 |
Adobe Walls Wellness |
|
|
|
|
Doctor Recommended Holistic and Alternative Care for Chronic Pain What is it?*What can I do?*About Chronic Pain “Our goal is your health and personal fulfillment in the face of chronic problems such as pain with or without clear causes. We do this by helping your body’s innate ability to restore health (physical, mental, spiritual, and quality of life) with integrated traditional and alternative holistic therapies as well as nutrition therapies.” AWW
*What Is It? “According to the task force of the International Association for the Study of Pain, pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage…Pain can be classified as acute or chronic, and as nociceptive (inflammatory [condition lends to healing. AWW]) or neuropathic [from a primary lesion or dysfunction in the peripheral and/or central nervous system]. “Chronic pain has a duration of >1 month and typically persists for >3 months-well beyond the time required for normal healing…Chronic pain is abnormal and represents an alteration in nervous system function.” Pain Medicine News. September 2006. John Hopkins Special Report. “An estimated 1 in 4 Americans suffer from chronic pain, and 1 in 10 Americans take prescription pain medications. Unrelieved pain can have a profound impact on quality of life, as well as a significant impact on society…The annual cost of lost productivity due to pain is estimated at $61.2 billion annually…The physical and psychological consequences of chronic pain make it more difficult to manage.” Pain Medicine News. September 2006. John Hopkins Special Report. “Chronic pain often occurs in the absence of ongoing illness or after healing is completed, and often begins with an injury that causes inflammation and central nervous system changes. …for some unknown reason, the nervous system continues to send pain signals to somatic muscles, as though a new injury is occurring. The nervous system reacts to the memory of the original injury and sends signals similar to those sent in response to the original injury. These signals become a disabling message, reminding the patient of the original injury. Animal models now provide evidence that these types of pathophysiologic changes occur in chronic pain.” American Family Physician. March 1, 2000. Vol. 61, No. 5. *ABOUT CHRONIC PAIN Chronic pain is experienced as daily headaches, migraine, fibromyalgia, arthritis, low back pain, bowel pain…and can result from such things as spinal chord injuries, diabetes, an after surgery occurrence, after a stroke, post trauma… “One example of the disabling nature of chronic pain can be seen in the high incidence of high chronic pain levels reported by veterans in a nation wide study conducted in October, 2006 via the internet involving 753 veterans.“ A high level of daily pain was reported by 70% of veterans recently surveyed by the American Pain Foundation. ‘Long term pain is highly correlated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, panic attacks and substance abuse.’ Dr. Platt, coauthor of Overcoming Pain, reports that depression and anxiety are ‘frequent comorbidities (diseases existing together) in persons with chronic pain’.” Another example is Fibromyalgia. “Fibromyalgia is a chronic, often debilitating musculoskeletal disorder consisting of muscle tenderness and widespread pain lasting at least 43 months. It is characterized by the presence of multiple tender points. Although the etiology of the disorder is not known, it may involve dysregulation of neuroendocrine function and sleep.” Pain Medicine News. November/December 2006. “Abdominal pain is a critical part of the definition of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). A number of studies now demonstrate an increased sensitivity to pain within the GI tract in patients with IBS.” CNS News. September 2006. Interesting Finding Targets Smoking, Depression and Pain According to the American Academy of Family Physicians Handout, “Smokers have more pain than nonsmokers. Stopping smoking helps because the nicotine in cigarettes can make some medicines less effective.” Nicotine use is associated with increased pain levels and also decreases the effectiveness of antidepressant medications by diminishing their plasma concentrations. The goal of pain management should include reconditioning, reducing pain and improving function, sleep and mood.” According to findings presented at the 2006 American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting, “Smoking appears to mediate the relationship between somatization (physical complaints) and depression in patients with chronic pain…Further analysis suggested ‘that the reason depression is associated with frequency of physical complaints may be because [depression] is, in part, associated with an increase in the rate of smoking,’ explained investigator Arthur R. Smith, M.D. ‘If replicated, these findings from Smith and colleagues may have important implications for health behavior change-especially smoking cessation- in pain patients,’ commented Lara Dhingra, PhD…Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City. Smokers with Pain report more emotional distress that non-smokers with pain. Smokers with pain retrospectively report that smoking reduces emotional distress and improves their ability to cope with pain, she said. “Could smoking cessation lead to significant improvements in physical well-being and quality of life for patients with chronic pain?” American family Physician. March 1, 2000. Vol. 61, No. 5. Pain Medicine News. November/December 2006. Volume 4/Number 6. AWW focuses on nutritional support, traditional medicine, lifestyle and stress management. Nutritional support is fundamental in addressing nerve and brain health, inflammation, restorative sleep, circulation, cardiovascular function, mood and cognitive support and weight normalization. Attention is given to lifestyle changes that treat the needs of the whole person. AWW provides individualized care that will help you evaluate your health and symptoms and advise you of the options available. Call us today! CLICK HERE FOR More about CHRONIC ILLNESS. Southwest Sunshine and Adobe Walls Shade Take Charge Today/Learn All You Can/Supplement Often
|
Send mail to AdobeWallsWellness@yahoo.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
