Medical Journeys

Posts Tagged ‘health care professionals’

Know that pain serves a purpose. It warns you that all is not well with your body. It can be a serious warning. It is your body trying to force you into an action that will facilitate relief by attending to the cause of the pain. Sadly, today, the pain gets all of the attention as the cause is often overlooked.

There is money to be made treating people. There is no long term monetary return from healing people. Also, the average person seems to be more than happy just to see the pain go away even if it returns. There are secondary gains to pain and sickness. One gets more attention, and perhaps even presents. This is a reason I do not believe it wise to give gifts to a sick child. Rather, give them get-well gifts when they are well or healed. Don’t associate reward with illness toward children.

I have a dear friend whose back constantly tormented him beyond reckoning until he finally quit drinking. He was an alcoholic. After quitting drinking, he almost never mentioned his back. I sum this paragraph with a question only the reader can answer. Do you want the pain to go away?

If you need your pain, and many do, this article will not be of much help. For what it is worth, needing things that seem inappropriate, such as pain, is in fact appropriate for that person as a surrogate until the need is addressed and dealt with by someone qualified in such things. That is my personal belief and my understanding of the matter.

If you need a method or a plan to control pain then continue.

I do not believe that pain can be eliminated. Something is wrong and those signals are firing through your nervous system for a reason. Most medication simply masks the pain by either putting you into a stupor, getting you high or practically knocking you out. There is a time and place for everything and such matters are best left up to health care professionals who have experience, education,lawyers and politicians behind them.

There is no socially acceptable way to eliminate pain effectively. I have been to emergency rooms often for the treatment of severe headaches and each time I leave more miserable than I was when I arrived at the ER. Severe pain inhibits one’s ability to function. An equally powerful amount of medication may eliminate the pain but you are still left unable to function normally if at all.

When you are on your way to the hospital or clinic you have already reached the point of no return and will either need to be medicated heavily or ride it out. Action should have been taken much sooner.

I have heard it said by people with a headache, “I’ll take something when it gets to where I can’t stand it no longer.” That’s when it will get out of hand and here’s why.

Pain is mostly subjective. I have heard it said that pain is totally subjective. I disagree. I do concede that the degree of the suffering from pain is totally subjective. Many people tend to expand their suffering in their own mind. Some because of how bad they think it looks and others for various other reasons the chief two being fear and expectation.

Pain can be controlled in most instances and the key is early management and prevention. It is not my intention to address every type of pain in this article. It would require much research and the resultant article would soon grow into a full sized book.

If one was prepared for pain and took the necessary measures the pain would be kept to a minimum to such a degree that stopping the pain would be very possible.

In all cases, the moment you suspect oncoming pain, such as a headache, act immediately. Pain is easier to control if you act preemptively (now) than it is after you can no longer take it.

I will give some examples of pain prevention that can be adapted to other situations. I am not suggesting you practice any of these methods. I am not giving medical advice but simply showing ways I prevent pain before it starts.

This is not medical advice. These are based on what I do for pain prevention. They are only examples. By the way. My doctors gave me most of this information. Perhaps the first rule should be to listen to your health care provider.

Sinus Headache/Infection.

I use a product named AYR. It is a saline nasal spray that I apply daily. When I take a shower I use it in a similar fashion but I do not advise it to others. Also, I drink plenty of water to avoid my sinuses drying out. I keep OTC medication on hand if I sense a headache or sinus problems that I may act quickly. I once had headaches that would go on for days to weeks. Not anymore.

Wearing a tight fitting hat does nothing for any type of headache. It can cut the blood off to your scalp muscles thus causing a headache or making one worse.

Stomach pain.

I know two people personally who died from not acting when they were in pain from their stomachs. I endure terrible heartburn pain at times. I avoid the heartburn by taking the medicine prescribed to me by my doctor. It sounds perhaps like no advice but like I said. Two people-dead, because they thought stomach pain was not important.

Avoiding stress is about the best cure for digestive problems for many people. You may need help in this area.

Arthritis.

