Chronic Pain Series 2-Choosing Holistic Remedies in Healing Chronic Pain

There are many holistic remedies to choose from when deciding on what you need to heal chronic pain.  In this podcast, I offer my advice based on my practice experience in medicine and Reiki.  Included topics in this podcast include Meditation, Reiki, Yoga and aromatherapy.
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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:31

Hello and welcome back to the Art of Healing Podcast. Today's podcast is going to be, uh, chronic pain series two, and I'm gonna be discussing peaking a modality to support your healing from chronic pain. So I had mentioned in the last of the series, you know, the reasons why I wanted to discuss chronic pain, which is, um, although we have a number of treatments, we don't really get down to the root of what's going on most of the time in, um, in regular me medical practice, we're limited by time. Uh, we're limited by a number of things, lack of information, just a number of of things prevent us from really getting down to the root of the fact that if you have a chronically painful condition, meaning it's likely been present for more than three months, no matter the source of the pain, be it nerve muscular skeletal, or from the immune system, that, um, most of the time there was something that was building up, um, for weeks, months, or even years that was causing issues before the pain set in. So I think it's important to acknowledge that because when you're deciding on treatment options, once you've seen your doctor or practitioner and your specialist, um, and they're gonna provide you with treatment options, I feel that it's important with, and I discuss with my own patients that we be considering anything else to support them in recovering from this pain. That recovery's gonna probably take multiple healing modalities and not just one. Typically in traditional healthcare, um, our approach to chronic pain is going to manage our approach to, uh, most all of the illnesses we deal with is we get, um, we take a history, we get a diagnosis, we classify, we start initial treatment plan, which in traditional medicine will include medications, um, possibly imaging, maybe even procedures or surgeries. Um, our initial approach of diagnosis is important because we, we have to determine if this chronically painful issue is life threatening or limb threatening. So, um, sometimes it's sort of easy to think that if something's been there and it's been painful and it's been painful for a long time, that maybe there's no danger. Unfortunately, we can't always think that way. Uh, so it is important to be seeing a physician that you know, that you trust or getting established with a physician before you attempt really any further steps. Because if it's been a problem for more than a few months, we do wanna make sure that it's not something like cancer that requires treatment or if it's, um, for instance, pain in the legs. We need to make sure it's not arterial blockages that need to be treated rather than just a chronic painful condition that we need to manage. So no matter where your journey takes you, starting with that diagnosis is going to be the most important. Um, prescription medications, which we do have a number to pick from, including opioids, non-op opioids, Um, very important to discuss with your, your physician, your clinician, what's gonna be your approach, keeping him on side effects, What can you tolerate, um, drowsiness. Um, is this something that's gonna slow down your digestive system? Um, that's a very individual topic. Um, but it does need to be discussed and depending on the route that you take, even if you're deciding that you don't wanna do any prescription or you wanna keep that as small as possible cuz you wanna do everything natural, um, prescription medications can play a role even in the, at the onset of however you're going to journey through this chronic pain. So, you know, you don't wanna necessarily roll them out. And of course, if you're going to be taking prescriptions, just being aware of the side effects, how they should be taken, how frequently they can be taken will be important. So while medications, um, and then as well as referrals to physical therapy to specialists, those are gonna be very important. Um, I like to highlight to my patients that for almost all individuals that are suffering from chronic pain from some source, um, that there were things that led up to it that were building that came together to cause the pain signal. And while we're working with the, the big guns, so to speak, the medications and, you know, referrals of specialists, um, what can be we do on the other side of that to see if we can, um, go deeper, develop some introspection, try to determine if there were other factors that led to this, likely there were. Um, and how can we learn to work with your body in ways that you can manage that don't necessarily require your, your doctor, um, to ultimately relieve the pain. Meditation, uh, can play a very important role in the management of chronic pain. Um, any type of chronic pain can improve with meditation, but of course the challenges, um, is I'm talking to patients