10 Supplements to Try for Chronic Pain

It's no secret that I take a lot of supplements. When you have two diseases that have zero cure and are life long...you have to get creative. Lately, I've had a lot of people reach out to me asking advice for dealing with adheasive arachnoiditis. Several of you have asked what I take specifically. That list has changed over time for me and I will include it, but I want to focus on some basics to try. 10 Supplements to Try for Chronic Pain 1. Bovine Colostrum
Bovine Colostrum is a complex, nutrient dense fluid produced by cows after giving birth. It is loaded with immune, growth and tissue repair factors. Bovine Colostrum has remarkable muscular-skeletal repair and growth capabilities. Studies have shown that colostrum is the only natural source of two major growth factors. These growth factors have significant muscle and cartilage repair characteristics. While not a pain killer or an inflammation reducer, the two growth factors promote wound healing with practical implications for patients with chronic conditions. Colostral growth factors have multiple regenerative effects that extend to all structural body cells. Repair = Pain Relief 2. Taurine 3. Arginine 4. Glutemine and 5. Carnitine These amino acids play a pivotal role in pain management. Taking extra amino acids, on top of what you can get by eating protein, effects the three key pain modulating neurotransmitters, endorphin, serotonin, and GABA. Check out this article here from Practical Pain Management. 6. Curcumin with Black Pepper Turmeric's main active component, curcumin, is what gives the spice its yellow color. Curcumin has anti-inflammatory properties, making it a potential treatment for a number of health conditions, including reduced pain and inflammation. In order for curcumin to be absorbed by your body you need to take it with black pepper, so make sure your supplement has black pepper. 7. Michael's Naturopathic Recovery Zymes™ Proteolytic enzymes circulate throughout the body, supporting tissues and organs by digesting proteins left over from healing processes, such as immune system action. You have an increased need for enzymes due to aging and chronic pain. It also encourages recovery from muscular exertion, which is helpful because people with chronic pain often experience muscle atrophy and muscle death. 8. Ginseng 9. Ginger and 10. Ashwagandha These adaptogens are a select group of herbs that support the body's natural ability to deal with stress. They are called adaptogens because of their unique ability to “adapt” their function according to the specific needs of the body. This may be physical, chemical or biological needs. Adaptogens, relieve pain by suppressing inflammation in the body. Stress relief also contributes to lower pain levels.

Essential Oil No More Scars Blend

I have so many scars on my body.

So many.

I always like to think of that line in the movie The Replacements with Keanu Reeves...Chicks Dig Scars...Glory is Forever..etc.

Well, I don't think men dig scars on women as much as we dig scars on them. #leohusband has this awesome scar on his back and he likes to tell people, in jest, that it's from a bar fight. He is 180° different in appearance than someone who would have a bar fight scar.

I have 23 surgery scars on my body. You can't really see them because I have a magic trick.

Abracadabra...

Essential Oil 'No More Scars' Blend

For the carrier oil, you are going to use vitamin E oil.

In your rollerball vial:

Frankincense 15 drops
Helichrysum 10 drops
Sandalwood 7 drops
Top off with Vitamin E Oil - I prefer Jason 5000iu Skin Oil

Use twice a day after moisturizing so it stays in place. If on your face avoid makeup in that area, if possible. Let's put it this way, there's a reason I styled my hair differently for 6 months.

[instagram]https://www.instagram.com/p/BynL9OlhgMW/[/instagram]

Can Fasciablasting Help Intractable Pain?

If you haven't heard of the latest trend in health, Fasciablasting, you are not alone. While it may seem to those "in the know" that Fasciablasting is on everyone's radar, it isn't.

Last month when I got together with #breadwinnerbff, I had to explain what it was to her, and it didn't help that I hadn't brought either of my blasters with me.

I showed her some YouTube videos and she was already in the know about fascia and how it can affect your muscles and pain.

So first what is fascia?

Fascia is a connective tissue within your muscles. It can become tight and inflamed contributing to muscle spasms (knots), muscle weakness, tenderness, and a host of other issues.

When you get a deep tissue massage the therapist is often working on breaking up some of your fascia that has clumped and thickened.

What is Fasciablasting?

Fasciablasting is a term created by Ashley Black, the creator of the Fasicblaster, where you use a many-pronged device to break up the fascia that you can use in the comfort of your own home. Back when I started Fasciablasting there were only two devices, the original and the travel. Now there are so many that I can't even keep track.

Can Fasciablasting Help Intractable Pain?

