Masking pain
Pain affects one-fourth of our population. The typical approach to pain is to mask it. For instance, a person has joint pain. He self-manages it until it’s so bad he seeks medical advice. A diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis is given (for example). Strong medications are prescribed. Now he has new problems: side effects. When these new symptoms become problematic he’s given more medications! The next thing you know he’s in a medication merry-go-round.
I can understand the need to control the pain in order to participate in life, but whatever happened to finding out where the problem came from in the first place? WHY do you have Rheumatoid Arthritis? We know that it is an inflammatory condition, generally from a breakdown in proper immune function. So why is the immune system behaving so aberrantly? Why would our own immune system attack itself? Is it because of a medication deficiency? Is that why we need medications to control it? No, but there are definite reasons.
What about headaches, migraines, stomach pain, low back pain, neck pain, muscle pain, etc. etc., there is a reason for it! The body doesn’t just one day say “hey! I have nothing to do today, let’s have a migraine!”
There are no symptoms that don’t have an associated cause. A symptom is a red flag alerting you that something is wrong. The problem is that we’ve never been taught how to uncover the reasons for our symptoms. Instead, by virtue of our actions, we are taught that the body doesn’t know how to heal itself and therefore we need medical intervention. Of course our bodies know how to heal, so the next question to ask is why isn’t it? What are we doing (or not doing) that is negating the body’s innate ability to heal itself?
Resolving pain first of all means unmasking it. Find out why the pain exists in the first place. Find a practitioner experienced in looking for the causal factor, not just masking it with medications. Dig deep. Don’t let superficial answers pass. If they say your stomach hurts because of heartburn and reflux eroding your stomach lining, ask why? If they say because you have too much acid, ask why you have too much acid? Keep digging!
If you want out of pain take action today to find out the cause and then treat the cause!
Learn more, attend our upcoming health class, Natural Alternatives to Painkillers, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 at Vital Health in Coeur d’Alene. Fee: $10. RSVP: (208) 765-1994.
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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. She is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about her, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at (208) 765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.