So many people are forced to live with chronic pain either because they don’t know how to treat it or don’t have the means to seek professional help. The most obvious solution to manage their pain would then be to take painkillers and other over-the-counter medications they could find.
But chronic pain can be difficult to manage with medication alone. Besides the fact that medication doesn’t really treat the condition, it can also increase your tolerance to drugs. This means that the effects of the recommended drug dosages no longer give the same outcome because your body has grown used to it.
When this happens, you’ll need to up your medication dosage just to achieve the same effects. But this can quickly lead to drug dependence and addiction if you’re not careful. The best approach to managing your pain would be to consider alternative options, preferably those that won’t require as much reliance on pain medication.
You might think that you have no other choice, but in reality, there are many other options to choose from. The challenge will now lie in finding the right treatment for your condition, especially because every person’s pain is different. To help you get started, here are three alternative treatments you can consider:
Interventional Pain Management
The first step to managing pain without as much dependence on medication is getting the correct diagnosis. To find the right course of treatment, your doctors will need to conduct a thorough examination on you to cross out any similar symptoms and arrive at the most accurate conclusion.
This could involve performing a series of diagnostic tests, such as X-rays, computerized tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and blood tests. Through these comprehensive physical and diagnostic evaluations, your interventional pain management specialist will be able to create the appropriate pain program for your condition.
Among the most common techniques are temporary pain relief injections such as epidurals, radiofrequency ablation, and electrical stimulation. Interventional pain management can also include making some changes to your lifestyle, along with conventional treatments, as in the concept of integrative medicine.
Regenerative Medicine
Some joint, muscle, and spine conditions must be treated at the source to eliminate the pain. Simply taking painkillers every time you feel pain won’t solve the underlying problem; you need to find and receive the right kind of treatment for it. This is where regenerative medicine enters the picture.
The symptoms of your condition may be acting up because there is damage at the tissue level, which is why you can’t treat it with medication alone. Regenerative medicine addresses these issues through procedures such as platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy, which can both be effective in healing your tissues and organs.
As a result, it can relieve the pain symptoms that you are feeling and even help restore your previous mobility. This is because regenerative medicine is a process that involves replacing or engineering human cells and tissues that can restore your normal functions. As such, it can improve your overall quality of life.
Rehabilitation Therapy
Modern medicine isn’t the only way to treat and manage pain; some people can restore their function and mobility through physical therapy, even if it takes longer than usual. Undergoing rehabilitative treatments can help a person relieve their pain and recover from the debilitating effects of their condition.
Typically, physical therapy will involve special exercises designed to regain strength, control, balance, and gait retraining or using heat and cold therapy to ease muscle spasms. Most physical therapy treatments will include a combination of these therapies to help you slowly regain your control.
Unlike the treatments that address your condition at the cellular level, rehabilitation and physical therapy will only involve the external aspects. That’s why it’s more recommended for those with physical abnormalities, sports injuries, disabilities, or health conditions that affect their mobility.
Is Pain Management Worth it?
There are plenty of ways to manage your chronic pain without having to rely on pain medication, and they can help you address the underlying problems at their root. However, these treatment options may be much pricier because they involve more technical procedures and equipment.
But if it will help you achieve some semblance of the control that you’ve lost due to your current condition, it could be a worthwhile cause for your hard-earned money. Plus, it can improve your overall quality of life because you will be able to function on your own with minimal help from others.
No one should have to live with chronic pain, especially if there are feasible solutions to get rid of the debilitating symptoms. And you should never skimp on money when it comes to prioritizing your wellness, so take this opportunity to learn how to manage your pain better.
