Holistic Pain Management

Holistic Pain Management

“Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional” Haruki Murakami

“Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Pain is always a personal experience that is influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological and social factors”. European Pain Federation

Physical and emotional pains support and amplify each other. Infection, injury, or inflammation in the body can trigger physical pain. Stress, depression, social rejections, anxiety etc can trigger emotional pain. Managing pain requires working at physical level and emotional level.

As per Daniel G Amen, MD holistic pain management involves working in all the four areas

• Biological
• Psychological
• Social
• Spiritual

Biological:

Some of a few areas to focus at biological level for managing pain are:

Blood flow: Some of the factors that can contribute to pain are High BP, Caffeine, Nicotine, Sedentary life, and High / low cholesterol.

Pure oxygen, Exercises, Ginkgo (leaf), Beetroot, Cacao can help in managing blood flow.

Inflammation:

The food that can increase inflammation and pain are: Fast/processed food, Sugar, low omega3, leaky gut, gum disease etc.

The foods that can help to reduce pain due to inflammation are: Food rich in Omega3 (Walnut, soya bean), Turmeric and proper gum car

Head trauma:

Head injury, concussion can contribute to pain. Protecting the brain is important for overall all mental health. Taking precaution like wearing of helmet while driving two wheelers, using seat belt while driving cars, taking proper precaution to protect head while working in risky jobs can protect our head from accidents and trauma.

Immunity/Infections:

Low vitamin D, processed and fast food, leaky guts can aggravate infection and lower immunity. Taking Vitamin D, Garlic, Mushrooms, Garlic are good for managing infections and increasing immunity

Nutritional supplements that can be beneficial for pain include:

• Saffron:
• Zinc: Spinach, Mushrooms, Peas, Chickpeas
• Curcumins:  Turmeric
• Vitamin D: Oranges, Spinach,
• Omega 3s: Spinach, Walnut,
• Theanine: Green tea, Mushrooms,
• GABA: Tomatoes, Spinach, Cabbage, Cauliflower

Psychological

Mental Health:

Anxiety, stress, depression, relationship breakup, grief etc an affect the mental health and increase the pain. Handling mental health is an important part of managing pain.

Most of the pain accelerates ANTs (Automatic Negative Thinking). Working on this by mindfulness practices can help to cope with the negative ANT. Brining positivity bias can be very useful. This includes

• Starting the day with positive affirmative statement
• Ending the day contemplating on what went well that day
• Keep track of micro-moments of happiness
• Express gratitude by listing three things for which you are grateful
• Practice empathy and kindness
• Focus on your strength. You can assess your strength using online tests like Character strength, High5 strength etc.
• Practice mindfulness
• Live by Rule 12: Don’t allow small inconveniences to ruin your day. Only react after 12 things go wrong to cultivate emotional flexibility.

(All the above suggested by Dr. Daniel G Amen MD)

Social:

Social issues does play an important role in emotional  and physical well –being

• Social rejection and isolation
  • Social Media Mobbing and Pain 

Mobbing is a special kind of social rejection where a group

systematically targets one person, picking them apart piece by piece.

Stress from social media  mobbing  or comparison can worsen pain.

Creating a strong social network, working on the strengths are some of the coping techniques that can help to work on this

Spiritual

Research studies have shown that spiritual beliefs and practices can reduce pain and stress

• Prayer and Meditation – (Mindfulness meditation practices materials are available in  Google. 
  • calm stress,
  • release muscle tension,
  • improve pain, focus, mood, and memory;
  • enhance prefrontal function
  • calms  the medial pain “suffering” pathway.
  •  Loving-Kindness meditation – Practice this and materials for this are available in Google.

Hope:

Having faith tomorrow will be better and being optimistic about future. Life is dynamic and keeps changing. Things do turn better as we move on

Raise Yourself by Yourself, You are your friend, You are your enemy”

A.Subramanian