Strategies For Managing Pain in Australia
Pain is a part of being human but it doesn’t have to dominate one’s life. There are a host of treatment options including steps that one can take themselves in order to reduce the effect that pain has on one’s life. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that pain can be mitigated and how one can reduce the overall amount of pain they experience including chronic pain in Australia.
Sleep and health
Sleep and health are entwined when it comes to managing pain. Without enough sleep, the body can not function at an optimal level. The body has symptoms that rely on sleep such as the immune system which will deteriorate and be less effective against illness when the body is lacking sleep. These are all factors that can help reduce pain by addressing the root of the problem. How you sleep is also important, especially for those who experience major joint pain. Sleeping with a pillow between the legs can help keep them aligned with the spine properly and reduce joint pain the following day.
Dietary restrictions
One common cause of inflammation and joint pain can be diet. Eating things like wheat, gluten and grains can sometimes cause inflammation. It is best to avoid foods with lots of sugar as well since sugar can also cause inflammation. It could be that you have a food allergy as well. Sometimes food allergies can go years without being diagnosed. A common food allergy is gluten intolerance and since gluten is found in a majority of processed foods it may be worsening your pain.
Pharmaceutical options
Many powerful medications can treat chronic pain and some less potent ones that can also be effective in managing pain. Some of these include Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Viagra and Advil. On the other end of the scale lies potent medications such as hydrocodone, morphine, and fentanyl. Medications that are potent opiates are typically only used to manage pain only in the most severe cases such as when a person has cancer in Australia.
Natural remedies
If you prefer to avoid risking addiction to pharmaceutical medication, there are a number of non-opioid pain treatments that don’t involve chemicals. Acupuncture, for example, can be a powerful tool for managing pain. Acupuncture focuses on the nerves by sending signals to the sympathetic nervous system as well as release important neurochemicals as well as hormones. Massage therapy can also be a powerful pain management tool and can help reduce anxiety leading to improved mental health. There are also some herbs with anti-inflammatory properties that can be powerful pain relievers. One such herb is Kratom which is a powerful natural pain reliever although it is not legal in some places. In other places, Kratom can be purchased over the counter at convenience stores.
Yoga
While there are many stereotypes surrounding yoga, it is important to get past any negative stereotypes associated with it and focus solely on its benefits. Yoga can drastically reduce the amount of stress one is experiencing and this can help set off a positive chain reaction. If you are less stressed you can get better sleep, if you get better sleep your body can fight off disease better and heal injuries.
Vitamins
One place you should always start when treating your chronic pain is with a vitamin deficiency test. This can help you determine which vitamins your body is lacking and this allows you to increase the intake of those vitamins. When your body is properly equipped to handle stress, pain, and injuries it is far more likely to reduce the overall amount of healing time involved. Vitamin D is a common one that is taken to help improve pain symptoms. Another is Vitamin B12 which can help with symptoms of pain such as numbness, irritability, and depression.
Treating pain in Australia
By taking a varied approach, one is far more likely to have success when treating their pain in Australia. Having a pain management regiment will allow you to methodically assess and treat your pain symptoms. This can mean using a mix of western medicine, doctors and natural healing remedies. The more tools in your pain-fighting arsenal the more success you are likely to experience.
50 everyday things you can do to propel chronic pain management,
I am self employed. General Practitioner in Melbourne, VIC. My special interest: male reproductive system.
I’ve had Crohn’s Disease for 35 years. I constantly deal with pain, although, I don’t know if I feel it anymore. It’s more of the inconvenience and embarrassment if anything. I have arthritis, Lichen Planus, anxiety, depression, POTS (just diagnosed). It’s just never ending, but I push through and never complain. I have a hard time when one of my employees calls in sick with the sniffles. REALLY? 🙂
My chronic pain is affecting every aspect of my life. The pain killers used to help. Now it is not the actual pain I am worried about, it is the thought of missing my next pain pill that gives me anxiety. My wife and kids have started to notice. I want to stop before it gets worse but I dont know how.
I struggle with chronic migraines. I’ve discovered a few things that help like drinking more water, making sure I get enough sleep and avoiding sugar. Lately I’ve been having less headaches by doing those things to avoid my triggers.
I had an inguinal hernia and got a mesh in there with surgery. 3 years went by and it still hurts. I have many polyps in my stomach as well and live in constant pain for years.
I suffer from chronic migraines. No known triggers, I wake up with one and go to bed with the same one, some painkillers calm it down but it never goes away. Until two years ago I had like 5 migraines my entire life, didn’t even see it as a problem, now for the last two years I can’t even remember what it feels like to be painless.
I am not dealing very well right now. I use a combination of medicines to help control the essentially ceaseless pain from my fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons I’m not able to go to hot yoga but I find it really helps. Sleep is also an important aspect of my pain because the more rested I am the better I feel but pain effects my sleep cycles and depressed.
