Remember

The sensation of pain has been described in many ways, from “annoying” to “sharp”.  Sometimes it is a combination of feelings, like “an annoying itch”.  No matter the description, many times the pain leaves one reaching for Tylenol® or ibuprofen, or some prescription pain reliever.  Pain of some form affects millions of people daily.  Americans spend billions of dollars annually to treat pain.  Many people only know that pain is something they do not want to feel.  But what is pain, and what is its purpose?  And how do you get rid of it…permanently?

According to the Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, pain has several definitions, but the one of importance for this article is:  “localized, physical suffering associated with bodily disorder (as a disease or an injury)”.  Pain is a signal, a warning that something is not right with the body.  If a man twists his ankle ice skating, he is immediately warned that something is not right with the ankle.  Were the pain not present at the time of injury, he would continue to skate and probably cause more injury to the ankle.

But most of the million of people who have pain daily don’t have an injury every day—the pain is considered “chronic”, meaning the pain has occurred weekly for more than three consecutive months.  For people with chronic pain, they have long since forgotten the first day the pain came.  Now, they look at each day and celebrate if they do not have a headache or back pain, or whatever type of pain that has plagued them for many years.  Often times, the person with chronic pain has given up on healing the pain, and only looks at taking measures to control the pain so they can function in everyday life.

Over the years in my practice, I have had the opportunity to talk with many people who have chronic pain.  Most had decided they would be in pain for the rest of their lives, and the best they could hope for was keeping their pain to a minimum through the use of pain medication.  Others attributed their pain to “old age” and felt they could not end their pain because they were “old” and having pain was a result of aging.  Still others, a small percentage, felt that to have their pain was a sign of being a true “Christian”, for they were suffering as Christ had done.

Working with people, I was surprised to find that most of the causes of chronic pain were from metabolic disturbances within the body.  Initially, pain was caused by an injury, such as a twisted ankle; but treatment, if it wasn’t done properly or thoroughly, could have caused metabolic problems within the body that kept the pain coming back.  For example, Joe had an injury to my upper back.  He went to a chiropractor for adjustments, but he also saw my medical doctor because he was in so much pain that he felt he needed strong pain medication.  The chiropractic adjustments seemed to help initially, but despite care, he developed chronic pain in my upper back.  After nearly four years of pain medication, he learned that the pain medication had caused a problem in his liver and gallbladder (acetaminophen, Tylenol®, is extremely toxic to the liver), and that that problem was now causing the upper back pain.  Two days after he started taking Milk Thistle (an herb) to help the liver and gallbladder, the pain in my upper back stopped, never to return. 

Pain is a warning sign that something is not right within the body; but it is expressed in many ways, and the pain usually occurs at the point of the initial injury, oddly enough.  No one should have to live with pain.  Pain is designed to be short-term, to disappear once the imbalance is corrected, or the injury heals.  Too many times we reach for a pain-reliever without looking at why the pain exists.  Hiding the pain allows the imbalance or injury to get worse.  If the ice skater took a pain reliever and continued skating, what would the ankle be like after he was finished skating?  How long was Joe in pain because he kept taking a pain reliever instead of finding out what was really happening?  How much of the continued back pain was a result of the pain reliever he was taking to prevent or alleviate back pain?

Don’t settle for pain, and never stop looking until you find an answer.  “Old age” is not a cause of pain, nor is it a reason to suffer.  If you want your pain to go away, know that it can, and never, ever stop looking for a solution.
     
Best wishes,
Dr. Ronda

The information provided in this article is for educational and teaching purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any health condition.  Should you have a health concern, please consult a health care practitioner for diagnosis and treatment.