Pain & inflammation

Living with pain impacts your quality of life. It can reduce your quality of sleep, affect your mood & mental health & influence your food choices. This can create a downward spiral, exacerbating your pain.

How you experience pain is unique to you. Your perception & response to pain input, your recovery time & your ability to “carry on”, all differ from person to person.

There are many types & causes of pain

Pain types include nerve, bone, visceral & somatic. You can also experience multiple types of pains at once.

Acute pain is usually short term & has a known cause, perhaps you have stubbed your toe or sprained your wrist. When pain lingers for longer than three months it becomes classified as chronic.

Irrespective of the type of pain, it all arises from inflammation

Inflammatory mediators include cytokines, neurotransmitters, growth factors & neuropeptides. They activate pain receptors & transmit pain signals. Inflammatory processes result in further degradation of tissues & progressive damage results in increased pain. Pain can even rewire your brain.

Inhibiting & suppressing inflammation is key to managing your pain

Many people try to manage with ani-inflammatory painkillers, however, herbs & nutritionals like turmeric

& magnesium may be used safely long term, reducing potential side effects that come with using NSAIDs.

Looking at your life holistically, discovering what can be contributing to pain & improving them, can really improve your quality of life.

Natural medicine has some wonderful remedies to reduce pain & inflammation. Herbs that can help include Turmeric, Boswellia, SPMS, White willow, Ginger, Jamaican dogwood & Devil’s claw.

Nutraceuticals like magnesium, PEA (Palmitoylethanolamide), collagen, vitamin C & antioxidants can be both anti-inflammatory & reduce free radical damage to cells.

Topical treatments like Arnica, Emu Oil, PEA & magnesium can help provide relief too.

Supporting collagen & connective tissue is very important, especially after injury or if you have Ehlers-Danlos, a connective tissue disorder that may cause a lot of pain & inflammation. Vitamin C & copper are two essential ingredients in supporting the bodies production of collagen. Fortigel & Tendoforte are two very specific collagen peptides that help support healthy tendons, ligaments & cartilage.

Let’s look a bit deeper at some key helpers

Curcumin, one of the active constituents in Turmeric, is highly studied for its antiinflammatory actions. Ayurvedic medicine traditionally combines ginger & black pepper with turmeric to soothe & cool the tissues.

SPMs or “Specialised Pro-resolving mediators” are compounds that are naturally produced by omega 3 fatty acids & help relieve inflammation.

PEA or Palmitoylethanolamide occurs naturally in protein rich foods. Taking it in higher amounts as part of a pain & inflammation reduction plan can really help reduce pain especially for chronic & nerve pain. It requires a bit of persistence to feel the benefits, as you need to load up & saturate your receptor cells before you feel the difference.

Three of the most common pains that people seek help for

Back Pain: Topical oils or creams that are warming may help relieve lower back pain. An Epsom salt or magnesium bath can be a good way to soothe a sore back.

Arthritis: Kunzea balm may feel very soothing on arthritic joints, while adding collagen that includes fortigel can be a longer acting solution.

Headaches: Aromatherapy - a combination of lavender & peppermint oils may be very helpful to some or try placing an icepack at the base of your neck. Retreating to a dark, quiet space & focusing on your breath may be exactly what you need.

When seeking help, articulating your pain as best you are able will really help get better treatment

Keep a log of when, where & how it hurts. Notice what makes it worse & what makes it better. Describe your pain. Is it hot, stabbing, throbbing, deep, heavy, tingly? Once you have noted this down, the trick is to think about it in a fresh way & then not focus on it anymore. For example, you’ve woken up with a sore knee. Log it in your pain diary that it feels 6/10 hot & tight. Then tell yourself “My knee doesn’t feel as cool & smooth as I’d like” & really focus on what feels good.

When you are taking your herbs or supplements tell yourself “This is going to make me feel wonderful”.

Knowledge, power & a bit of help from natural medicine will allow you to manage & resolve your pain.