HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Is it better for your body to take pain medication or not?

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 12/9/2014 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
I've always thought that taking pain pills were like putting on a mask- it doesnt fix the problem. Does it help you heal faster to take the pain away though?

I remember after I had my son they said that my milk wasnt coming in becuase I was in pain, and if I took really strong narcotic pain medicine it would help. And it actually did! The second day I had plenty of milk for my little one.

Soooo.... what is better for you? Take the pain away or fight through it for our livers sake??
Posted 12/9/2014 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
Pain is not good for you. It exhausts both your body and spirit. You simply can't heal when you are all tangled up around a scream.

It is important to address your pain, and do it before it escalates because it is much harder to fix it once it starts.

That being said, the narcotics commonly prescribed are not totally safe. Like any good tool, they have an edge. There is the possibility of addiction, they stop your gut from functioning, they stop being effective over time (you need more and more), and they can feed a negative turn of mind, in my opinion. So they are best used every once in a while and when things are extreme.

What you need to do over time is to explore other methods of pain relief. Meditation, yoga or other gentle movement, music therapy, aroma therapy, herbal cures, and happy socializing are all things that can help. It takes getting to know yourself and keep an open mind. I was surprised, and a little horrified, to find out how well watching TV helped me interrupt the cascade of pain: The more stupid the program the better!!
Posted 12/9/2014 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think it helps you heal. I think you're right, it's just covering up the problem. I took pain medication daily for *years* for my headaches when we didn't know I had Lyme.
Posted 12/9/2014 7:08 PM (GMT 0)
Great post achievinggrace!

I have always been really mixed about pain meds. And I recently found out why. Specific DNA mutations can mess with your ability to metabolize the drugs or for the CNS to respond to them. My lamelymebrain forgets. But I think this is the reason why some days I can have intense reactions to a small amt of drugs—and why most of the time they barely work at all even at high doses.

I grew up with intense TMJ pain and learned to meditate. That has helped in many circumstances—but not severe pain.

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 12/9/2014 2:03:08 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/9/2014 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
For me narcotics are my saving source.After three back surgeries if not for a small dose of my pain meds I.would be stuck in bed,funny because now that I have Lyme,I am stuck in bed anyway.So I guess it's just what you have to do to get by.What I have learned is tramadol causes more stomachs bleeds,and it is as addictive then morphine.Docs always like to say that it is not addictive.Another thing is my pain meds do not help with my Lyme pain.
Posted 12/9/2014 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
Narcotics really mess me up. They mess up my sleep and my stomach, and they make me fall. I avoid them completely.

It's pretty hard, but I have no choice.

I don't think they're good for your body at all. They slow down intestinal motility, they mess up your sleep, and they mess with your brain, i.e. cognitive processes.

I do as much yoga and stretching as I can get away with, and once in awhile, I take Aleve,

I think it's a bandaid solution, but if you have to, you have to. Margaret
Posted 12/10/2014 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
I have been dealing with pain for 20 years, on a daily basis (arthritis, muscle pain, constant headaches), but have been taking very few painmeds, because they just don't work well or even at all.
I broke a vertebra a few months ago, painmeds don't work.
A common thing with Lyme infections my dr says.

It is important to bring down inflammation as much as possible (detoxing, herbals like curcumin, boswellia, etc). You can choose acupuncture, see an OD for manual therapy (choose something like fasciatherapy, a very soft manipulation of the fascia), meditation is a strong tool (when I fell and broke my vertebra, I was home alone and couldn't move an inch, was laying on the floor for an hour and a half before the neighbours came home and to the rescue. I felt I was going to pass out three times because of the pain, each time I had the meditation reflex and prevented it from happening, this was a really stressful situation and I couldn't believe to what degree it helped me at that very moment).

Earlier this year though, due to extreme inflammation, I couldn't cope with the lyme and bart pain anymore, and told my dr he had to come up with something cause I felt I was going to loose it. He suggested LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone). It has helped me so much...

MarieLS
Posted 12/10/2014 1:58 AM (GMT 0)
If you are using an effective pain med for the type of pain you are having, it does help you heal. The body can only handle so many things at once before it begins to compromise.

Example for me -and a hard lesson to learn - was when I'm in pain - like a migraine, or strained muscles - my bowels will shut down. Once I control the pain, my body starts functioning much better.

Of course we all respond to different types of pain meds differently, and we have to find what works best for us, but controlling pain is essential from what I can see.

And Acheivinggrace - you are soo right when you put it like this: " are all tangled up around a scream".
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply