For more than 100 million Americans, conditions like arthritis, fibromyalgia, nerve damage, migraine headaches, or cancer can cause unrelenting pain. But relief is now available in new classes of drugs, yoga exercises, and inflammation-reducing diets.
Take migraine headaches, for instance, a common source of chronic pain affecting 1 in 10 Americans, most of them women. These are not just everyday headaches. Migraine symptoms also include nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity, auras, and other visual disturbances. Because doctors still don’t fully understand what causes migraines, they haven’t been able to develop a cure for this condition. Treatments aim to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks and relieve symptoms when they start.
Fibromyalgia is another poorly understood condition. The estimated 5 million Americans who have this condition experience fatigue and pain in particular spots around their body. Other fibromyalgia symptoms include sleep problems, headaches, sensitivity to heat and cold, bowel issues, and memory problems.
Back problems are another source of chronic pain. Sciatica affects the lower back and legs. It starts in the sciatic nerve, which runs down the lower back, hips, buttocks, and legs. A herniated disk that puts pressure on the sciatic nerve often triggers sciatica. Spinal stenosis—a narrowing of the spine—can also put pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can be very painful, but medicines, physical therapy, and other treatments usually improve the pain within a few weeks.
Sometimes back pain can be traced to the kidneys, which are located on the back side of the body. Many people mistake kidney pain for back muscle strains. The most common causes of kidney pain are infection, kidney stones, polycystic kidney disease (in which growths called cysts form in the kidneys), bleeding, and kidney cancer. Because kidney pain can signal a more serious condition, it’s important to call the doctor for any constant, dull pain on one side of the back.
Are you or a loved one suffering from constant pain? Do you ever have severe headaches, back pain, or joint or hip pain?
If so, claim your FREE copy, right now, of our special guide on proven, effective pain relief.
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Does an anti-inflammatory diet play a role in pain prevention? It’s a worthy—and natural—strategy, considering that pain management has spawned an opioid crisis—one of the worst public health crises of our time. (See the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services post “HHS Acting Secretary Declares Public Health Emergency to … Read More
Because kidney pain location is frequently focused in the upper back, it’s easy to mistake kidney pain for upper back pain. But kidney pain isn’t related to muscular issues, or to other causes of back pain, such as the pinched nerve that can trigger spinal stenosis symptoms. Kidney pain also … Read More
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The migraine headache is one of the top 20 most debilitating disorders in developed countries. It is caused by a complicated interplay between predisposing genetic variants and environmental factors. How to overcome migraines? There are all kinds of treatments that can help, including natural remedies discussed below.
First, consider that migraines … Read More
On a late Sunday winter evening, I received a patient in the Emergency Department with a minor complaint of right second and third finger pain. In triage, he said his fingers were sore and also itching: frostbite symptoms.
When I got the call to triage, the patient held out his right … Read More
What is CBD oil? CBD is a non-intoxicating extract from the Cannabis sativa family of plants (which includes hemp and marijuana). CBD is just one of a family of chemicals known as the cannabinoids, shown to have anti-inflammatory, antipsychotic, anti-anxiety, and anticonvulsant properties as well as homeostatic properties (meaning it maintains … Read More
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