Everyday pain management ideas

My message for today is simple but very important.  My message today is that a positive attitude about ANY situation--chronic pain being a prime example--is the most important weapon you can have.  Case in point: Barby Ingle.  Click here for a link to a column she wrote for her the Pain News Network.  Her story is not unusual; her attitude is priceless! Sources: Flickr; Pain News Network

One of the most baffling pain conditions women experience is chronic pelvic pain. This unfortunate problem is not only uncomfortable, but can be a cause of infertility in women. Some of the usual causes are fibroids, endometriosis and pelvic adhesions. Typically, these problems are addressed by standard modalities--surgery, medications, psychotherapy, and physical therapy among them. Recently, I came across a newer idea for treatment of pelvic pain caused by adhesions.  It's known as the Wurn Technique, and it's really a quite interesting approach.  Similar to a deep tissue massage, this method can be used to break the adhesions in the pelvic area.  This helps to reduce the pelvic pain and can even restore fertility in some cases!  The best part is that it's all drug free! For more information about the Wurn Technique, you can click here to reach the ClearPassages website. This site explains in more detail about how the technique is used and also the story of how

Piercing is a form of self expression these days, along with tattoos of every shape and size. I try not to judge--and here is one good reason why. Have you ever seen someone with a piercing like the one above?  This is known as Daith piercing .  It is not just someone trying to be stylish! This is actually an acupuncture practice that has been in existence for thousands of years.  There is no scientific evidence to support this practice, but many migraine sufferers who have this piercing report a reduced frequency in migraine attacks. Migraine headaches are a complex neurological event. More than 3 million persons in the US experience a migraine attack every year. The pain can be so severe as to cause nausea and vomiting, and can incapacitate a person for hours to days.  If you experience severe headache, typically a throbbing on one side of the head, accompanied by sensitivity to light and/or nausea/vomiting, it just might be a migraine.  There are many pharmacological and no

My thoughts exactly! Sources: Flickr.com

Do you know anyone who is extremely flexible--in the physical sense?  As it turns out, a small number of these individuals actually have a connective tissue disorder.  Known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, this inherited disorder of connective tissue results in overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin.  A more severe version of this disorder also affects the walls of the blood vessels. How does one know this might be a problem? Firstly, the joints are much more flexible than the average person because the connective tissue that holds the joints together is very loose.  Secondly, the skin of affected individuals is very "stretchy...it can be pulled away from the body more than normal, but goes right back into place when released.  The skin is also very fragile, to the point where wounds do not heal well. Those who have the vascular form of this disorder have distinctive facial features( thin nose and upper lip, small earlobes, and prominent eyes), and the heart can be aff

Back in March 2015 I wrote a post about pain catastrophizing .  You can read that post by clicking this link , but I will try to explain it to you briefly: Pain catastrophizing simply means that physical pain that is amplified by negative emotions that coincide with the physical pain.  Many people might think that this is just part of a personality, that it cannot be changed, etc. etc. But today I am here to share some good news--that is to say, that some of that factors associated with pain catastrophizing CAN be controlled.  In the next paragraph or two, you'll get my drift. First, let me tell you about an article I read about this topic that was completed at Emory University. The study authors investigated 300 chronic pain patients at clinics in rural Alabama. The study revealed that a very key factor common to pain catastrophe is low health literacy. These patients simply did not understand much about health and/or medicine, so they had very poor understanding of thei

A new study published in JAMA ( Journal of American Pediatrics) tells us that pregnant women who took Tylenol® (or its active ingredient--acetaminophen)--had an increased risk of delivering a child with hyperactivity issues. This drug is still relatively safe to take...the researchers say that using acetaminophen products during gestation may ward off more significant problems--for example, if it is being used to reduce fever! So the bottom line here is simply this: There's no reason to avoid these products altogether during pregnancy, but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution! You can see the ABC news report on this topic by clicking here . Sources: ABCNews; Flickr