Pain is one of the most common complaints from people visiting a doctor. Many of us ignore other symptoms that could suggest a more serious problem in favor of simply getting relief from pain.
Of course, often it’s completely logical to seek relief from pain. People with serious injuries or chronic illnesses like cancer can suffer from debilitating pain if they don’t receive medical intervention. However, the process of treating pain must be more detailed than simply taking medication to get relief. The best possible outcome can only be achieved with a comprehensive pain management that involves several steps.
Treat Immediate Pain
The first thing you should probably do is to begin medicating the immediate pain. The other steps will take longer to produce results, so it is important to get relief in the meantime.
This is a time when you must be careful. With too much medication, you can so thoroughly mask the pain that you may think the underlying condition has resolved itself. You can also end up taking more medication than you should and ending up with dependency or addiction issues. If that happens, facilities like Harris House St. Louis will need to be in the picture for immediate treatment of this complication.
Attack Underlying Causes
Pain exists because something isn’t working right in the body. It could be an injury, it could be a problem with a nerve, it could be dozens of things, but whatever the source, the result is the pain you feel.
When you have repeated episodes of pain in a particular part of your body, don’t simply medicate it away. Your body is telling you that something isn’t quite right, and if you ignore that by covering up the pain, it will probably get worse. On the other hand, if you treat it aggressively and accurately, you may be able to see the condition resolved completely and the pain reduced or eliminated.
Find Alternative Therapies
Sometimes the condition can’t be resolved. This is true of chronic issues like pain in the back or joints. People who are experiencing this type of pain often want to reduce or eliminate their use of medication, and there are ways they can do that.
Often it’s a simple as massage therapy. Research has shown that the combined effects of the actual physical manipulation of the problem area and the overall relaxation created by the massage can help patients better deal with chronic pain. Massage therapy requires no medications and no long waits at the doctor, and it can yield real results for many patients.
Stay Active
As simple as massage is, it still requires you to set a specific time for an appointment. When you can do things for yourself, you can do them on a moment’s notice, whenever you have time.
No matter what condition you have, exercise is probably going to be beneficial. With a good pain management program that involves these first three steps, you can often reduce pain to a level that will permit you at least to get out and walk. The impacts of that are seen throughout your body, including your chronic pain.
Pain is a difficult challenge to overcome. It can interfere with our ability to live independently, and it can even lead us into problems with addiction if we don’t attack it in the right way. Like every medical problem, issues with pain require a full review of the causes so that you and your medical team can get to the bottom of what is creating the pain and correct it to the greatest possible extent. From there, you can explore options for a combination of therapies, exercise, and limited use of medication to help you get back to a condition of normal function.
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