In part 1, we covered how rampant the pain addiction culture has become. If you missed it, you can read it here. Now, let’s switch gears and talk about solutions.
Eliminating Pain
A critical concept in pain management is that pain is not an outside invader. Rather it is part of our bodies monitoring system telling us that something needs attention. Kind of like the oil light on our car’s dashboard. The standard medical approach has been to put a Band-Aid over the oil light or cut it out.
Might it not simply make more sense to put oil in the car?
Research shows that this is so. Let’s take a look at a few types of pain as examples (there are countless more):
- Muscle Pain. This is arguably the most common type of pain. And the most underdiagnosed. The best test for it is a good exam – which almost no physicians know how to do. You can’t diagnose something if you don’t know that it exists. Although arguably an oversimplification, muscle pain comes from decreased energy in the muscles. Muscles are like a spring. They take more energy to stretch than to contract. As noted above, optimizing energy in the muscles with the SHINE protocol decreases even the most severe forms of muscle pain by at least 50% (and often completely). SHINE stands for optimizing Sleep, Hormones, Immunity/Infections, Nutrition, and Exercise. You can email me for free treatment tools that will dramatically simplify treating fibromyalgia.
- Meanwhile, once the inadequate energy in the muscles is addressed with SHINE, then structural therapies to stretch the muscle show dramatically increased and longer lasting benefits.
- Arthritis. Natural therapies have been shown to be as or more effective than NSAIDs. For example, Curamin (by Terry Naturally) was shown to be more effective than Celebrex in two head on studies looking at osteoarthritis 9 and rheumatoid arthritis 10.
- The large NIH study showed glucosamine plus chondroitin to be statistically equivalent for osteoarthritis. But as all but one of the study authors were on the payroll of the drug companies, the data was tortured and natural remedies were reported to be ineffective.
- What the research showed was that for one measure (which was later changed to be the “primary outcome measure” after the study was done. When I checked it on clinical trials.gov , the timeframe had been changed) the p=.04 for Celebrex and .06 for glucosamine/chondroitin. If you think about it, statistically that means there is nowhere near a significant difference between Celebrex and glucosamine chondroitin. Many of the hundreds of endpoints showed the natural remedies to be much more effective. This data was ignored in the study “conclusions.”
- Migraines. Research has shown that simply taking riboflavin (vitamin B2) 300 – 400 mg daily decreases migraine frequency by about 69% after six weeks. Adding magnesium increases its effectiveness. Multiple other therapies are also effective, as is addressing the role of hormonal fluctuations in migraines that occur around ovulation and menses. Meanwhile, IV magnesium 1 g over 15 minutes was shown to eliminate 85% of acute migraines in under one hour. Making it the most effective treatment available short of decapitation.
- Central Sensitization. Most chronic pain, when severe, can trigger central sensitization (brain pain) with microglial activation. Although several expensive medications can address these, they often are ineffectual or inadequate, and certainly do not reverse the underlying problem.
- Highly effective for central sensitization or treatment such as low dose naltrexone and Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) 350 mg 4 times daily for 2-4 weeks, then twice a day (or 3 x day if more helpful). Higher doses of the PEA can be helpful but start with low doses and work up.
And these are just a few examples.
I would add two other options that we are seeing dramatic responses to for pain in general. I like to begin with the CuraPhen and another herbal mix called the Pain Formula (Integrative Therapeutics), giving them six weeks to see the full effect. In severe refractory pain, I am adding in:
- Hemp Oil. I like using the entire hemp oil because there are over 10 cannabinoids that have been shown to be effective against seven key components of pain. Making them very synergistic. I am very picky about the brand I use, as many do not have therapeutic amounts. I like to use the Hemp Select capsules by EuroMedica. The optimal dose is three capsules twice a day for pain and five for sleep. In many, lower doses can also be helpful.
- Kratom. This herb is becoming controversial because the FDA and DEA are both going after them. Unfortunately, as part of a sensationalized media attack, the data is again being tortured. If any of the herb is found in the patient’s blood at death, the death is being attributed to the Kratom. Even if the person drank a gallon of tequila and took 60 OxyContin. If you have a natural health practitioner familiar with its use, it is best to work with them however.
- In real life, used at a maximum dose of about ½ to 1 teaspoon to three times a day, it has been a safe treatment. In a number of patients, it has also eliminated severe pain that was refractory to most everything. For example, I have one patient considering moving here from Japan because her pain went from 10 to a zero in one day after taking it, and she can’t get it in Japan. Use the red form of the herb. It can be found in vape shops, dispensaries and online.
- Using the entire healing arts toolkit, including structural therapies (e.g. chiropractic, osteopathic, and myofascial release) and biophysics (e.g. – Frequency Specific Microcurrent) are also remarkably helpful as part of a comprehensive treatment approach. Although this article’s focus is on pain’s biochemistry, people do best when the entire “toolkit” is optimally applied.
Virtually all pain can be effectively treated, and most often without narcotics. But in the few cases that narcotics are needed, when properly used in combination with these other treatments they can be a godsend, and be much safer than leaving the person in pain.
It’s time to end the governments war on people in pain.
The problem is not lack of effective treatment. Rather it is lack of proper physician education, and access to natural remedies.
You no longer have to make a choice between being on narcotics or being in pain. Pain is usually optional!
To get the NSAID death calculations noted above, or the free fibromyalgia treatment information, feel free to email me and request these at FatigueDoc@gmail.com
https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
- https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j1909
- Recent considerations in nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug gastropathy
The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 105, Issue 1, Pages 31S-38S.Gurkirpal Singh
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002-9343%2898%2900072-2?showall=true
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28676480
- http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2487379
- http://nationalpainreport.com/what-is-largest-chronic-pain-patient-survey-showing-8838943.html
- https://vitalmei.com/chronic-pain-statistics/
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J092v08n02_02
- Osteoarthritis Abstract 316. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011;19(S1):S145-S146.] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e8d4/76ea39303de736eb353d9f31e85b43c3f183.pdf
Phytother Res. 2012 Nov;26(11):1719-25