Everyday pain management ideas

Is a cure for migraines on the horizon? Researchers are doing all they can to make it a reality. © iStockphoto /Konstantin Sutyagin Migraine is a debilitating condition that costs billions of dollars a year in healthcare fees, sick days and poor performance. It can change throughout your life depending on your stress levels, your hormone levels, your age and your triggers, which can also change. Doctors often diagnose migraines based on ruling out other problems, like heart and other brain issues. Migraine sufferers s

Migraine headache can be simply defined as severe head pain that lasts for several hours, sometimes even for days.  Usually the pain is only on one side of the head. For about  twenty percent of the 24+ million migraine sufferers in the US, it is accompanied by an aura--a sensory disturbance such as a visual disturbance, hallucination, numbness, or tingling . Migraine can be quite debilitating.  As a migraine sufferer myself, I cannot begin to tell you how many days of productivity I have personally lost due to migraine.  Multiply me by 24 million and...well, that's a lot!  The financial impact is also huge if you consider all the work days lost in addition to the money that is spent on doctor or ER visits and tests and prescription drugs related to this problem. What causes migraine, you might ask?  Well, the jury is still out on that but it is proposed that there is a cascade of neurological events that lead to the swelling of blood vessels in the brain. Pain and inflam

Brain scans reveal that people with fibromyalgia are not as able to prepare for pain as healthy people, and they are less likely to respond to the promise of pain relief. This altered brain processing could explain why people with the mysterious chronic ailment feel pain more intensely and don't respond as well to narcotic painkillers, the researchers said. Their findings are published in the Nov. 5 issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. People without fibromyalgia can mentally alleviate some types of pain that people experience, explained Dr. Lynn Webster, president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. "For people with fibromyalgia, that capability seems to be dampened if not eliminated," Webster said. "They may not be able to respond the same way to medications or our intrinsic [natural] mechanisms for dealing with pain." The authors used an MRI to scan each participant's brain as a blood pressure cuff painfully squeezed the pati

1. Acetaminophen is also known as Tylenol(brand name) and sometimes by its abbreviated name APAP. It is probably the most common fever and pain reducer on the market today. 2. Acetaminophen is an ingredient in many single and multi-ingredient products. Before taking any prescription or non prescription product it is a good idea to know if and how much acetaminophen is in that product.   3.It is recommended that no more than 4 grams of acetaminophen be ingested in a 24 hour period. The ceiling effect of acetaminophen is 3 grams-- meaning that anything over 3 grams does not really contribute to its analgesic effect. Make sure to include all the acetaminophen being ingested from all the products you are taking so you don't go over the 4 gram limit. 4. Tylenol overdose can cause liver damage, and even death if the limits are exceed. 5. Tylenol is useful for pain relief and also fever reduction. The mechanism of action is unclear. 6. Acetaminophen has no anti-inflammatory

Most of us have heard the term "obesity epidemic" over and over again in recent times.  Most of us are also aware that being overweight is unhealthy, and sets the stage  for many other health disorders if left unaddressed.  Diabetes, hypertension,sleep disorders, and heart disease are only some of the many potential issues that can occur when a person is overweight.  Being even moderately overweight can wreak havoc on the human body. Did you ever stop to think that of being overweight can have an impact on chronic pain? Visualize how you might feel while carrying around a 20 pound bag of potatoes. Or as an experiment, try it out on your next trip to the market!  When you put the bag down, it simply feels just so much better!  The trouble is, when someone is overweight, they can't "put it down"...so it gets carried everywhere, all day and night, causing pain and accelerated deterioration of the spine, hips and knees. Many hip and knee replacements could be po

If you are a chronic pain sufferer, you are well aware of the impact that being in pain has on your moods every day.  If you are a person who battles depression or anxiety, you know that when you are in pain, trying to tackle both issues makes putting on your best face a lot more challenging. The lack of sleep, the battle of dealing with discomfort that comes and goes when you least expect it, or doesn't go away...just all seems to takes its toll on your self-esteem, your sense of humor, despite all attempts to keep a positive demeanor. In a nutshell, when both of these problems occur together, they both become worse. Ughhhh... That being said, do not fear.  There is help for you! Here are some therapies you might like to consider.  You may need to combine remedies for best results: Counseling with a psychiatrist or psychologist.   Group therapy may also be of value. Antidepressant medications, especially SNRIs or tricyclic types Strategies to reduce stress: exercise, medit

The effect of gravity on the human body takes its toll over time. Although it is something you cannot taste, touch, see or hear, the consequences of this constant downward force are obvious to most of us.  If it were not for gravity, we would not be walking the earth as we do; rather we would be floating bodies above its surface. One of the end results of this constant pull is compression of the spine and joints in the human body.  The discs of the spinal cord lose moisture and tend to compress over the course of our waking hours.  In case you haven't guessed, this phenomenon can wreak havoc with a back that's already feeling the pain from an injury or disorder. One possible way to relieve the painful outcome of this combination is the use of inversion therapy.  By allowing our bodies to hang upside down for a time, the spine can decompress and  effect that gravity has on that aching back is reversed. This can be accomplished several different ways.  One example of inversio