Everyday pain management ideas

Protein is an essential component of the human diet; it is surely a good idea to include some protein in every meal.  Lean protein is more favorable here, not because it contains some magical remedy for inflammation, but because by doing so you can avoid saturated fats. Saturated fats have a tendency to promote the inflammatory process--so it is definitely a good idea to minimize intake. An excerpt from Arthritis Today states the following: "Some small studies have looked at the direct impact of specific diets and foods and arthritis. According to a 2011 review in Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America, people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who followed a Mediterranean diet – which features lean protein like fish and poultry and is high in plant-based foods such as beans, veggies and olive oil – reported a decrease in joint tenderness and an improvement in their sense of well being. Another small study cited in the review found that in some people with RA, vegan and

Your mother always told you to eat your vegetables...and this was indeed wise advice.  She probably did not know nearly what we know now about the potent anti-inflammatory effect of many substances found in this food group.  Yet, somehow she knew that it was good for you. Taking a closer look...what are these anti-inflammatory agents, and where can they be found? Here is a short list: Dark leafy greens,  such as spinach,kale and collard greens have rich vitamin E content. This vitamin protects the body from the effect of cytokines, a substance known to promote inflammation.  Leafy green vegetables also have more mineral content (calcium and iron) and phytochemicals than do their light green counterparts. The extra fiber in the diet is an added bonus! Peppers  are rich in antioxidants, and many believe that these are of benefit in the anti-inflammatory diet. The hotter peppers contain capsaicin, which is an ingredient of some topical agents that are used in pain managemen

Is Alcohol Good For Pain Relief? November 12, 2008 Paul Chelminski, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  Question: Is Alcohol Good For Pain Relief? Answer: When I was a teenager, I was watching the movie, Papillon, and unfortunately this idea that alcohol could relieve pain was perpetuated by this movie because I remember there was this somewhat gruesome scene where a leg was amputated from one of the movie actors with the assistance of a bottle of brandy. Alcohol has no direct pain-relieving properties. There is a strong relationship between chronic pain and anxiety and depression . And alcohol does have some transient benefits on mood that can help indirectly alleviate the patient's suffering from pain, but no direct effect on the pain itself. In addition, you know, excessive alcohol use in the context of intensive pain management can be very harmful. We treat many types of pain with

J ust browsing on Amazon.com, there is definitely some thought in this area.  The basic idea here is that by eating foods that are more nutritionally correct, you can reduce inflammation and as a result reduce pain levels.  This would make sense for any chronic pain situation where inflammation is the BIG problem--rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, ,many back pain issues, and the like.  I don't know if it works or not but I am here to share the idea with you because that is the purpose of my blog.  Below I will share the book that intrigued me the most. Ultimately, I believe that it is worth it to try just because most of us have much room for improvement in our dietary choices--and our dietary choices go a long way in improving or worsening our overall health.  Maybe it's not the be-all and the end-all but is sure can't hurt!

Does Vitamin C play a role in pain management? Recent years have seen the new and important roles for vitamin C in the world of pain management: most notably as a way to lessen the impact of periperal neuropathy related to shingles.   In addition a double blind study conducted by Zollinger et. all showed reduced pain sensitivity to painful stimuli and reduced risk of developing complex regional pain syndrome in patients given vitamin C pre/post surgery in wrist and ankle surgeries.   There is also suggestion that vitamin C plays a role in reducing incidence of migraine.  It is proposed that the antioxidant properties of this vitamin are the key to this role; it has also been found to increase the pain threshhold in patients with chronic pancreatitis.  Studies suggest that the additon of B-carotene and methionine further enhance the benefits of vitamin C when all three are taken together. Reference: Vitamin C and Its Emerging Role in Pain Management: Benef

One of my earlier posts regarding non-drug pain management was about nutrition. In today's post we see an example of this. In an July 2012 article in US Pharmacist, the link between chronic pain issues and vitamin D deficiency were explored.  The table below was posted in that article.  As you can see, there have been a good number of studies linking various chronic pain syndromes to this problem, and in almost every case repletion of vitamin D produced positive results.  If you have reason to believe that your vitamin D levels may be subnormal---don't hesitate to ask your doctor about checking your levels.  This is not a rare problem in the current day and age, and if it turns out that you, too are affected, a little vitamin d supplementation may be just the ticket!   Vitamin D and Chronic Pain: Promising Correlates        US Pharmacist July 18 2012

People who deal with chronic or recurrent pain may realize over time what may or may not help improve control of their pain. One way of doing this is to keep a diary and make notations of various things about their day, such as What foods did I eat--did I eat too much or too little today? What kind of exercise did I do ? What was my activity level today? How was my sleep last night? What was the weather today? What medications did I take/withhold today? What was my pain level today? By keeping track of these various things in your day, you may actually be able to see what kinds of things help or hurt your pain control efforts, and identify triggers and patterns unique to your situation. A pain diary is a good way to accomplish this goal. You can create your own pain diary from a notebook, or you can use a form like the one below that I found on Healthcentral.com .  Your doctor's office may also have resources like this for you to use. Last but not least, ther

When looking for resources to write this section of my blog, I came across an article from Pain.com that I will share below.  I could not express my own thoughts on this topic any better than they do--but if you are in a hurry, here are the key points from my perspective: 1) A well balanced diet has positive effects on overall health, and inasmuch as that affects     mood, weight control, etc. it affects the impact of pain on daily life. Conversely, a     diet that is lacking in nutritional needs is akin to running a car engine on bad gasoline--     it simply does not run efficiently/well.    2) A dietician is a good person to consult if you have no idea how to improve dietary habits. 3) Some foods may be more beneficial at helping lower pain levels if we but include them    in our diets. As promised, here is the article from Pain.com. You can click on the image to go to the actual article.