that are suffering from pain. Pain is distress, is discomfort. So it's very hard to consider making everything come to a standstill when you're having pain and suffering when you're having pain and suffering and unlikely, you know, emotional suffering along with that pain. Um, so definitely, um, no matter the source of the pain, be it musculoskeletal, lower back neuropathic pain, uh, migraine, um, integrating a meditation practice can be helpful. Um, I think doing some planning can help, um, discussing with your practitioner if you're seeing a physical therapist, um, asking for recommendations as far as, um, what tools and things could you use at home for positioning to increase your comfort. And even considering things like, you know, if you decided you're gonna try some meditation a few minutes a day and you think you've picked out a chair, would having something like heat therapy, like a, you know, a um, heating pad that you use gently or one of the kinds that you heat up in the microwave that you can have to apply to the area that's hurting to help with relaxation. Um, or even if you've got like a topical medicine you can apply before your, your meditation. Just something like that to help set you up so that as you start the meditation path it can be a little bit more comfortable. I think it's worth giving some thought and, um, just looking at what all options that you might have, I definitely think could be very beneficial. Um, when I recommend to my own Haitians to consider meditation, I tend to be cautious cuz again, I know that the time I may have with them is limited and I don't wanna rush them into thinking if you just sit still and do nothing, you're not gonna hurt. Um, but, um, you know, as long as you've given some consideration, found some resources, um, decided if you'll work with a teacher or, or how you'll do that, and I'll, I have actually some blog posts. Um, kind of discuss a little bit more in depth, like how you might wanna approach if you're gonna start that journey, um, to make a daily meditation practice, which can be short or it can be long, but to help with reducing that stress and ultimately helping to heal the pain. If you have the resources available to you, it may be worth it to seek someone to actually give you one on one instruction as far as meditation, but that's not mandatory. Meditation is definitely a practice that you can start on your own. If you are listening to this podcast, and you may have seen my blog, of course, I am a reiki practitioner, I suppose a physician. And, um, if you reviewed any of my, um, previous materials, I'm a firm believer that the healing art of reiki can play a role not only in times of wellness, but in times of sickness. Um, the practice of reiki can absolutely be beneficial, um, for acute pain. Um, like for instance, I, if I hit my funny bone on something, I often will do a short reiki session on myself to help prevent pain and swelling. Um, but, uh, reiki can definitely, um, help out in the relief of chronic pain. Um, the practice of reiki, um, the immediate relief, uh, which I advise my clients often is if they're suffering from chronic pain and it's severe chronic pain that we do have to acknowledge that it is probably going to be, um, a long road. You know, it won't probably be a quick fix. However, um, the relaxation that clients feel during a reiki session can definitely help in aiding from at least relieving some of the distress that goes with chronic pain. Um, as well as of course, just the delivering of the healing energy of reiki, um, can absolutely benefit from chronic pain. I now, um, I do recommend if it's feasible receiving a full treatment, um, if that's feasible, but even if you, um, for instance have access to like a brief treatment period that would be beneficial, um, self-treatment with reiki absolutely beneficial. Absolutely. Um, I, I have some caution because if someone is suffering from chronic pain and they are in distress emotionally and physically, um, i I don't want to place more things on their lap. And the healing art of reiki, um, is best done if you can get the training, get your attunement and go through the process. So whether or not to take that on when you've been diagnosed with chronic pain, that's individual, I don't think that it's something you absolutely can't do. However, if you happen to discover reiki or you were considering it at the same time you're suffering from severe chronic pain, um, I would recommend maybe having reiki sessions with a practitioner for the stress reduction in the pain relief, then maybe pursuing reiki once you feel better. Although you can do both at the same time. Um, I don't think there's any reason you can't, it's just that, um, if you're studying re you learn that the energy being delivered your function is a channel for energy, um, all of that can be impacted if you aren't feeling well. Learning Reiki definitely is healing it, it helped me to feel better just to learn the healing art of reiki, but, um, I, I think that think you definitely could serve a role in chronic pain, but um, maybe in the form of receiving reiki, um, either distance or hand on, hands on, uh, rather than always attempting to do it all yourself. Although if you are