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19 Non-Drug Solutions for Pain Relief
by Joseph Mercola, M.D.
Narcotic painkillers
are a driving force in
the rise of substance
abuse and lethal overdoses.
In 2012, 259 million prescriptions for opioids
and other narcotic painkillers were
written in the US; 46 people die from opioid
overdose each and every day. As painkiller
addiction and overdoses continue to
rise, pharmaceutical companies are sued
for inciting epidemic. Chicago and two
California counties—Orange and Santa
Clara—have filed a lawsuit against five drug
companies that manufacture OxyContin,
charging them with contributing to an epidemic
of drug abuse. Santa Clara spends
millions of dollars to treat overdoses and
addiction in its public hospitals, and wants
the drug makers to pay for these costs, as
they purposefully downplayed the risks of
their narcotic painkillers.
I strongly recommend exhausting other
options before you resort to a narcotic pain
reliever. The health risks associated with
these drugs are great, and addiction is a
very real concern. Below I list 19 non-drug
alternatives for the treatment of pain. These
options provide excellent pain relief without
any of the health hazards that prescription
(and even over-the-counter) painkillers
carry. This list is in no way meant to
represent the only approaches one can use.
These are just some of the best strategies
that I know of. If you are in pain, please
try these first, before even thinking about
prescription painkillers of any kind:
- Eliminate or Radically Reduce most
Grains and Sugars from your Diet.
Avoiding grains and sugars will lower
your insulin and leptin levels and
decrease insulin and leptin resistance,
which is one of the most important
reasons why inflammatory prostaglandins
are produced.
- Take High-Quality, Omega-3 Fats. My personal favorite is krill oil. Omega-3
fats are precursors to mediators of
inflammation called prostaglandins. (this
is how anti-inflammatory painkillers
work, they manipulate prostaglandins.)
- Optimize your production of Vitamin
D by getting regular, appropriate sun
exposure, which will work through
a variety of different mechanisms to
reduce your pain.
- Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
is a drug-free approach for pain management
of all kinds. EFT borrows
from the principles of acupuncture,
in that it helps you balance out your
subtle energy system. It helps resolveunderlying, often subconscious, negative
emotions that may be exacerbating
your physical pain. By stimulating
(tapping) well-established acupuncture
points with your fingertips, you rebalance
your energy system, which tends
to dissipate pain.
- K-Laser Class 4 Laser Therapy. If you suffer pain from an injury,
arthritis, or other inflammation-based
pain, I’d strongly encourage you to try
out K-Laser therapy. It can be an excellent
choice for many painful conditions,
including acute injuries. By addressing
the underlying cause of the pain, you
will no longer need to rely on painkillers.
K-Laser is a class 4 infrared laser
therapy treatment that helps reduce
pain, reduce inflammation, and enhance
tissue healing—both in hard and soft
tissues, including muscles, ligaments, or
even bones. The infrared wavelengths
used in the K-Laser allow for targeting
specific areas of your body, and can
penetrate deeply into the body to reach
areas such as your spine and hip.
- Chiropractic. Many studies have confirmed
that chiropractic management
is much safer and less expensive than
allopathic medical treatments, especially
when used for pain, such as low-back
pain. Qualified chiropractic, osteopathic,
and naturopathic physicians are reliable,
as they have received extensive training
in the management of musculoskeletal
disorders during their course of graduate
healthcare training, which lasts between
four to six years. These health experts
have comprehensive training in musculoskeletal
management.
- Acupuncture can also effectively treat
many kinds of pain. Research has discovered
a “clear and robust” effect of
acupuncture in the treatment of back, neck, and shoulder pain, osteoarthritis,
and headaches.
- Physical and massage therapy: has been shown to be as good as
surgery for painful conditions such as
torn cartilage and arthritis.
- Astaxanthin: is one of the most effective
fat-soluble antioxidants known.
It has very potent anti-inflammatory
properties and in many cases works far
more effectively than anti-inflammatory
drugs. Higher doses are typically
required and you may need 8 mg or
more per day to achieve this benefit.
- Ginger: This herb has potent antiinflammatory
activity and offers pain
relief and stomach-settling properties.
Fresh ginger works well steeped in boiling
water as a tea or grated into
vegetable juice.
- Curcumin: In a study of osteoarthritis
patients, those who added 200 mg
of curcumin a day to their treatment
plan had reduced pain and increased
mobility. A past study also found that a
turmeric extract composed of curcuminoids
blocked inflammatory pathways,
effectively preventing the overproduction
of a protein that triggers swelling
and pain.
- Boswellia: Also known as boswellin or
“Indian frankincense,” this herb contains
specific active anti-inflammatory
ingredients. This is one of my personal
favorites as I have seen it work
well with many rheumatoid arthritis
patients.
- Bromelain: This enzyme, found in
pineapples, is a natural anti-inflammatory.
It can be taken in supplement
form but eating fresh pineapple,
including some of the bromelain-rich
stem, may also be helpful.
- Cetyl myristoleate (CMO): This oil,
found in fish and dairy butter, acts as
a “joint lubricant” and an anti-inflammatory.
I have used this for myself
to relieve ganglion cysts and a mild
annoying carpal tunnel syndrome that
pops up when I type too much on nonergonomic
keyboards. I used a topical
preparation for this.
- Evening primrose, black currant, and
borage oils: These contain the essential
fatty acid gamma linolenic acid
(GLA), which is useful for treating
arthritic pain.
- Cayenne cream: Also called capsaicin
cream, this spice comes from dried hot
peppers. It alleviates pain by depleting
the body’s supply of substance P, a
chemical component of nerve cells that
transmits pain signals to your brain.
- Medical cannabis has a long history as
a natural analgesic. At present, 20 US
states have legalized cannabis for medical
purposes. Its medicinal qualities
are due to high amounts (about 10-20
percent) of cannabidiol (CBD), medicinal
terpenes, and flavanoids. Varieties
of cannabis exist that are very low in
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive
component of marijuana that
makes you feel “stoned”—and high in
medicinal CBD. The Journal of Pain,
a publication by the American Pain
Society, has a long list of studies on the
pain-relieving effects of cannabis.
- Methods such as yoga, Foundation
Training, massage, meditation, hot
and cold packs, and other mind-body
techniques can also result in astonishing
pain relief without any drugs.
- Grounding, or walking barefoot on
the earth, may also provide a certain
measure of pain relief by combating
inflammation.
![Dr. Joseph Mercola](../../photos/C156/Mercola_sml.jpg)
Dr. Joseph Mercola finished his family
practice residency in 1985 and was trained
by the conventional model. In his first
years of private practice, he treated many
symptoms with prescription drugs and
was actually a paid speaker for the drug
companies. But as he began to experience
the failures of this model in his practice,
he embraced natural medicine and has
had an opportunity over the last thirty
years to apply these time-tested approaches
successfully with thousands of patients in
his clinic. Over 15 years ago he founded
Mercola.com to share his experiences with
others. The site is the most visited natural
health site in the world for the last seven
years with nearly two million subscribers.
He’s also written two NY Times bestselling
books, and has had frequent appearances
on national media.
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