How to relieve chronic pain without taking painkillers

If you have ever had to live with chronic pain, then you will know that one of the only ways to get proper pain relief is through prescribed medication, generally of a strong level. When you are feeling extreme, constant pain it is easy to depend on painkillers as your main source of pain relief, but this can become a bigger problem.

Statistics show that the number of accidental overdoses in recent years has increased year-on-year and this is a very worrying pattern. The data covers all forms of overdose, from illegal substance abuse to taking too many painkillers by mistake.

One of the reasons that people can accidentally overdose is because when people first start taking the medication, the impact on pain relief is very high. Over time and continual use, your body becomes tolerant to the drug, and you won’t feel the same pain relief due to this. This can tempt people to take more of the drugs and often significantly more than they have been prescribed in an effort to reduce their pain.

As well as the risk of overdose, becoming dependent on painkillers has a number of other problems associated with it. Becoming addicted to painkillers is a growing concern and there are an alarming number of people that this has happened to. Side effects can include sickness and diarrhea, but can also lead to increased chances of heart attack. Short-term effects show that the body can be less aware of surroundings and are advised not to drive or operate machinery on certain types of painkillers.

If you’re in the unfortunate population of people that suffer from chronic pain then you should be getting help and advice from your doctor regarding other alternatives to taking painkillers. Exercise is one of the main recommendations for pain management. If you are referred to a physiotherapist, they will be able to draw up an exercise routine for you to complete that will be specific to the type and frequency of pain that you suffer from.

Advisable exercises include swimming, walking, or cycling on an exercise bike, as these are moderate exercises with minimum amounts of weight bearing. By performing regular exercise, you can build up muscles around the body that will be able to support your joints more effectively and help relieve some of the pain.

In addition to exercise, you may be advised to try treatments such as acupuncture. This is particularly recommended if you have back and neck problems, and sometimes physiotherapists will massage or manipulate your back to try and reduce the level of pain.

The use of heat therapy can provide quick relief to areas of pain, so either a hot bath or a heat pack applied to the affected area tends to work well. If your chronic pain is related to your joints, then you can also try fish oil supplements such as Omega-3, which as well as relieving your joints, are said to have several other benefits to the body.

This is a guest blog entry.