I had a herniated disc in my back, had surgery to fix it, and now the problem has returned. I have been unable to work for over a month and can only drive about 5 minutes comfortably. I cannot maintain a sitting position and sciatica begins to affect me after only minutes of standing. I am unsure of what the next medical steps to take will be, as I do not have health insurance. I initially was taking percocet when the pain began, then I transitioned to NSAID’s, as nerve pain is not able to be solved by traditional pain medications. I have been regularly seeing a chiropractor for spinal decompression to attempt to alleviate pain in the short term until I can use health insurance to probably have another surgical procedure done. The surgery could be minimally invasive, like the first one I had, or incredibly invasive to attempt to prevent the issue from ever occurring again.
I have been suffering with chronic back pain for 5 years now. I have been neglecting it and just resting every time I relapse but last week I realized I really needed to seek medical attention. It turns out i have 3 herniated discs. The doctor suggested therapy if I did not want to have surgery and strengthening of the core, but surgery would fix my chronic pain a lot quicker. I can barley walk some days and has affected my life overall in a significant way.
I have ulcerative colitis and am almost always experiencing pain in my abdomen. Sometimes the pain is a bit lighter, but mostly it just sits there and asserts itself no matter what I do. It’s difficult to work through things in this kind of pain. It’s exhausting just being awake.
I have chronic pain in my hip due to wearing shoes that were worn out. Every time I run my hip starts to hurt. I try to stretch and massage my hip but nothing helps other than having shoes with good support.
I once had a hernia and to slove it i got a mesh. however 3 years have gone on by and it still hurts. i am in constant pain. I have seen my doctor to see if we can fix this issue.
I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disease that causes intractable pain. I’ve been on the same dose of opiates for almost twenty years. Maintaining the same amount of pain medication, and pain relief is a careful balance of recognizing what I can, and cannot do. Overdoing it will cause rebound pain, and I spend several days climbing out of a ‘pain hole’, before finally returning to baseline. It also involves weighing what you have to do, against things you want to do. Choosing too much of the later, I find myself in a deepening hole of things I neglected while trying to be ‘normal’.
For many years I have suffered from lower back pain. I realize that I could possibly have some sort of surgery to help, but I’m not at that point quite yet. I wake up with back pain and have it all day long, especially when bending over. It’s really difficult to live with this all the time.
I have a bipolar disorder and it regulate my mood because it causes an increase in my blood pressure and heart rate. Its so stressf at time makes me moody because the reaction makes me react wild to things I can’t control
I was bedridden for almost 6 months while being treated for throat cancer. Since then I suffer from chronic pain in my back and neck. I tried several painkillers as well as physical therapy. I am getting used to the pain rather than managing it.
I had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my large intestine and am currently going through recovery. Unfortunately my recovery is not going nearly as well as I had hoped as my surgery incisions are causing intense pain up and down my lower mid-section. The nurse practitioner gave me Advil and told me the pain is normal but it should feel better in about 7-8 days.
Chronic conditions can be challenging to live with, and chronic pain can be debilitating. I myself had chronic pain from a surgical site over the course of a decade or so. Being a pain tolerant person I was prone to ignore dull throbbing, or radiating, or shooting nerve pain from the initially numb surgical incision. However, that is not always a good choice, and episodes of significant nerve pain made me less pleasant and efficient in the workplace and at home. Living with chronic pain can have a negative effect on mood and quality of life, and possibly be indicative of other significant problems. In hindsight I would suggest when possible to bring any prolonged post-surgical pain to the attention of a medical provider.
Living with chronic pain is very exhausting. So many things to consider when the headaches begin – change of plans, loss of energy, etc… Although several factors help curb the pain such as sleep, nutrition and exercise, it doesnât eliminate the pain and the impact it has on everyday life. When you have a family, particularly children to care for, chronic pain becomes an unnecessary burden. Medicine helps reduce the pain and sometimes numbs it, but the fatigue remains. Waiting for the next onset of pain can be ridiculous and emotionally draining.
I have hemorrhoids and they are ruining my day to day life. Every time I take a bowl movement they rip open and bleed. I use a gel to help soothe the pain and keep my anus from leaking.
I suffer from sever arthritis in my back and hips. I dealt with it for 2 years and it progressed to the point that I had to start taking several medications including prednisone. I do not know what is worse, the chronic pain or the treatment. All the medications help to a degree but the pain is always there, If I can swim, that helps and I do have a swimming pool but in the winter, its useless. Winter months are brutal but you learn to manage the best that you can.
I suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I’ve had constant abdominal pains for months. Every time I eat anything, the pain gets worse for hours afterward.