Arthritic pain is even depressing to write about. It is a crippling disease that I do not mean to trivialize by addressing it here.

If you know that the barometric pressure will be dropping, put all of the windows down in your house and keep warm. Weather channels usually display a pain index and other indicators such as barometric pressure. Damp warmth helps. I didn’t use the word heat because one can get burnt from the misuse of a heating pad. Read the instructions, please.

Back Pain.

If you have been injured and have not seen a doctor, do so immediately. Timeliness is crucial. The following is for generalized ordinary back pain.

The most important thing to remember is to avoid injury by wearing proper protection for your back and to use your body properly when lifting. Always get help for the really heavy things and never be so macho that you are willing to sacrifice your health for your image. Our physical image diminishes with age. Tearing your disks out can result in your body being bent, your muscles degenerating from lack of ability to exercise, and your countenance growing bitter as life seems to pass you by while you age prematurely due to poor health and attitude.

Doing exercises that develop back muscle helps tremendously in avoiding back injury for two reasons. Stronger back muscles help support the back as it is obvious that the spine alone is not up to the job of supporting the back. The second reason to exercise your back is that building muscle also builds up connective tissue and bone. The support for muscle develops with the muscle.

If you feel back pain coming or know it is eminent, take some aspirin ahead of time. This will slow it down until you are able to treat it with ice and later a moist heating pad. When the pain comes it will be milder and possibly more manageable.

Wearing your pants too tight or wearing your belt too tight will cause back pain. Tight clothing causes many types of pain. I have noticed that when I was overweight, or even bloated, my back hurt because of the increased pressure against the inside of my belt-line by my back. Loosening my clothing brings immediate relief.

Tight garments also cut the blood off to your back increasing pain or discomfort.

I have been told that a bowel movement can relieve back pain in some instances. If you have a serious injury and immense pain a laxative can save you a lot of pain.

Ways of Eliminating Pain

I have noticed that the more I notice my pain the worse it becomes. As a matter of fact one who is distracted from their pain almost immediately overcomes it momentarily. I learned much about pain while meditating. When distracted I would move my focus to the distraction and experience as much of it as possible. Each time the distraction would disappear. When the would return it would be for a more brief period of time. Itching, discomfort, even pain responded in like manner.

When I feel leg cramps coming I have learned to remain calm and get up. By putting pressure on the bottom of my feet by standing and shifting my weight until I find the “sweet spot” I can make the cramps in my calves go away. This does not work for anyone.

Wearing tight clothing or undergarments can cause various types of pain. Pressure, restricted blood flow and overheating or being cold can contribute to discomfort or pain.

Again. Avoiding stress can alleviate a great deal of pain. The body seems to manifest stress in the form of physical pain.

Comfort adds a great deal to coping with pain. Much of what I have written may seem obvious but people often go on thinking that they have no time for pain and that they can deal with it later. I’m writing that you may know that later may not be

Finally, There are types of pain that can only be endured. It strengthens us to endure pain. As we grow older there will be more pain. If you are young realize that it is unwise to try to erase all pain with drugs and alcohol or medication. We should embrace some pain. I endure pain that I know will not be crippling or cause loss of function. It would be wise to know what we can endure and not just what we believe our limitations are. The unpleasant reality is that pain is a very large part of life.

Author: Harold William
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Recently I was involved in assisting in the curriculum development for a wellness program for indivuals with chronic medical conditions at a Chicago area clinic. The process was a marvelous opportunity for me to distill 25 years of work in the fields of healthcare, coaching, martial arts, yoga, meditation, psychology and philosophy into a cohesive package. As so many individuals are interested in the issue of wellness, I thought I would share my thoughts with you as well. While the early parts of this article speak to those with medical conditions, the latter parts outline my model of wellness independent of medical status.

What do health care professionals define as wellness?

It may come as a surprise to you, but with volumes of criteria established to diagnose medical and psychological illnesses there is no uniform working model of wellness! If you are not content to define health and wellness simply as the absence of disease (or pain), I could not agree with you more. No doubt you have met many individuals in your life who have no apparent disease condition but who are not living balanced, healthy lives. Similarly, there are many examples of individuals with chronic medical conditions who appear to have transcended their disease state to embody what many of us would identify as wellness.

