Many of my patients suffer from chronic pain of one kind or another, headache, backache, arthritis and injuries. There are many ways to help improve your pain if you are suffering.
First understand there are three components to pain. First there is the damaged physical part in your body that produces pain signals that go to the brain. Second, there is the perception of pain produced in your brain in the area responsible for feeling pain. Third, there is the emotional response you may have to pain. All of these areas need attention for best pain relief, especially if you have chronic pain.
It has been shown that chronic pain and chronic depression are like a double-sided mirror, one goes with the other. Often forgotten is this connection. People with chronic pain often have chronic depression because of the pain. Failing to acknowledge the depression and have it treated can intensify the pain. Managing the pain better can improve the depression also.
We have many drugs available for pain treatment. They come in two basic types. For short-lived acute injury pain we have short-acting drugs that all wear off in under 4 hours. As you take them for longer and longer periods, their effective period shortens to as little as a couple of hours. This is because the liver breaks down most drugs you take and after taking the same drug for a long enough time, the liver does this breakdown faster and faster. Some pains, especially migraine and muscle spasm-related pain will also respond often to acupuncture which I have used for 35 years in my practice.
For chronic pain that is not going to cease we have long-acting pain pills, virtually all based on narcotics. These drugs are supposed to last 12 or 24 hours and usually do when you first use them. As time goes on however the liver breakdown speeds up until they may last only 8 hours.
The brain has a very important role in pain perception and the emotional reaction to pain. There are some drugs that modify the pain perception of nerve-related pain such as Neurontin® and Lyrica®. There are many drugs that modify your emotions and may improve your chronic pain perception. Drugs such as amitryptiline, Effexor®, and Cymbalta® can help your emotional reactions to pain. The last two are even FDA-approved to be used for nerve pain from post-herpetic neuralgia and diabetic neuropathy.
To change your brain's response to pain you can use taped exercises that teach your brain a different response. These should be listened to daily with headphones for best results and never while driving. Some of the best tapes of this type have been produced by Dr. Emmett Miller, MD. They are available for purchase both as CD's and MP3 files which can be directly downloaded from his site. Here are my favorite titles he has produced for different types of pain.
Change the Channel on Pain
Headache Relief
Healing Your Back
Escape From Depression
These can all be found at his site by clicking here. In the left hand column then click on "All Products" and you will see a complete list of all his CDs, DVDs, and MP3 downloads. I highly recommend all his products and have used them with myself and with patients for over 25 years.
drBob
