I have suffered from chronic pain and understand this excruciating pain and the desire to find a quick fix. There is no quick fix, inflammation requires dedication to control and combat on a daily basis to maintain a pain-free state.
I suffered for 20 years, taking prescription narcotics, topical creams and Deep muscle injections with only temporary relief and many side effects. Narcotics help relieve the pain but cause many side effects, don’t resolve the underlying issues and often cause dependence. Topical creams are helpful to relieve some of the pain but some can contain harmful chemicals. Deep muscle injections are helpful in episodes of extreme paint that in impacting your daily activities. But it is important to incorporate exercise and stretching into your routine to truly heal the muscles underlying issues.
My Relief
Over the years, through my experience as a nurse and patient, I realized to resolve my pain I had to heal my body with nutrition and fitness. I keep some natural remedies to implement during pain flair ups. I have been able to stop my chronic pain with nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics is the science of consuming natural compounds and elements to impact your gene expressions. Over the years, I have incorporated changes in my diet and fitness routine with major changes in my flexibility, muscle tone and inflammation. Finally, in 2017, I experienced l relief from my daily chronic pain. I had improved my pain on my journey but after 5 months of nutrigenomics my pain was actually gone. I never imagined that I would reach a pain-free state but I did. I knew that my issues were a result of poor nutrient absorption and bad diet throughout my childhood and young adulthood. I had been telling doctors for 20+ years, without any relief or reason for my pain. This lifestyle change, finally gave me my satisfaction and proof that my poor nutrient absorption and diet was the cause of my pain.
The Root Cause
Pain is a roller-coaster with ups and downs. It is important to find the root or underlying cause of your pain. I have learned over the years that diet strongly impacts the bodies inflammation, thus impacting pain. In my case, I had to learn to eliminate and trial new foods periodically to determine the source of my personal inflammation. The main inflammatory foods for me are: corn products (corn syrup, corn flour, etc), gluten products (breads, pastries, cereal, etc.), high sugar foods (desserts, sodas, etc.) and starches (white potato, french fries, gluten-free grain products in high quantities, etc.). There are many other foods that I had to eliminate over the years but these directly impact my pain flare-ups and chronic pain. After ingesting too many gluten-free products, like cakes, cookies, potatoes or other; my body tends to ache and soreness returns. I maintain a balance between starches in my daily routine and try to avoid products with a lot of sugar and carbohydrates. The Paleo diet has helped me incorporate more healthy desserts and grains with less impact on my inflammatory process. But it is important to be cautious and not binge even on these healthier options. I do notice in holiday seasons when I eat more of these foods my body becomes more sore and pain returns.
Pain can always return due to sports injuries, overuse or improper body mechanics. This fact is the reason I developed specific techniques to combat my pain flare-ups and decrease my recovery time. All types of pain can be frustrating and difficult to combat. It is important to establish a fitness & stretching routine to strengthen and relax muscles. I used to suffer from chronic lumbar pain and sciatica. I learned my pain was due to a syndrome in the muscles of my buttock. After being diagnosed with piriformis syndrome, I needed relief from my severe pain and underwent many Deep muscle injections to target the symptoms areas. I used these injections as a means to establish a fitness routine and change my future pain. I learned to develop fitness routines that would not aggravate my piriformis syndrome. The fitness program helped strengthen my leg and abdominal muscles to establish a foundation to improve my body. It is important to listen to your body, learn from your pain and injuries and improve your self.
Chronic Pain vs. Systematic Pain
Muscle pain is a very common condition. Chronic pain is the result of oxidative stress and inflammation on the muscles. The most common causes of muscle pain are injuries, overuse of muscles, tension, and stress. Injury or overuse pain is usually localized, affecting certain muscles or a small portion of your body. For example, piriformis pain is localized in the buttock but often radiates down that specific leg. This pain can result from overuse of the muscle during exercise like squats. Piriformis syndrome is caused by muscle spasm in the piriformis muscle and pinches the sciatic nerve. For me this type of pain was chronic and consistent due to a misalignment in my hips. When one leg is slightly shorter than the other the body tends to place more tension on the shorter side of the body, thus increasing inflammation and pain on that side.
Some individuals experience systemic muscle pain. Systematic pain occurs throughout your entire body. This type of pain is usually the result of an illness, infection or an illness. This form of pain can also be the result of medication side effects.
Let me help you
Are you looking for relief? Do you want to get to the root cause of the problem? Would you like to learn from a professional that has experienced chronic pain in her own life? Stop the suffering and constant struggle. Pain doesn’t have to control your life, you can take control again. I am here to help.
Do you want a free Natural Remedies download? Send me an email and receive the free PDF (diane@dianevich.com).
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