Reiki practitioner and you're suffering from chronic pain, um, even if you don't, um, what I have met with other re practitioners, if they haven't been practicing, they feel that their, uh, treatments, their self treatments aren't helping. And I would just encourage you to attempt to keep treating yourself best that you can. Um, because you probably are benefiting yourself. The practice of yoga can definitely be beneficial for individual suffering from chronic pain. There are many medical studies that show that the, um, practice of yoga can be beneficial for particularly the low back pain that we discussed in the last past, cast, like lumbar disc degeneration, um, or even for lumbar stenosis. Um, my advice to my own patients if they're considering yoga, um, I do prefer if they have a diagnosis of, uh, especially lumbar disc issues, lumbar pain, um, and if they're having balance issues, sometimes there's some nerve damage that goes with that, that they be working with a yoga practitioner, a yoga instructor that has experience working with individuals with injury or chronic pain and preferably a yoga instructor who is, um, well versed in some of the modalities such as restorative yoga or even uh, y yoga. Um, any form of yoga that would allow for the motions to be slowed down. So, um, it is feasible to start yoga on your own. And I have some of my patients ask me, but I'm very, very careful because, um, this is a movement healing art and without a good knowledge base, we may not create any benefit. Um, this is one that is, well, if you're working with a physical therapist, it might be good to ask for some recommendations. Um, what would be safe? What would not be safe? Um, yoga does benefit chronic pain in terms of migraines. Um, sometimes people overlook that having a yoga practice can actually reduce pain from migraines and especially tension headaches, especially some of the exercises that work with the neck can relieve some of the pain from tension headaches and um, even some of those generalized pain conditions. Inflammatory conditions we discussed in the last podcast such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. A gentle, mindful yoga practice, preferably with a yoga instructor that has skill in, in has dealt with some of these conditions, um, can help ease some of the pain and stiffness from lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. And definitely the stress reduction from those can help. Aroma therapy can play a role in, um, healing from chronic pain. Um, there are multiple resources and there's big companies and of course aroma therapy or using essential oils has become, you know, very exciting field and it's kind of interesting to see as I browse some of the medical journals, uh, some of the data that comes out as far as use of some of the more common essential oils. Um, use of aroma therapy. Um, and like with any healing modality, if you're considering that, if possible, if you can work with a, an aroma therapist, many states' license aroma therapist, um, then if not, um, you wanna have some kind of resources, um, preferably before you start to purchase oils. Um, so you might wanna purchase a book by an aroma therapist and there are actually, uh, quite a few websites, um, that will, uh, provide some safety info. Um, as far as the safe use of essential oils, um, essential oils, um, we know can benefit, uh, migraine headaches, especially the use of lavender. Um, and um, with migraine headaches, uh, many individuals do well with either inhalation or the topical application. Um, one advice I give to my patients that'll ask me if they should start essential oils is pretty much plan to dilute all your essential oils when you first start to use them, even if you've been told you don't need to dilute them. Um, I prefer to go ahead and treat essential oils like a medication. So dilution would mean that rather than a drop straight from the bottle that you put on your temple, you'll have some sort of carrier oil, um, such as almond oil or a coconut oil, and you'll dilute maybe three to five drops of the essential oil in the carry oil in some kind of device like a roller bottle or a dropper bottle. Um, so if you're considering essential oils for migraine headaches, um, or for even topical use like arthritis, if you're thinking maybe trying, um, commonly people try frankincense, um, I would recommend diluting and using that treatment first before going to full strength. Um, the general advice with the aromatherapy is going to be to patch test first, but again, I do say it's better to just dilute any of those until you're more familiar with how your body reacts. Once again, thank you so much for joining me for today's podcast. Um, next in the series I'm gonna, um, revisit a topic I revisit before, which is, um, shocker blocks, and we'll do that in terms of chronic pain. So we'll just sort of walk the energy body together and discuss how those may show up in the form of chronic pain. Um, I appreciate your time with me. Um, and if you feel so moved, um, please leave me a review wherever you're listening to the podcast, be that Google or Stitcher. Um, and then I will include some extra resources in the show notes. Thank you so much. Until next time.