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pain management

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
Living within my energy envelope helps with muscle and joint pain. Too much activity, or more than I'm used to, or too much exercise, will bring about a LOT of pain for a long time. So I pace myself, with increases being very tiny and with a day or two, or more, in between.

Gentle exercise, moved into gradually, helps sometimes in the pain department. (That's during the periods when I'm able to exercise, there have been time periods when it was out of the question. If you know you are NOT up to it, or know it might precipitate a crash, NEVER let anyone push you into exercise. There is a time for it and there are times to avoid it. You are the best judge for your own body and well-being.)

Taking Omega3 oil, over a period of a few months, decreased my pain level, especially in my arms which had been pretty bad previously. I ran out of it after taking it for a few months, and the decreased pain increased. Got some more oil and within 48 hrs, it was greatly reduced.

Rescue Remedy drops helped when I was having panic attacks 2 yrs ago. My right elbow and forearm, already punky and tender from tendinitis, would get hit with searing pain, and sharp pains that felt like an animal was biting into it. It could go on and on for hours, even after the panic attack was gone. A few drops of Rescue Remedy would remove the panic with under 60 seconds (amazing) and greatly reduce the pain in my arm.

I think avoiding grains and sugar also tends to reduce my pain level.
 

Cort

Phoenix Rising Founder
I have the same reaction with activity and pain; too much activity and my pain level goes way up. I am however using meditative techniques and amygdala retraining technique - and they help reduce the pain as well. It makes sense - arousing the system through exercise - seems to cause pain and slowing it down through relaxation techniques reduces it. One reason I think they help is that they help to restore a proper breathing process.
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
I have read a bit about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. My brain is not up to writing too much detail about it:eek: but I'll just say this. (Oversimplified)

The sympathetic nervous system is Fight or flight. One batch of chemicals are sent through us when it's activated. And our adrenals get drained. When it happens too much, we have adrenal fatigue.

When our parasympathetic nervous system is activated, a different batch of chemicals move through us. They build and restore.

What you described activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and the more we do this, the more we can heal.

(My apologies to the actual science. You can find the actual data on the net.:))
 

Cort

Phoenix Rising Founder
It's interesting that anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs - too 'anti' drugs that are designed to turn down nervous system functioning are also commonly used for pain. A recent study showed that meditation is able to reduce pain. Meditation is also able, of course, to increase one's ability to focus on a specific point -which enhances ones ability to ignore pain. Most meditative techniques, however, are designed to direct confront the pain present - but in a mindful manner. This is supposed to reduce the level of pain.

I very much notice that when I'm worried or tense my level of pain increases dramatically. Dr. Friedberg in a recent interview talked about using these techniques to reduce pain and increase sleep.

http://aboutmecfs.org/Int/IntFriedbergI.aspx
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
I clicked on your link to Dr. Friedberg's interview.

He makes a lot of sense to me.

His description of a CFS sufferer, what they were like before, etc. was me to a "T". And his description of how people may (mis)handle the illness, also me.

The realizations that he had that have helped him to move into real rest and balance, also have been helping me. (Mind you, I had to learn them from other sources, it sounds like he pieced this together for himself.)

The sympathetic / parasympathetic paradigm really has made a big impression on me. It's like we have been hit hard by stressors, physical, mental, emotional, then got knocked down by a big virus. We don't recover normally and our immune systems and adrenals suffer.

To repair them we need to not bring or allow any more stressors than we can help. We need to avoid activating the sympathetic nervous system with the chemicals that over extended time have a tearing down effect. And we need to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which heals and brings homeostasis.

Meditation can help do this, visualization can do this, walking away from too much busyness can do it, finding activities that are not goal-oriented but enjoyment oriented can help.

Learning to relax in the moment is good.

Apparently it doesn't come naturally for most of us. It didn't for me. And I was shocked to learn I wasn't a laid-back person. That I had become a driven, busy, impassioned, zealot over the years and loved being that way.:D But this body can't sustain that kind of energy consumption, not these days at any rate. And so I am learning a new way to ... be.

And the doctor's interview spoke all around that for me.
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
Man, Cort, you have a great website.

Want to read a good interview that might help improve your life? Go to Phoenix Rising, Cort will have something there for you.:D

Jody
 

Cort

Phoenix Rising Founder
Thanks - that's funny - I believe I'm a laid back person - and in some ways I am; I'm kind of live and let live - I'm not a fussy person about alot of stuff but when it comes to work I am driven! I was before I had CFS and I am now. Nothing the matter with doing alot of work but being DRIVEN to produce - that's not good, not restful - not healthy particularly in this disease. Just realizing I have this problem with being driven - just recognizing that, really helps.

