If your body is screaming in pain, whether the pain is muscular contractions, anxiety, depression, asthma or arthritis, a first step in releasing the pain may be making the connection between your body pain and the cause. “Beliefs are physical. A thought held long enough and repeated enough becomes a belief. The belief then becomes biology.”
― Marilyn Van Derbur, Miss America By Day: Lessons Learned From Ultimate Betrayals And Unconditional Love
The prospect of being uninsured is a hot and controversial topic these days. Today, in Part 4 of my continuing series of alternative and complementary forms of healthcare, let’s talk about chronic pain.
Last week in Part 3, we talked about the physical and emotional toll of eczema and psoriasis and about alternatives to address your physical symptoms without using steroids.
Lately, we hear quite a bit in the news about the dangerous opioid addiction epidemic in America. We’re a nation in constant, chronic pain but why? What is causing this historical level of chronic pain? No one seems to have a definitive answer.
In November, 2016, the Harvard School of Public Health held a panel discussion about chronic pain and made some very interesting observations. You can watch it or read it here.
One of the participants in the panel, Cindy Steinberg, said this about her experience with chronic pain due to an accident:
And then, of course, there is the relentless physical experience, which may be burning, stabbing, gnawing, knifing, and other unpleasant sensations. I equate it to feeling like you’re a prisoner trapped in your body. But it’s worse than that. You are a prisoner who is being tortured 24/7. And there’s no means of escape.
It’s hard to read, isn’t it?
In this article, Healthline News reports a crackdown on prescribing opioids as doctors and scientists are seeing first-hand the destruction they cause. But if you can’t get the medication needed to ease your chronic pain, then what?
Allow me to offer a simplistic opinion about the cause of our chronic pain epidemic – and it’s strictly my opinion. If you think back 50 or 100 years, chronic pain really wasn’t all that prevalent. Yes, I know – we didn’t have 24 hour news on cable TV to talk about it nor did we sit at a computer for 10 hours a day. Here’s one issue I see: I really don’t think people pay attention to the kinds of food they eat. In modern day living, we eat most of our meals from a box, can or fast food restaurant because we have schedules – and lives – that are so insanely busy that we don’t take time to find and cook real clean, unsprayed food.
Wonder how much the epidemic of chronic pain has to do with all the chemicals and sitting for 10 hours a day? What about the chemicals in our food? What about GMO food? What about all the chemicals we spray to kill weeds to make our lawns look magazine-perfect? Most fresh food is sprayed with chemicals to ward off pests and increase production. Is it really healthy? Really?
Food for thought. (Pun intended.)
Chronic Pain and Aromatherapy
One of my case studies in aromatherapy school looked at chronic pain to learn how – or if – therapeutic-grade essential oils could make a difference. My client has severe nerve damage in both of her hands. They hurt, swell easily and are inflamed. After several surgeries on both hands, she still doesn’t have a definitive answer to the question: what’s causing this? I asked her to give a number to her chronic pain based on a scale of 1 to 10. She said – without missing a beat – 10.
Fibromyalgia is basically chronic pain from aching muscles, tender trigger points and debilitating fatigue. Constantly. Always. Every day. It affects every single corner of your life from your mental/emotional wellbeing to your relationships to your level of activity.
Those who live with fibromyalgia tend to have digestive concerns, restless leg syndrome, brain fog and trouble sleeping. You can imagine that poor sleep breeds fatigue and brain fog which could breed heightened pain sensitivity. Then, there’s the resentment – your own and that of those around you. People can’t see pain like they can see a bandage, a cast or crutches. Yes, we live in a harshly judgmental world and sadly, this becomes part of life with chronic pain.
Rheumatoid Arthritis falls into the category of chronic pain as well. For those of you who live with this, you know what happens when the weather cools down and the humidity is low. You hurt.
Then, there is the issue of depression and chronic pain which doesn’t surprise me at all.
I cannot begin to fathom this level of pain. Honestly, when I hear something like this, I just want to wrap my arms around you.
How Can Aromatherapy and Holistic Life Coaching Make a Difference?
If you are just beginning your journey with chronic pain of any sort, I believe it’s worth it to investigate complementary modes of health care. Even if you have lived with chronic pain for a very long time, it’s absolutely worth looking into acupuncture, reflexology, reiki, therapeutic massage and other modes that I’m probably not even aware of.
As a certified aromatherapist and holistic life coach, I have simple and effective tools to address the pain, frustration and fatigue of chronic pain. I cannot heal, cure, fix or change your situation – only you can do that.
With the proper tools, the human body has the amazing ability to heal itself. One of the aromatherapy tools I created for pain is Flexatoid. It is a lotion full of essential oils with anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties and is meant for issues such as arthritis.
The other tool is PainGenix, a balm that is useful for chronic pain especially when used in conjunction with the PainGenix Nasal Inhaler. Both of these products also contain essential oils which address the accompanying depression and anxiety.
My case study client used the PainGenix balm and nasal inhaler together. She said that it reduced her pain level from a 10 to approximately 7 1/2 which she said was a major accomplishment. The combination allowed her to “cope with the daily stress” of her pain and helped her to relax just a little bit.
Since these products contain no chemicals, there’s no horrible side effects and your liver will be much happier. Plant-based products are far gentler on your liver which filters everything you put on or in your body.
From a holistic life coaching perspective – yes, I’m going to ask you questions about your chronic pain!
- Can you think of a time when you didn’t have the chronic pain?
- Do you have any idea of what triggered it (accident, trauma, etc.)?
- Were you raised to feel guilty about taking up space on the planet?
- Do you have trouble asking for help?
- Do you have trouble receiving help?
- Are you highly critical of yourself? Why?
I won’t ask questions in a rapid-fire method, but in the course of holistic life coaching sessions, I do ask questions to make you think. This is the beauty of combining aromatherapy and holistic life coaching. They offer amazing tools for you to get unstuck in every area of your life and feel good about doing it.
Alternative and Complementary Healthcare Options
The whole point of my series on complementary and alternative therapies is to give you options. Options are good. Healthcare as we know it may very well go away or, at the very least, become financially out of reach for most of us. The more therapies you know about and can use, the better off you are.
Where do you see yourself with chronic pain today? I would love to talk with you and see how I can help. Please take a moment to fill out the contact form and let’s get started today.
Blessings,
Melissa
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. You should always seek the advice of a qualified medical professional for any health issue.