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, I'm not going to make judgments about levels of pain and so on, suffice to say that while fasciablasting is recommended for things like fibromyalgia, my problems and pain levels are much more serious.

I have Adhesive Arachnoiditis which is classified as one of the worst pain conditions. It ranks at the top of the list along with metastatic bone cancer, renal colic, chronic regional pain syndrome, and migraine.

So when I say I Fasciablast, I do it completely different than what is recommended for fibromyalgia.

First, if you have inflammation, I have neuroinflammation, do not use heat.

I fasciablast only the areas that have a hard time keeping muscle strength and are consistently tight. I never fasciablast along the nerve pathways that are affected by my adhesive arachnoiditis. I save those for dry needling. I fasciablast my upper legs and stomach.

Second, I do mine in the shower. I have a process. First, I dry brush my entire body and then get in a warm shower. I start fasciablasting my legs then my stomach, finish the shower and get out.

In the beginning, I started with five strokes down my IT Band, 5 stokes down my quad, 5 down the inner thigh, and 5 down my hamstring and over a period of 4 months, increasing by 5 each month, I worked up to 20. The same for my stomach.

In the fifth month, I added on horizontal strokes at 5 and worked up over a period of another 4 months.

In all the effect I have received is my legs are less sensitive to touch which for me is major. My stomach blasting has allowed me to work on my core since the blasting helped me to lose some inches. It also has helped digestion issues.

Do I blast my whole body?

No, and in honoring my body and what I need to do for it, the energy expended blasting my whole body would dampen the benefits of the blasting itself. Plus, I did that once and the inflammation it caused and the resulting pain flare took me months to get over.

When I get out of the shower I immediately put ice on my "nerve pain" areas and follow up at night (or afterward) with an Epsom salt ice bath for 20 minutes.

Fasciablasting is not pleasant but I did eventually find relief in combination with all of the other things I do to stay on top of my pain. Again, doing natural, alternative medicine treatments can take months if not a full year to see a benefit. Stick with it chronic pain warriors.

Chronic Pain Crafts: Learning to Crochet

Recently, #LeoHusband went on a trip to Scotland. He always likes to surprise me with something on his trips that speaks to my soul. This trip was no exception he brought me yarn from the Isle of Iona.

From an arts and craft store called Iona pebbles that he literally ran into on his hike across the island. He got to meet the sheep that the yarn was made from and spoke to the owner.

Back before the s*** hit the fan and I was able to keep up with my blog every day, I was talking about national craft month.

I really enjoyed talking about my love of sewing and quilting because it keeps my body moving, which is so important when you have a disease like arachnoiditis. In fact, keeping moving helps other diseases like fibromyalgia and MS as well.

Sometimes though, we, chronic pain warriors, are in such pain that all you can do is be in front of the TV and try to get through a really bad pain flare. This is when I turn to things like knitting and crochet.

I keep a box next to the couch of crochet projects, and I swore that I was going to start knocking projects off my crochet to do list. Needless to say, I was very surprised when #leohusband brought me seven skeins of yarn.

Instead of sitting on the yarn and not doing anything with it, which is my usual MO, I decided to immediately find a pattern and start working on it.

I found this gorgeous shawl by Mama in a Stitch called smoky mountains triangle crochet wrap.

I don’t know why but making a wrap/shawl felt right with yarn from Scotland.

She also has a YouTube video on how to get started.
This is a very easy project so if you have never crocheted before you should have no problem doing this with her instruction.

She also has a nice pdf version of the pattern for sale which I highly recommend you support another artist by purchasing her patterns. I have several of them and she is a great pattern artist.

I am in no way getting a commission from Etsy for this pattern sale. All proceeds go to Mama in a Stitch. Support Independent Artists.

Chronic Pain Crafts: Learning to do Brush Lettering

One of my goals for 2018 was finally sitting down with the Brush Lettering course I ordered in 2017 and learn how to do all the super fancy brush lettering you see all over Insta, Pinterest, and Bullet Journal fanatics.

I initially wanted to learn hand lettering for my bullet journal to be pretty. However, it turned into something to do while I was stuck in my chair (or the bear chair as #leohusband calls it) in pain and the distraction of a funny TV show was not enough to take my mind off of the hurt.

I do crochet and it's a great distraction, too great in fact. I tend to get sucked into my crochet project and forget to take breaks where I walk around. Even when I set timers I tend to usually turn the timer off with the intention of getting up when I reach the end of a row, and I hardly ever do.

