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Four Ways to Manage Chronic Pain

Chronic pain impacts millions of North Americans. People suffer from everything from lower back pain to full on immobility because of their chronic pain. Beyond the pain, chronic pain sufferers also often feel alienated because of their pain. Others don’t always understand why they can’t just get up and go when they look fine. It’s frustrating and unfair for someone who is in constant pain to have to deal with ridicule and judgement from those who have no idea what it’s like.

If you are a chronic pain sufferer and haven’t yet considered your options for managing pain, now might be the time to make some decisions. Not only will treating your chronic pain help you with getting into life, but it will hopefully provide you with some hope for the future. Here are four ways that you can manage your chronic pain.

Traditional Prescription Medicine

While prescription medication has gotten a bad rep the last number of years, because of the overuse and abuse of narcotics and pain killers, they are still as effective as ever at treating chronic pain.

Many people won’t even consider taking a narcotic for their pain because they are afraid of getting addicted to the medication, but under the right supervision, when taken properly and not out of context, narcotics can help ease the burden of chronic pain.

The problem with these medications is that they don’t fix the root cause of the pain; they only mask it. Do your homework and have frank discussions with your doctor about your options and monitor usage closely.

Natural Medicine

While many people are moving toward a more natural remedy for dealing with their chronic pain, most people have to combine it with other forms of treatment and the natural medicine route can create a lot of follow-up and follow-through for chronic pain sufferers. Every patient is different and you may prefer to have a regimented treatment system, as long as it is natural.

There are still many studies being done on the effectiveness of natural medicine, but treatment with things like CBD oils and other cannabis products are coming into the forefront of natural medicine and treatment options for chronic pain sufferers.

Surgery

An interesting thing happens to chronic pain sufferers sometimes: their pain becomes part of their identity and when offered the chance to fix the problems, they don’t always take it. Surgery may seem extreme, but if it comes with the promise of fixing or reducing the pain, you might wonder why people wouldn’t opt for it.

But similar to the narcotics issues, many patients refuse to undergo surgery, citing fears of infection, failed attempts to fix problems, making the situation worse, or simply having to be bed ridden for a few days during recovery. Even in extreme cases, some patients opt to just be in pain rather than risk creating new pain.

However, surgery is shown to help people who suffer from chronic back pain, knee pain, and other joint-related issues that have been brought on by accident or injury.

Time

As a species, we are very impatient. You don’t see the lions and tigers running around demanding everything right now. Animals are patient. People? Not so much.

Sometimes, chronic pain can last for years, but it’s because people don’t slow down enough to allow the body time to heal. We want everything now, but we don’t want to have to work for it, and sitting still doesn’t seem like a good use of anyone’s time. But when it comes to chronic pain, giving yourself the time and freedom to heal might be all that your body needs to mend and come out of this feeling better.

Whatever you decide to do about your chronic pain, just remember that you do have options. All is not lost and you are not stricken to a life of pain forever. There are ways to manage it, but you might have to give in, take time, and undergo treatments that you didn’t consider before. If a treatment will give you a better quality of life, it’s worth investigating.