Pain Management

[Cincinnatus]

I'm usually in some pain, at times severe pain, from a host of old injuries. It occurred to me that through this board, I have access to a number of SMEs on pain, not just the dispensing of, but the dealing with. After years of fighting, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, rucking over all sorts of terrain, as well as getting shot, stabbed, and blown up, most of you guys have got to be beat up a lot worse than I am.

So here's the question, how do you deal with pain without taking painkillers?

I ate mountains of ibuprofen in years past, before I learned how hard it is on the kidneys. I have had Percoset/ Percodan prescribed, as well Tylenol 3 and others, but don't like to take them for more than a couple of days as they make it hard to think clearly. Most OTC pain remedies don't seem to help much.

At the moment I rely on prayer, deep breathing exercises, lots of sleep, a stretching and exercise regimen, and constantly reminding myself that other men have dealt with far worse and accomplished great things. Unfortunately, the mind over matter thing only gets me so far. I'm caring for a parent with ALzheimer's and I have noticed that she does better when I'm in a genuinely good mood (i.e., not hurting too much!) and want to see if there isn't something else I can be doing.

So... any suggestions? Anyone tried yoga? Acupuncture? TM?

Alcohol and shooting stuff seem to help, too, but...

[jatx]

Have you looked into biofeedback? I received some training years back, and was able to dramatically reduce my need for pain meds and ER visits connected to very bad migraines. Prior to the training, I would get them so bad that I would vomit uncontrollably and go blind in one eye. I am able to "short circuit" them far before that point now, to the extent that I rarely even take pain meds. Of course, that pain may not compare to what you or others here are experiencing...

[hoepoe]

I'm sorry to hear of your disposition.

I don't know the nature of yur injuries, nor am i a doc type.

Swimming is usually pretty damage free and after a good hard swim you;ll feel good and once the endorphins kick in, you'll feel great. Over and above that, it'll keep you lose and fit.

ANY sport that will not hurt you, make you sweat and get those great endorphins pumping through your veins will keep you good at least for a few hours of the day, if not all day.



Hope you feel good

Hoepoe

[Cincinnatus]

jatx,

Dude, if it caused you to puke and go blind it's worse than what I'm going through!

Any pointers on how to go about finding someone who's not a charlatan on the subject of biofeedback? I've got to believe that this is an area of expertise that is rife w/ BS artists. Any help would be appreciated.

TIA


hoepoe,

Thanks for the kind words and the swimming suggestion. I'll look into that. Am considering getting a bike as that, too, is low impact.

In the winter I XC ski and that really seems to help. In the warmer months I generally hike, though I'm in good enough shape from a CV standpoint that I have to hike for a few hours to get any kind of endorphin buzz going. Running beats me up too much, the past couple of summers I've taken to loading a pack up w/ 4-5 gallons of water and hiking. That works, but it's a little hard on the back and knees sometimes

Massage helps, actually helps a great deal, but is tres expensive. Maybe I just need to go beat on the Spar Pro and get rid of some aggression.

There's a Chinese medicine clinic in town (one of four, count 'em four, commercial ventures in the village I live in!), but the last time I sought treatment there the stuff they gave me to drink was so vile tasting that I decided the cure was worse than the disease. May try acupuncture again, though.

[NousDefionsDoc]

I've been doing Superjoints and it has helped my back more than anything non-narcotic I have ever tried.

[jatx]

Biking is definitely the way to go if you don't have back problems. Swimming tends to get monotonous, although it is great exercise. I am swimming about 2 miles per day right now, but have been doing so for four months and am starting to get burnt out. Biking will offer you much more variety and is easy on the joints. If you like to run, but your body can't take the impact of mileage, you might look into an AquaJogger. It looks kind of gay but is great exercise. Imagine a really bulky pair of blue styrofoam depends and you'll have the idea. When I used to to ultramarathon events, I did half of my "running" mileage in the water to good effect.

On biofeedback, my lessons were administered by a real psychologist. A good trainer won't get too New Agey on you, because if a visualization or concentration technique is not working for you that will be reflected in your heart rate, breathing, body temperature, muscle tension, etc.. Years later, I can still lower my HR and temperature significantly using only thought. The key is to get a referral from a licensed physician and avoid the holistic healers, IMHO.

Have you ever practiced any kind of meditation? The ability to quiet your mind using some technique will ultimately determine how useful biofeedback is to you. There are many ways to do this, some of which are sure to fit with whatever your belief system happens to be.

[Cincinnatus]

Sneaky,

You've been SOTB too long. It's illegal to smoke those things up here.

[lksteve]

Originally Posted by Cincinnatus

So here's the question, how do you deal with pain without taking painkillers?

So... any suggestions? Anyone tried yoga? Acupuncture? TM?

Alcohol and shooting stuff seem to help, too, but...

my cervical spine and both shoulders are arthritic...my lumbar spine and both knees are 'pre-arthritic', whatever that means...

#1 i stay as active as i can...when the doc at the VA examined me, he asked me what i did for a living...i told him i was a land surveyor...he told me to keep doing it, because it was working...he said that when i decided to retire, make sure i had a comfortable rocking chair, because if i got sedentary, i wasn't getting back up...

i have a bowflex, mostly for the shoulders and spine...i hate the damn thing, but it seems to help....

i hike and walk my dog evenings and weekends...

#2 i stretch...alot...often...my wife has some problems with her back and neck and yoga, tai chi and TM seems to work for her...i try TM, i fall asleep...

#3 when the pain gets to be a bit too severe, i go to the chiropractor...it works, keeps the pain away for a few days...i see him about five, six times a year...my wife has tried acupuncture, with mixed results...


#4 my wife is a Reiki master...i have no idea what is going on, but for a woman that has had cold hands all her life, they warm up when she does Reiki...she has taken some massage lessons (in exchange for Reiki lessons) and she'll massage the back and do some Reiki once a week...it works alot...

#5 alcohol and shooting works...breaking stuff works...hiding under the covers when a winter storm blows through helps, too...