Finding ways to ease the pain.

Savvy_Sue

Have you ever tried anything like a paingone pen? Shop around for best price.

Warning: there were freebies once (if you paid P&P) so I got a couple. Gave one to FIL who found it very useful, can't remember what was causing his pain. Gave another to a friend who tried it once and swore never again! Have NOT tried it on my arm, maybe I ought to ...

Alternatively, if you want to try on a small scale, I believe this from Boots works in a similar way, but is intended for mosquito bites, and it does a grand job on them!

eskimo26

pipkin71 wrote: »

Thanks for that, muggy.

I will try and get some of the lavendar bags this week - it's worth a try

Wilkinson is quite cheap and you can return it with there money back guarantee if its no good.

Following on from meditation and relaxation if your in to much pain to do it from scratch use a relaxation cd, i have one from my local pain clinic/cfs clinic that covers gradual muscle relaxation, visualisation and sleep enhancer and its a no nonsense cd. (no hippy dippy stuff just straight to the point.)

I can second the pain clinic, try and find your local C.O.P.E and they will do lifestyle management courses geared towards chronic pain sufferers, mine also houses a cfs team which is a welcome relief for me. :T

If you can afford it hypnotherapy works almost in the same way as meditation and has a proven track record, but it depends on your personal susceptibility level, bear in mind people do use it in surgery occasionally as a viable replacement to anesthetic so don't dismiss it out of hand.

Dontdrinkurmilk

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your pain, I suffer from Rheumatoid arth, I am 23 so not too promising eh lol, It can be so cruel, as a young kid i was prescribed the usual pharmaceutical !!!!! from the NHS, in all honesty doing some real research helped me, bypassing the mainstream answers helped me for one, its simple i went on a Non dairy diet simple as that now 90 percent less pain for me and i lost a couple of stone!

I am not sure about the arth's you have, so maybe this would not help you, it may be worth a try, maybe you eat like this anyway? there are lots of herbs and natural remedies to arth pain, I hope you do find some to help, but remember food and drink can help with lots of illness's so its worth a thought.

All the best

S

RazWaz

I suffer from Biliary Colic attacks anywhere between one and three times a week. It is a really intense pain around my abdomen and in my shoulder blades. There is a very narrow window for taking a painkiller, around 10 mins before an attack starts, and I don't always get warning signs. If I miss it I can't keep the painkillers down (I even throw up plain water) and just have to wait it out to the end (can be anywhere from 40 mins to 15 hours).

I've missed taking the painkiller quite a few times, and the only way I can get through it is by curling up into a tight ball and reading something quite complicated (I mostly use New Scientist magazines), and refuse to think about the pain in any way at all. Ignore it and keep reading and don't allow any other thoughts into your head until it's over.

Sometimes twisting my limbs until they cramp up helps too, the cramps hurts less than the other pain and they blot it out for about 30 seconds, enough of a break that it helps me get through it - though I will confess to trying to knock myself out around 12 hours into a 15 hour attack once, had a bit of a sore head after that one (was banging it into a wall).

juno

I have a PainGone pen and love it for my arthritis. It does depend if you hurt in a specific place or everywhere, though, as it can be difficult to use over large areas.

I also love Tiger Balm - and you can get 2 small pots for £1 from Pound World.

Heat pads are good, as is a really hot bath.

Brightness

I meditate every day to help my pain levels (only 2 disks in place in my spine and major nerve damage) & can also recommend Reiki. I know it's alternative but it really works. I was attuned a few years ago to level one and am now a master. I use it mainly on myself and my kids' sporting injuries but have also used it to help friends recovering from surgery - 2 of whom laughed it off as nonsense but ate their words next day. Don't go paying a fortune though - there are lots of nurses out there who practice it or practitioners who charge low rates for people who NEED it - others have it just to relax.

It is one of those things that you can't believe will work but it does - I have used it on my animals and they have made far speedier recoveries than the vets have predicted too

jetta_wales

pwales wrote: »

maybe sex on youre own may be less damaging the next morning but still release the same chemicals

That's exactly what I was going to suggest as I was reading the earlier posts. With the right kind of 'aid' for a woman it doesn't really have to involve much movement at all (tiny little bullet vibrators are quite effortless) and we can have more than one too of course (women are quite lucky in that respect). The chemicals released are a proven natural pain killer and the resulting feeling of relaxation is quite unparalleled.

darkrev

I Have known the prescription drug Pregabalin to be used in similar cases. It has an effect of blocking pain signals, but it is not side effect free. Maybe a pain clinic may also be helpful . They have various ways that could help. I know my NHS wont pay for the service here so you may have to pay but worth it for a long term gain I would hope> Good luck

Jo_King

Hi,

I have FMS, so have pain with different angles, but here are a few things that work (a bit) for me:

• Exercise in water - I swim, and do some aqua type stuff. I know all about the struggle of getting into the pool though. But even simple stuff, sitting on a stool in the bath, or hold my hands under water, eases things a little
• Qi Gong - rather than Taichi. I've a good teacher, and simple movements that you have to really concentrate on have the double effect of giving me exercise, and absorbing me so there's less room in my head for pain
• I use this cd http://www.amazon.com/Your-Breathing-Body-Volume-1/dp/1591796598/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1337621533&sr=8-10
• I've tried loads of meditation type stuff, but most of them just drove me potty. This actually helped. He's a little hippy dippy, but I can do his mediation
• Good posture/physio - I sit on a gym ball (even in work), and work really hard at sitting properly. My pain isn't caused by bad posture, but bad posture does make it worse.
• Mindful movement. I think you can get the cd from Manchester Buddhist Centre
• Watching comedies -I buy them from the charity shop for 99p and watch them on nights I can't sleep.
• There's a book that I love - Darlene Cohen's 'Turning Suffering Inside Out'. I found it REALLY helpful - you can probably order it through the internet

Hope some of that's some help

Anubis_2

pipkin71 wrote: »

Yes, sero negative poly arthritis and osteo arthritis, amongst other problems

Have been in a lot of pain this weekend. It's been building for a week or so but is particularly awful at the moment

I have RA as one of my conditions and last week the pain was so intense my eyes were red raw - and I don't cry easily. I am waiting to see my doc again but hubby rushed out and bough me some more heat patches and also came across "deep relief"

It cost a tenner but I have to say it did help ease the pain for a little while! It's now on our list of non-prescription items paid out of my DLA. It's ibuprofen and levomenthol.

Now when I first looked at it I thought it would do nothing because I permanently get Piroxicam Gel on script (and before that Powergel which seems to have dropped off the earths corner)

So, I was being very sceptical if this would do anything at all, especially after the morphine/gels/meds etc I take. It was a weird feeling as my hips and legs felt "cool and minty" :rotfl: but it did help take some edge off the deep searing gnawing throbbing pain that at one stage I was "seriously" considering chopping my bloody legs off. :mad:

You can get smaller ones for a fiver. They don't last me long though, I had to use a good third of it on first application. Hubby has been applying it again today, pain is elsewhere today, and it is helping to ease it some so I can at least have a bit of a breather without biting on a cold gag cloth to deal with it.

My friend recommended peppermint oil, I am going to try some as I think the levomenthol here is the key, working in harmony with ibuprofen.

As always anyone should ask their doctor first, but when I rang mine in desperation they were closed! Doh!

To sum up, it appears to work better than prescribed piroxicam and power gel. However, it's only been a few days, so will have to see.