1) the clinician who is treating you wants to make a profit from you and keep you coming back for a long time (much of healthcare in Malaysia is unregulated and private - this is fodder for another blog post and I won't talk much about it here).
2) you're undoing the clinician's work with certain every day habits, which result in increased risk of damaging your body. Every time the clinician fixes your body, and you go back to injure / cause more damage to it, that's why you have to go back to get it fixed again.
Many people are not aware of the 2nd reason. When they start to protest at Reason 1 and tell me that they have a very good clinician treating them, then it's most likely Reason 2, and that makes them an ideal candidate for occupational therapy.
Occupational therapists look at how your habits and routines in your every day life would affect your health and how your health affects these habits. That's why I work with people who develop health problems from work, and also whose health problems affect their work. (I get invited to speak to corporations about these workplace health issues and am also developing a programme to train HR to recognise health problems in staff early so that they can get their staff to seek help.)
Eating and nutrition is a very important habit too.
Here are some recommended supplements that my clients find to be helpful to them when managing pain. (Note, supplements are - and should be - intended to provide nutrients that may otherwise not be consumed in regular quantities. This means that the stuff I'm recommending is typically found in your every day food - however, our every day food tends to be very nutritionally deficient, and if you're experiencing chronic pain, chances are your body could use the extra nutrients to help it recover).
1. Salmon Omega 3
Whenever there's an injury (pain is an indication of injury) there is inflammation. Chronic inflammation occurs every where in the bodies of people these days, resulting in damage, injury and subsequently pain. Have you ever slammed the door on your finger and seen how big your finger swells? That's inflammation for you! My clients find that Omega 3 helps to reduce the inflammation and provide relief, even with such a small dose of one capsule a day! There are plenty of these supplements out in the market, so do beware to ensure your omega 3 comes from reliable sources though, as sea water fish can be prone to heavy metal toxins. And also, try to ensure that your supplement is Omega 3 and doesn't contain Omega 6. Omega 6 is inflammatory (causes swelling) whereas Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory (reduces swelling). You don't want more swelling to cause more pain!
2. B-Complex and Calcium-Magnesium
These two have a calming effect on the nerves (they help convert your tryptophan to serotonin that calms you down and can help you call asleep too!) I take them when I'm feeling stressed, and I take them when I get those really annoying flu aches - no more body-wrecking aches when I have flu anymore, and I can get enough sleep to recover (the role sleep plays in pain management - now that's for another post!) They are a great alternative to paracetamol, especially if you're a tad worried about the residues of drugs left in your body (the ones I use are from organic sources and have very good bioavailability - which means the body can absorb them very well without leaving residue in your gut!) I have used them with autistic kids as well (nutrition is very important to them as they have very unique guts - that's another post for another day now) and non-verbal kids who threw tantrums learn very quickly to ask their parents for these supplements when they notice the agitated feelings coming on. Yes, the effects are *that* significant!
The company I get my supplements from is a very reliable manufacturer with more than 80 years of experience in nutrition and supplementation production, they even have their own organic farms surrounded by forests to keep the air clean, and plenty of state-of-the-art farming practices. If you're keen to get more information on these supplements and get them for yourself, go here. Do note that supplements are just that - *supplements* supplementing your actual food and you're still supposed to eat real food in order for them to be able to work best for you. We'll talk about food and eating habits and how they aid recovery from pain in another post.
Update, other posts on related topics - series on meals while living with chronic pain:
Why focus on meals is important
http://painmalaysia.blogspot.com/2015/01/meals-while-living-with-chronic-pain.html
What you should expect to be in your meals
http://painmalaysia.blogspot.com/2015/01/meals-while-living-with-chronic-pain_9.html
Shopping Solutions (and why they are important)
http://painmalaysia.blogspot.com/2015/01/meals-while-living-with-chronic-pain_20.html
No comments:
Post a Comment