Where there's pain, there's hope

Pain is something we've all experienced in our lives. It comes in various shapes and sizes, lasts for varying lengths of time at varying intensities, and may be described in countless ways. Aching, stabbing, darting, throbbing, hot, breath taking, makes you want to scream (like the man in the picture above)...the list goes on. For some of us, it's usually relatively short lived and not extremely excruciating. For others, however, chronic pain plays a significant part in daily life. In fact, 1 in 5 of us suffer from chronic pain and it's the most common reason that we seek medical care. The thing is...pain isn't just about the physical sensation. It's an incredibly complex sensory and emotional experience. Chronic pain takes an immense energetic and emotional toll on one's health, with pain and depression co-existing in about 80% of cases. But of course, no two people experience pain in the same way. When looking to help someone with pain pain, I therefore believe that it's so important to take a multifaceted and individualised approach. When a client presents with chronic pain, I may make up a herbal mix containing herbs that are best suited to them, their experience of pain and other co-existing health issues; I may make up Australian Bush Flower essences to support the emotional aspects involved; I may explore various lifestyle techniques including EFT (emotional freedom technique) or diaphragmatic breathing; and I may prescribe certain supplements. As I said before, no two people experience pain the same way and everybody is completely unique. When talking about supplements for chronic pain, however, there are two new products that I've been using in the past few months with tremendous results. The first is called PEA (or palmitoylethanolamide), an endogenous compound which has been extensively studied in clinical trials for its positive use in a broad range of conditions including osteoarthritis; lower back pain; nerve pain such as carpal tunnel, sciatica and shingles; fibromyalgia; neuro-inflammatory conditions including depression and autism; and more. The second is called SPM (or specialised pro-resolving mediators), which play a crucial role in resolving pain associated with inflammatory conditions including endometriosis; Crohn's disease; ulcerative colitis; rheumatoid arthritis and more. On a personal note, I can say that PEA has helped a family member's chronic sciatica hugely and had the added bonus, that we weren't expecting, of resolving the pain he was experiencing from plantar fasciitis. If pain is something that impacts you or a family member, get in touch. There is so much that we can do to help.