Living with chronic pain can be devastating. Between decreasing a person’s overall quality of life to making it difficult for them to function in relationships, at work, or in school, chronic pain can be a life-altering problem. The good news is that there are ways to handle chronic pain and chronic illness to relieve or reduce some symptoms. To learn how to cope with chronic pain or inflammation, read on.
Seeking Help, Medications, and Supplements
As someone who lives with chronic pain and inflammation, you already know how important pain management is to your overall quality of life. For this reason, it’s important to stay on top of the latest products that can help you have more good days than bad. If you’re a chronic pain sufferer and one of your chronic conditions causes swelling, a great product to try is SwellNoMore. This dietary supplement is a natural diuretic that reduces water retention, inflammation, and swelling (edema) through the entire body.
After doing some research for natural supplements or medications that could help with your symptoms, it’s important to see your doctor and pain management team about your specific health condition and how over-the-counter products could help in conjunction with prescriptions. Something as simple as the right product to help with swollen feet could mean big changes for your overall health as it could lead to the ability to exercise and make other changes as well.
Finding a Support System
While working with a healthcare team you trust is important, there’s more to managing long-term pain than just your relationship with your physician or physical therapist. Mental and physical health are connected and having a good support team at home that is made up of friends and family members can be as helpful as the right doctor.
Maybe your acute pain or chronic aches have caused you to need a wheelchair, and you aren’t sure how you’ll complete daily activities. Talking with the people who love you about how they can best support this life change will help make things easier. Perhaps you’re experiencing a loss of self-esteem after a rheumatoid arthritis diagnoses that’s caused you to lose the use of your hands. In asking a friend or family member to work with you to find ways to look good while living with chronic pain, it’ll better equip you to adjust to changes in routine and even lift your self-esteem.
Suppose you aren’t sure who to turn to for help; practice by getting involved with an online support group of people with your same diagnosis. They’ll be able to give you tips and tricks along the way for handling your chronic pain as well as help you manage your relationships and offer advice for a real-life support team.
Alternative Treatments
As you begin to meet people in online support groups or through in-person group therapy, you’ll start to hear about alternative treatments, remedies, and more. While the first step should always be to consult with your doctor, it could be a good idea to do a little research and experiment with new ways to help cope with your pain. Consider picking up books and reading blogs on alternative treatments and asking around about what’s worked for people you know. From natural herbs to exercises, you might be surprised to learn what helps you cope.
Living with chronic pain and inflammation can be done without impacting your relationships, social life, job, dreams, or long term goals. By finding a professional you’re comfortable with for treatment, doing your own research, being open to alternative treatments and supplements, and finding a support system, you’ll put yourself in the best position to live a long and happier life with less pain.