Chronic Pain Crafts: Learning to do Brush Lettering
Brush lettering or hand lettering, whatever you want to call it, is beautiful. It harkens back to the days where handwriting meant something. Penmanship was a goal everyone wanted to obtain and get this, they practiced it and kept it up because there wasn't phones or cell phones or the internet. Even in the 1980s, where I grew up, long distance phone calls were still really expensive so people wrote to each other. *Gasp*

via GIPHY

So if you have zero clues as to what I'm talking about here are some examples:

Get it now? I actually love that hand and brush lettering are becoming popular since they just don't teach cursive in school anymore. The last year I taught, 2014-2015, I actually had kids not be able to read my comments on their artwork because they couldn't read cursive. There will be a whole generation out there that won't be able to read historical documents because of this, and if you can't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it.

Again, this is why I'm excited that people actually seem to be into this.

So hand lettering vs brush lettering, what's the difference?

Hand lettering is usually done in pen and then you draw the weighted part of the letter on.

Brush lettering is done with a brush. You can get a refillable water pen and use watercolor paint or liquid ink in the chamber.




Or you can use a brush marker, like a Tombow Brush Pen, etc.




I have both, but for practice, I like my Tombows because they don't require clean up.

Now, where to learn...

As I said before I initially downloaded a practice sheet program from Random Olive. I did like it because it had weekly goals but it wasn't really doing it for me for some reason. I may go back and use it now since I'm a bit more used to the practice now.

I think I didn't like it because I'm visual. I need to see someone do it first. That's where Skillshare comes in. I love Skillshare and if you are into everything Internet you have probably heard it on YouTube ads or seen ads for it on Insta or Facebook.

If you are interested, use my link and get 2 Free Premium Months. Signing up under my link is no cost to you at all and helps a starving health blogger out. It's so worth it, not only did I learn hand lettering, but right now I'm also learning about Podcasting, WordPress, and Audacity. Remember how I was talking about crochet? They have that too. Thousands of classes!

The class I used to learn my awesome new skills was Hand Lettering: 4 Easy Steps to Modern Calligraphy by Peggy Dean, The Pigeon Letters | Lettering & Illustration.

She had simple straightforward instruction and printables to help you practice. She starts with a pencil and pen and then takes you through to using a brush marker.

If you have thought about learning this new skill and especially if you are stuck in a chair or in bed this is a great way to work your brain. Learning something new speaks to the soul and that is one of the best medicines out there.

Chronic Pain Treatment and You Are The Placebo

In January of 2017, I had enough of the pain I'd been in since July of 2015. My back surgeries made it worse. The epidural injections I had in pain management sent me to rock bottom. Lyrica showed me that there is a basement below rock bottom.

I decided on my own that I was going to get better because my only other option was not one I wanted to take.

My journey has been long and hard. Two steps forward, three steps back. I've done and tried just about everything in my quest to feel better, to have days without pain, to reclaim some of my life that I had lost.

About 20 months into that quest, I started seeing a clinical psychologist and it was the right decision, at the right time, with the right person.

Chronic Pain Treatment and You Are The Placebo

In our second session, she told me to read You are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

This book has changed my life and I haven't even been able to put it into practice yet.

I do not want to go into the book heavily because I honestly want you to read it. What I will tell you is this, the human brain is capable of amazing things. It can hurt you or heal you if you are open to it.
Dr. Dispenza goes over the history of the placebo, why placebos work, and documents several medical studies (not just one) to support his findings. He's appealing to the type of audience that needs to logically work out this concept of healing through your own brain. He also appeals to the spiritual side of an audience that may believe in miracles. I feel that he brings enough information for each camp of science vs spirituality to appeal to both.

Now, I will say that the language of this book can be daunting at times but don't let that discourage you enough where you put the book down and walk away.

When discussing some of the science behind his theories, he talks about quantum mechanics. I was in the groove for it, because I had just read What We Talk About When We Talk About God and that talks about science and quantum mechanics as well. Plus, I was totally into The Universe when it came on The History Channel back in the day. I'm such a nerd.
Stick with the book even if it is high minded!

Around the end of the book, and in conjunction with my psychologist visits, I had a real breakthrough. I actually felt joy. I was happy. Happy is the start of healing and it's such a wonderful start. Check out my 7 Steps for Learning to Live with Joy.

I wouldn't have had my breakthrough without this book and I hadn't even started his meditations. Which, by the way, I will start Thursday because that's when my current Headspace pack wraps up. I can't wait to see how much more I'm going to grow when doing his exercises, and that's exercises for your brain y'all!

If you have chronic pain or illness, this book, if put into practice will absolutely change your life. I feel like it should be required reading for every patient by every pain management doctor in the United States.