It doesn't mean not working - it means relaxing myself as I work and taking the timeouts that are needed.
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
I remember saying something to my husband years back about my being laid-back (he isn't and has never pretended to be) and he laughed at me. And he was the first person to tell me I wasn't laid back at all.:D

After giving it some thought, I had to admit, that ... he was right. :)

Like you, Cort, there are a lot of things I don't worry too much about, but all that really means I guess, is that, I don't care about those things.

When I DO care about something ... Watch out. :D
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
I'm perhaps one of the few in pain management here. I take 180mg of morphine every day. When I started the morphine, in 2000, before the methylb12 I was on 300mg/day and getting very marginal pain control. Getting on testosterone helped considerably as my testosterone was through the floor. However, even with that 300mg was marginal. In the first 12 months after the methylb12 ended most of the neurological pain and adenosylb12 ended all of the muscle pains and restored normaL exercise tolerance I was able to reduce to 180mg a day and still have better pain contol than ever before. Today, with all the fibro pain gone I find that glucosimine, chondroitin and MSM control the pain in my knee and hip 100% most days. I know much about time release and regular release opioids and how to withdraw comfortably fromn most any medication.
 
C

Cindy

Guest
MSM Starting Dose & Maintenance

How much MSM do you take as maintenance ? What do you recommend starting at & where do you purchase yours? Sorry for all the questions. I'm glad you've been feeling better.
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
How much MSM do you take as maintenance ? What do you recommend starting at & where do you purchase yours? Sorry for all the questions. I'm glad you've been feeling better.


Hi Cindy,

I find that the MSM works best when combined with the glucosime/chondroitin. I take the housebrand at Costco of both. Methylb12 seems to make most of the vitamins and supplements work better at what they do. I take one caplet of each twice a day. I had been taking the chondroitin and glucosimine for 2 years prior at onme twice a day, two twice aday were no better.
 

Sunday

Senior Member
Messages
733
I have thought a lot about being a driven person - in laid-back disguise (at least to myself). On a gut level, I feel it has a lot to do with my being here healthwise. I know also that stress increases inflammation, which has lately been discussed as not only the basis for pain but for many, many diseases. I feel sure that part of my healing is learning how to take the middle road, to learn the balance between active and receptive.

But meanwhile, while I'm learning that (and maybe even after I get better at it), I have physical pain to deal with. My shoulder pain is partially from stress-use injury, but it has gotten much worse with CFS and tends to flare up with my symptoms. On the active B12 protocol I am just beginning to get back enough energy that I want to try playing fiddle again, at least a little. But shoulder and upper arm pain really holds me back. It also makes it harder to get to sleep. I use infrared heat lamp, aspirin topically and internally, arnica and marijuana oil but honestly nothing but my acupressurist will really relieve it, and I can't afford an appointment once a week.

I'd be interested to know what other people would suggest for this. I'm reluctant to take pharmaceutical meds but not entirely closed to the idea, and I'm certainly willing to consider other modalities.
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
I get some of the type of pain you described.

I find omega 3 oil helps, if it's taken over time. Good for inflammation, among other things.

An ointment called Traumeel, I believe it is a homeopathic cream, has helped me and my husband (who has FM) quite a bit with pain.

And another possibility is an ointment called Lymphagen, which helps get the lymph moving better. That is a factor in my shoulder, arm and hand pain sometimes, and this stuff helps.
 

Jody

Senior Member
Messages
4,636
Location
Canada
Forgot to add, something called Rescue Remedy used to help when I would get severe pulsating pain in my right arm. It is good also for panic attacks. I have used it with success for both things.
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
I have thought a lot about being a driven person - in laid-back disguise (at least to myself). On a gut level, I feel it has a lot to do with my being here healthwise. I know also that stress increases inflammation, which has lately been discussed as not only the basis for pain but for many, many diseases. I feel sure that part of my healing is learning how to take the middle road, to learn the balance between active and receptive.

But meanwhile, while I'm learning that (and maybe even after I get better at it), I have physical pain to deal with. My shoulder pain is partially from stress-use injury, but it has gotten much worse with CFS and tends to flare up with my symptoms. On the active B12 protocol I am just beginning to get back enough energy that I want to try playing fiddle again, at least a little. But shoulder and upper arm pain really holds me back. It also makes it harder to get to sleep. I use infrared heat lamp, aspirin topically and internally, arnica and marijuana oil but honestly nothing but my acupressurist will really relieve it, and I can't afford an appointment once a week.

I'd be interested to know what other people would suggest for this. I'm reluctant to take pharmaceutical meds but not entirely closed to the idea, and I'm certainly willing to consider other modalities.


Hi Sunday,

I had terrible shoulder and upper arm pain for years and years. My muscles hadn't been able to recover, heal or grow for more than a decade. After I had started healing I started lifting small dumbbells starting at 2 pounds. After several months of workouts with these and increasing weights the pain diminished and went away as the muscles healed and increased from their terribly deteriorated condition. I found for all these muscles that healing did not occur without exercise stimulating them. I hope this helps.