immune system is attacking components of the central nervous system such as the brain and spinal cord along with the optic nerves

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a medical mystery with a few theories on how it develops. It isn’t always easy to diagnose since symptoms can be very mild and transient.  To the medical community this condition like many others is in need of pharmaceuticals.

Medical Solutions

Treating MS follows the trend in managing chronic conditions by using a wide variety of medications to reduce the frequency and severity of symptoms. When one medication stops working they look for another drug.

The strategy is to modify the course of the disease (slow it down) treat exacerbations (flare-ups) manage symptoms, improve function. These treatments are symptom control and this is what drives the advances in modern medicine.

The drugs such as Avonex®, Betaseron®, Copaxone®, Extavia®, Gilenya®, Rebif®, and Novatron® come with the hopes that they can reduce disease activity and progression.

The list of possible side effects: depression, anemia, liver abnormalities, allergic reaction, flu like symptoms, anxiety, palpitations, and even chest pains. Some are short lived side effects, and some aren’t common ones. The real problem is the longer you are on them and the more combinations you take the bigger the danger. The documented effectiveness of these drugs isn’t very strong.

Real Answers!

Studies shows that living closer to the equator reduces MS risk. This fits in with research that suggests vitamin D from sun exposure may be protective against MS.  Vitamin deficiencies  play a part in this condition. Just about every chronic condition, which develops comes from inside. The promise of science hasn’t been realized unless you think high dosage medicine is the answer to all health problems.

The one treatment in the medical and pharmaceutical models not used is diet. This has the most implications to both relieve and reverse most of the symptoms. There has been a lack of monitoring diet by the medical community, not just because of ignorance and arrogance, but because this condition can abate and relapse on its own. Most people have to see for themselves what the active ingredients in plant foods can do to. A healthy way of eating is the prototype for any treatment options.

Diet Control

Multiple sclerosis responds to both diet and an exercise programs. The relief from diet and different exercise programs has been chronicled. The appropriate testing comes from the patients who have not just slowed the disease, but reversed much of the condition. In 1948 a Dr. Roy Swank created the first known MS diet. This diet is high in vegetables, fruits and nuts while eliminating saturated fats. To understand this you need a bigger view of this condition. Just about all condition are an inside out occurrence. Specific needs aren’t being met for your body to function properly.

There are thousands of patients that went into remission, and had lesions that decreased in size. The type of exercise is usually light: incorporating yoga and stretching exercises. This helps muscles flexibility and will lessen the chance of becoming stiff or developing atrophy.

There are other diets that include gluten and casein free ones. Flavonoids seem to offer some help and so does food allergy testing.  The notion that dug safety is a safe bet is fading. The future outlook is going to show that one stop answers that come from pharmaceuticals will raise more concerns than answer any questions.

Fibromyalgia patients need more than pharmaceuticals. What is needed is a solution, and the only way to find it means knowing the cause. If there ever was a condition crying our for a natural solution this is it.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a condition that has a profound impact on one’s life. The range of symptoms are so great than everyday living becomes a chore. From constant pain, interrupted sleep, fatigue, sore muscles, headaches, irritable bowel, anxiety and depression the condition is takes away any feeling of well being.

The fact that this is diagnosed in females aged 20 to 50 years of age doesn’t help. Until the pharmaceutical companies found a drug for this condition, most doctors thought of it as either a psychological problem or an imagined one. Now, it has an official diagnosis, which requires that there are a certain number of designated tender points that are extremely sensitive to pressure induced pain.

Pharmaceutical Solution

Pharmaceutical solutions can be anything from antidepressants, painkillers and anticonvulsants. Lyrica is an anticonvulsant and the first medication approved by the FDA  specifically for fibromyalgia. The list of medications for this condition has become quite long. Cymbalta and Effexor Cymbalta and antidepressant approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia pain, Paxil and Zoloft for sleep, wellbeing and pain relief. Elavil and other trycyclin antidepressants are often prescribed. This has side effects such as weight gain, dizziness and fatigue.

With all these drugs complete relief from the pain isn’t always possible. That is why the natural route seems a good way to find a solution.

Natural Approach

There are ways to restore normal function. Emerging evidence is being to see fibromyalgia as a metabolic condition. One of the areas being look at is how this condition is tied to low thyroid function. The evidence is pointing in that direction. Right off the bat there can are some overlapping symptoms that makes this well worth looking into. More women that men suffer from both hypothyroidism and fibromayalgia. The fibromyalgia symptoms are usually more severe, but they both create havoc in the patients life. From fatigue, depression, digestive issue and muscle weakness both conditions are debilitating.

Vitamin D Deficiency

There is a link between fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency. Muscular pain and weakness can be a sign of a vitamin D deficiency. What studies show is that Fibromyalgia sufferers have deficiencies of calcium and serotonin. These contribute to the depression, since vitamin D helps create serotonin, the feel good hormone, this vitamin is extremely important. Serotonin helps you sleep better, and reduces grain fog, depression and anxiety.

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, which helps your muscles relax. The Mayo Clinic has identified a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and chronic pain.

Ribose Supplementation

D-Ribose is a 5-carbon sugar (unlike 6-carbon glucose sugar), directly involved in the production of “ATP”. The body uses this sugar for energy production. Many patients that supplement with D-Ribrose have experience significant improvement. This is especially true in muscle strength. Patient’s with fibro reach the anaerobic threshold in their muscles earlier. Their muscles get tired faster and are using less of the available energy. Ribrose increases the muscles energy pool which reduces the metabolic strain in affected muscles. This allows the patient to resume activities that tired them out before.

Restoring Health

The way to restore your health naturally, means seeing that you aren’t deficient in either nutrients or hormones. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a powerful antioxidant, which helps restore energy in the form of adenosine triphospate (ATP). This is deficient in people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Physical activity provides some pain relief along with improved sleep. There are many people that see benefits of a diet consisting of vegetable juicing, fruits, seeds, and barley grass juice. A whole food diet is essential to healing.

The one modality I don’t want to leave out is Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care. Many patients were able to resume their full activities after treatment.