Can I achieve wellness if I have a chronic medical condition?

Wellness does not require that you be free of all medical conditions. That is good news for those of us with bodies! In addition to the reality that accidents and illnesses can impact us profoundly, we are all aging and, of course, we do eventually die. While at least the last two are natural processes, we are not always comfortable discussing these issues in our culture. You may even be wondering why I would bring this up in a discussion on wellness!

Wellness is about embracing the natural unfolding of life.

The author, Byron Katie, states, When I argue with reality, reality wins, but only 100% of the time.

If you have a medical condition, it IS a part of your life. Understandably, you have likely spent a good deal of time on a quest to return to your life, the life you recall and identified with before your physical condition changed. Your physical condition was a misplaced chapter, maybe accidentally put in your life from someone elses book! Now, if you could just find the editor-in-chief to take it out so that YOUR story can continue as you were writing it

Wellness is about embracing YOUR life as it unfolds.

That doesnt mean that you should become passive or give up. You may be familiar with the Serenity Prayer:

God give me the courage to change what I can

The strength to accept what I cannot

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Wellness is about learning the difference between what you can change and what you cannot and focusing your energies wisely.

You are so much more than the story of your medical condition. Whatever you are experiencing now IS your life. How you relate, or dont, to your bodys condition and how you embrace or reject exploration your experience will determine the quality and richness of your life, regardless of the state of your body at any given time.

Even if a cure is not possible, healing is always within your reach!

Toward a Model of Wellness:

Most simply, wellness brings a sense of wholeness. Medical conditions are not a uni-dimensional phenomenon. Chronic medical conditions affect an individual physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually. Wellness is an integration of mind, body and spirit so that one has a sense of balance and harmony in life.

Wellness is a lifestyle. As you know, the world appears to be getting more complex every year. Developing a wellness lifestyle will allow you to revitalize and re-energize yourself so that you can continue to thrive in the face of the ongoing external demands of life, preparing you to cope with the changes that tomorrow inevitably brings.

Wellness is more than developing self-soothing techniques to get you through a rough day. You may have heard about or been taught self-help or stress management techniques that focus you internally and teach you ways to improve your self-care. Some people commit to taking hot baths or listening to music regularly to relax. Others write affirmations and stick them on their mirrors to promote positive thinking. Others may take up journaling. While these types of techniques are useful and certainly have their place in decreasing stress they can fall short for many people. First, new habits are hard to maintain. Just look at how many New Years Resolutions end up abandoned in 3 weeks time! Secondly, too often these techniques are used in isolation and dont seem to relate to how a person is living day to day in relation to their family, their workplace or their circle of friends. The techniques then become little more than bandages for larger problems in a persons life.

Wellness promotes self-understanding. You are not your body. You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. One key aspect of wellness is to learn how to control your thoughts and emotions. This does not mean that you stop having them, but that you stop being controlled by them. Being able to stand outside yourself and gain understanding of your life situation and your reactions to it is a critical piece of gaining control in your life.

Wellness promotes a sense of flow. In our GO GO GO culture, we tend to over-emphasize external productivity. Many people identify themselves as Type A and take pride in that. As a result, learning how to pace is a big challenge for many people. Another component of wellness is to be aware, respectful of and in tune with your flow between external productivity and rest periods. A well-paced life allows for a sustainable level of productivity so that surges of effort followed by extended crashes no longer define ones life.

Wellness creates a sense of connection and meaning in life. Self-care and self-understanding alone do not define wellness. You are part of a larger system. You may have a family, friends, co-workers, a church or other community. Beyond our human connections, we also have connections with nature and you may also have a sense of spiritual connection to something greater than yourself.

Wellness is mind-body-spirit integration that promotes self-care and self-understanding and connects your life to the larger world. It is a state of being joyfully and enthusiastically engaged with your life, even when it doesnt turn out exactly as you had planned.

Author: Laura Young
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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