Pain management strategies

[eggsprog]

What to you guys typically do to manage pain? Either from a chronic condition or just a random injury.


I've got a cupboard full of pills - ibuprofen, naproxen, tylenol, tramadol - but they don't do much for my rheumatoid arthritis pain. I use weed too, and it helps, but it isn't exactly the best thing to use on a day where I need to be productive and read and write a lot.

I find things like acupuncture interesting but haven't tried it myself. I'm interested to see what other people use.

[Audiogen]

Aloe Vera, Icy Hot or Booze are usually my goto for bodily aches and pains. Tylenol for headaches.

[OP1]

I find things like acupuncture interesting but haven't tried it myself. I'm interested to see what other people use.

I think acupuncture is worth trying. The only real problem with acupuncture is the expense. Acupuncture teaching clinics and community-style clinics are a cheaper (and sometimes free) option.

The best way to find a teaching clinic is to search for an acupuncture school in your area, and then look for a link to a clinic from their home page. A search might also turn up community-style clinics in your area, but www.POCAcoop.com has a list of POCA-affiliated clinics in North America.

Are you in Ontario? I tried checking the POCA site, and the only POCA clinics in Ontario are in Guelph and Ottawa.

Community clinics and teaching clinics usually charge about $15-$30 for a treatment. Teaching clinics will sometimes have special free offers, like theater treatments.

Community clinics usually treat people in reclining chairs in a big room, or on tables divided by a curtains. They usually don't do things like check pulse and tongue diagnosis for follow-up treaments (or ever) the way a teaching clinic would.

Chinese herbal medicine is worth checking out too if it's available. You might also want to ask about "homework" like dietary changes, a medical qi gong practice, or acupressure self-massage. You could also search for "qi gong for rheumatoid arthritis" to find sites or videos with info about this.

[eggsprog]

Ottawa and Guelph are both about 4 hours away from me, but my sister lives near Guelph so that might be possible at some point. I'll look into it a bit more, thanks!

[OP1]

You might also want to check out the book "Curing Arthritis Naturally with Chinese Medicine". I haven't read this particular title, but other books in the "Curing" series. This may only be available as an e-book.

[tumbling.dice]

A very timely subject for me. I suffer from chronic back pain and am not sure of the cause. I'm still working up my courage to go to a specialist. I have scoliosis for one thing; I'm sure that doesn't help. I'm thinking a slipped disk, maybe. But it hurts like a mofo.

So at work I sometimes wear a back brace I bought a few years ago. It especially helps when I have to sit for extended periods of time. Tonight I just took three Tylenols and am chasing it with a bunch of caffeine...that helps sometimes. The pain never goes away entirely however. I've had it for about 6 years now I reckon.

The number 1 thing I've done is re-learning how to move, from sitting-standing, twisting, bending over/straightening up. I gotta use my left arm to brace myself when changing positions or trying to pick up something from the floor. It was awkward at first but has become a habit by now.

[Undies]

there's so many different types of pain, it's hard to even answer this. of course, there's no one-size-fits-all answer. that would be too easy.

ibuprofen for headaches. weed is best for stomach issues, but not always and not if i need to be productive. exercise seems to help with most pain, but then there's certain pains that it intensifies. a lot of injury type pain i generally just ignore, and avoid using the injured body part if possible.

as far as i know i don't have any arthritis, so i can't give any sort of advice on that one.

[eggsprog]

That's true - it definitely depends on the type of pain/what caused it.